Tiny Boxwoods is like a little hidden world right in the middle of busy Houston. You don’t know it is there until you are in it and once inside you can’t imagine what the world outside looks like. Tiny’s, despite what its name may suggests, spans a whole city block. On the right side of the block is a little store that sells lovely decorations for the homeowner who already has everything. This store is surrounded by a beautiful garden shop selling multicolored flowers, a range of herbs, larger pots with olive plants and small palm trees and all the pots you could ever need. Next to this is a little square of very green grass leading right up to Tiny Boxwood’s itself. This little café has quite a bit of seating outside including some very large tables for big families.
Inside though is my favourite. It is bright and cheery. Today there was some French café music which made me miss Paris. The walls and furniture are different shades of beige with green accents. Around the cash register you are easily tempted by a range of freshly baked pastries at this hour of the morning (and incredible chocolate chip cookies if you come later in the day). We ordered a hot chocolate, of course, and went to sit at one of the tables near the window where we had a view of everything happening in this relatively small space.
It took a while but my hot chocolate finally arrived and in what I like to call a hug mug, one of those big mugs that just seems to give you a big hug as you drink from it. This one was white and warmed my hands and made me happy. Unfortunately, as so often happens at places that I love, I didn’t stay happy for very long. The hot chocolate was very plain and very sweet, I suspect a chocolate syrup stirred in milk. I only had a few sips and spend the rest of the morning enjoying the mug instead and using it to warm my hands. It is always so sad for me to review hot chocolates at spots that I love that seem to put a lot of attention into every detail, and then have a very disappointing hot chocolate…high expectations and all. But Rich loved his latte and everything else looks fantastic at Tiny’s…oh well.
Verdict: If you are in Houston I would recommend a relaxing stop at Tiny Boxwoods but skip the hot chocolate. I do however highly recommend the hug mug so ask for another drink (a latte perhaps) in the mug so you can enjoy that! Tiny Boxwoods, 3614 W Alabama St. Houston, USA
