Star Leaf – Tea & Asian Kitchen

The food and service are outstanding. I definitely will come back.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hot and Sour Soup

Photo Looks Better Than Reality, Episode 1: Sour Beef Shock 🍖
Saw a 5-star Yelp review by Chunyuan Z., with such an ugly photo I thought it was honest 😒.
Went to try the same beef — very unfresh, sour from the first bite 🤢.
The place looked fine but was nearly empty at dinner, with too many staff — slow turnover, no wonder the food isn’t fresh.
The Thai-style sauce was tasty and the grilled tomatoes were fresh, but the big bone looked reused for plating.
I stopped eating; my German friend noticed I was upset and finished the beef 😳 saying, “I’m strong 💪.”
We went straight to CVS afterward 😂.
Don’t be fooled by that “Michelin-worthy” review — even my photo looks better than the real thing.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 3

My group of three went right at opening we had reservations for 11AM. The staff were kind and attentive. My glass of water was always filled without having to ask which is always a personal plus of mine.
We ordered, fried tofu, shrimp ceviche, papaya salad, both of the curries, pineapple fried rice, pepper beef and truffle noodles. We loved everything we ordered!! The ambience of the restaurant and delicious food was an amazing combo, I really wish the best for this restaurant because we will definitely be back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Looks can be deceiving! My husband ordered orange chicken with rice. I ordered black pepper beef strips with rice. The girl seated us and with nobody in the place forgot about us. I had to tell her we were ready to order. She brings his food and it was so overcooked it was hard and couldn't be chewed. She then brings me a bowl of rice to sit and get cold while the cook is preparing my food. I got pissed and told her that we wanted to be charged for the cokes and we would be going someplace else. I told her 4 times about the food and issues with bringing out rice without the rest of the order to sit and get cold. She acted like she didn't understand me 4 times. I finally told her and her cook off, paid nearly $7 for two cans of Coke and walked out. Finney's got my business and was amazing. This place is a total joke. STAY AWAY FROM THIS DUMP, unless you like overcook food and bad service.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

It was just busy enough but not too busy. It was an event for my mother-in-law's birthday and we enjoyed it very much. The selection was lovely. The choices were innovative and inventive and the dessert was marvelous. The company was divine

Went here for the afternoon tea, the food was great and I really liked the tea sampling but service was in no way up to par for an afternoon tea service.

No warmth from the host and he took our tea order with no eye contact, the girl that brought the food was nice enough to go over each item but afterwards disappeared. I think the employees should go to a proper afternoon tea for their training

Also the restaurants decor wasn’t very impressive

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 2

Friendly service, great atmosphere, and the food was amazing. Finally a good asian spot in Orange.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Really great food definitely recommend this place to everyone

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

After seeing a post about this place on instagram, it was on my list of places I wanted to visit one day and finally got a chance. You have to make a reservation for tea service which is only available on Thursday-Sunday between 10am-4pm and there’s a $25 cancellation fee per person which was extremely stressful. I made a morning reservation and after having extreme difficulty finding parking, we finally arrived to a completely empty restaurant. You are first recommended to taste test all the tea selections available at the entrance, then you can each select one tea of your choice. Then your food arrives soon after. There’s 9 items person, and it’s $45 per person with personal tea pot and food. The tea and food tasted great but I thought it was worth about $29.99 honestly. After finishing, over 1 hour later, the place was still shockingly empty. I can’t imagine how they can stay in business. Something I really didn’t like was the restroom. Considering tea service is mostly attended by women, I didn’t like that they chose the male restroom with a urinal for guests and the women one was for “employees only”. No woman wants to use a restroom with a urinal. Hope they can change that. I think if they want a successful business, they need to reconsider the price, have more menu options, and I also suggest a small bakery area for take out options to generate more revenue.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Afternoon Tea

This place was whack with their bougie rip off tea and tea desserts/savories. Seriously, $40 per person for so little food and they do not know how to brew asian tea. Asian tea with actually tea leaves are best brew in gaiwan which they didn't provide. They give you tea bags and hot water, that's it. No instructions or plate to set aside tea bag or pitcher for tea. I do not like my tea bitter and the longer the tea bag just sits in there the more bitter it gets. If you want a real tea experience go elsewhere. But if you want to just sit down, sip on poorly presented and brewed tea, and just to look pretty bc you put on a pretty cute dress or outfit, then try this place. It is very hipster. Oh and as soon as I sat down, I sat on some pink cream that was on the side of my chair. They only gave me a lousy 10% for the inconvenience and for ruining my jeans for the day. Should have took that as a sign the experience here was going to be shitty. There is not a la carte menu. They said they got rid of it just an FYI.

Food: 1

Very relaxing atmosphere. Service was great!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We LOVED dining here! When you walk in, you get to sample many different types of hot teas before making a selection. Everything in the afternoon tea experience was delicious. The restaurant itself was very cute and service was really good. Highly recommend this spot!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Beautiful place and unbelievable yummy tea sandwiches and sweets! Also huge selection of teas

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Afternoon tea review:
The experience was not worth the price overall. Service wasn’t great. The place was pretty empty and we asked to change our seating but wasn’t able to. They were very strict on the 90min rule, which we didn’t realize till we got there. They give you the check about 20mins before your 90mins is up. The food selection wasn’t great. It felt more like a sampler rather than an afternoon tea spread. It was a good one time experience but probably only that.

A lovely afternoon tea spot with a wide variety of teas to choose from. The mushroom dumplings were incredibly delicious, and the black sesame puff was also a favorite!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5