Afternoon tea in Evanston

I am looking for venue in Evanston for a bridal shower. We are plannning to have afternoon tea. Is there any place in Evanston offer afternoon tea?

Not in a hotel, not like the way a few of the top luxury hotels on Michigan Avenue serve afternoon tea. However, a quick web search tells me that the Celtic Knot, a pub in downtown Evanston, does "high tea" on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. I suppose you could also do the shower at any pub type place (e.g. Tommy Nevins). There are also a couple of tea houses in Evanston: Dream About Tea, and Argo Tea.

HI,

You may consult this thread on High Tea, but call in advance before trekking out to any of them. There is a pretty high rate of turnover in the tea room business.

There is a more recent thread on bridal shower teas. If you have a nice venue, then you may want to consider a catered tea by Gerri. Gerri and I are on pretty friendly terms since I have used her services now several times.

Do let us know the outcome of your event whatever you choose to do.

Regards,

My wife was given a teas shower at the Penninsula 5 years ago and i was forced to attend at the very end for the ceremonial opening of the gifts (barf)

Anyway, the tea service was fanstastic, tons of finger sandwiches which would have made my grandmother blush and lots and lots of petit four goodness. It was superb and i was only mopping up the dregs...just my 2 cents

Cathy2 wrote:If you have a nice venue, then you may want to consider a catered tea by Gerri. Gerri and I are on pretty friendly terms since I have used her services now several times.

Re a nice venue in Evanston, consider the Woman's Club of Evanston. I was there for a wedding reception a few years ago and it was a nice space, and one which seems well suited to a tea service atmosphere.

I can't think of a lot of other semi-public spaces for that kind of thing in Evanston, but I wouldn't claim to be an authority.

Woman's Club of Evanston
1702 Chicago Ave
Evanston, IL
(847) 475-3800

I went to a lovely bridal shower at Jilly's Cafe in Evanston. Not sure if they have an official tea, but it's definitely that kind of setting.

http://jillyscafe.com/

There are lots of good ideas posted here already.

As with the suggestion of Jilly's, I would think that just about any restaurant can arrange just about anything you might be interested in, especially during the afternoon between lunch and dinner, which is an off time for most of them. In addition to Jilly's (good place, BTW), if you anticipate a large number of people (say 12 or more), you might want to look in particular at places with multiple rooms, especially with private rooms available. I know that these places in Evanston all have multiple rooms, and can provide a private room for your group:

Va Pensiero (Italian)
1566 Oak Ave.
Evanston
847-475-7779
http://www.va-p.com/CateredAffair.htm

Campagnola (Italian)
815 Chicago Ave
Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 475-6100
www.campagnolarestaurant.com

Pete Miller's (steaks)
1557 Sherman Ave.
Evanston
847-328-0399
www.petemillers.com

Prairie Moon (American)
1502 Sherman Ave.
Evanston
847-864-8328
www.prairiemoonrestaurant.com

The Woman's Club is indeed a lovely space. Most such spaces which are available for rental can refer you to local caterers who are already familiar with their facilities and layout, etc.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We have changed our plan and decided to go with the afternoon tea at the Peninsula. I will save the suggestions next time when we hold our event in Evanston. Maybe the baby shower???