The Tea House On Los Rios at 31731 Los Rios Street, San Juan Capistrano, California.

This restaurant has a stupid policy where they won't feed you. We walked in and there were empty seats - but we were told "there are no more spots available today "

Neither I nor anyone in my family will ever patronize this establishment again. The food and tea they serve is acceptable, but overpriced. You're really paying for the atmosphere, which is truly enchanting. I will give it that. However, that's where the compliments end coming from us.

My mother went here with three girlfriends for her birthday. Their credit card machines were down and since my mother was the only one with any cash, she gave some to her friends so they could pay the bill (they would pay her back later). As my mother was leaving the tea house their server approached her and asked why they had tipped her so little (they had tipped 10%, as a former server I know this can be frustrating, but I have spoken to my mother's friends and they had issues with the service, so that's their choice). My mother explained that they were treating her to lunch so she didn't know anything about the tip, but the server pushed the matter further until my mother felt guilted into giving her another five dollars.

When my mother told me about this I was furious, particularly since I know she is not good about standing up for herself and pushy people tend to sniff that out and take advantage, which is what this server did. I called the tea house to complain and eventually spoke with the owner. She seemed more irritated by my complaint than genuinely concerned and said she would write my mother a letter (it wasn't until I pushed the matter that she agreed to repay my mother the $5, no other compensation was even considered). I was not happy with how she seemed to be handling the matter, but figured I'd wait for the letter to come and see how she handled it there.

My mother received the letter this week. It merely said sorry for any "misunderstanding" and contained the five dollars. To me, this wasn't a "misunderstanding", it was a server who was completely out of line and an owner who doesn't care or at least doesn't know how to deal with customers. For those reasons, we won't be going back.