Hello! I hope you are all having a wonderful day so far. I loved reading all of your comments on this morning’s juice cleanse post! Just in case you missed it, there is a great giveaway at the end, so be sure to stop by and enter if that’s something that interests you!
I don’t have much time, but I wanted to at least drop in and share a fabulous new restaurant Scott and I finally got around to going to yesterday.
Mad Hatter Bistro Bar & Tea Room (Birmingham)
Those who have been following the blog since we moved up to Michigan already know that Birmingham is one of our favorite areas to frequent. There are always things to do, restaurants to check out, and seasonal festivals that bring us over to the main shopping strip.
For months, we had been eying the opening of a new bistro, bar, and tea room called Mad Hatter located in the heart of Downtown Birmingham.
We passed it while walking along the streets a couple of times and thought it looked like a perfect spot for us.
A lot of you may not know this, but Scott used to work for Disney before I met him in Orlando! He has always loved the story of Alice in Wonderland and The Mad Hatter character is one of his all-time favorites.
He loves it so much that he literally wanted our wedding theme to look very similar to what we found inside this restaurant!
I have seen the Alice in Wonderland theme covered on wedding shows on television and thought it would be a neat idea too. For a July wedding in Orlando, Florida, it didn’t quite fit. We did, however, use the topsy-turvy “Alice in Wonderland” style of wedding cake to inspire our own custom design!
We brought our friend Megan with us (who is in town working the Auto Show), and the three of us couldn’t get over how cute all of the decorations and storybook details were.
You can’t really tell from this photo, but the bar grabbed several design aspects from the story like the telephone booth and prescriptions window.
We managed to claim the last table available during the busy lunch hour. The menu brought us right into the story with poems and Alice inspired eats and drinks. I loved drinking water out of the fancy goblets!
This is one of those places we will have to visit several times to try everything we want to. Everything looked so good. We asked both the hostess and our waiter what their personal favorites on the menu were and one admitted to eating the risotto bites on every single shift.
Clearly, we needed them as an appetizer. YOU GUYS. Cheesy risotto bites dipped in marinara sauce. Enough said.
I could have easily ordered ten entrees off of the menu, but I settled on the classic lunch option of half a salad and half a sandwich.
Chicken Panini Sandwich & Classic Hollywood Cobb Salad
Scott ordered the waiter’s number one choice: Old Woodward Street Tacos. I helped myself to a bite and it was delicious!
While we were finishing up our lunches, we overheard someone saying something about a hidden tea room downstairs. After we put a dessert order in, I walked over to the “rabbit hole” and made my way down to sneak a peak.
How cute is this?
Downstairs is where you will find what they call the Tea Room. It’s set up like the tea party from the film and features a specialty teas and baked goods menu to order from!
We are looking forward to making a trip back and request to sit in that room. This trip, however, ended on a wonderful note with an order of their carrot cake with homemade cream cheese icing and whipped cream.
I am not usually big on icing, but this one takes the cake. Literally. So good!
Scott and I love to get out and check out more of our neighborhood areas these days. There are so many new-to-us restaurants and adventures to explore within thirty short minutes of our house. As always, I’ll be sure to share the highlights when we come across must-visit spots like this one!
Question of the Afternoon
• Have you ever been to a character themed restaurant (outside of Disney property)? I’d love to hear about it!
All right. It’s time for me to boogie. I’ll see you see you back in the morning!

That place looks fantastic! Birmingham is a really great area 🙂
Sarah
Midwest Darling
Ideally, we’d like to move there someday… (says everyone including us!)
We might have to move down near Detroit eventually and Birmingham is on the top of my list!
How fun!! There’s a Mad Hatter bar in DC and I always loved the upside down decorations on the ceiling. I need those risotto bites asap, yum!!
I’m still dreaming about them…
How fun! That is cool that Scott worked for Disney. We went to a Mad Hatter themed restaurant/cafe in San Antonio. http://www.madhatterstea.com/
That sounds really neat! I would love to visit San Antonio again. I went once for a couple of weeks, but it was back in my middle school days for a dance camp!
Love this! My husband and I spotted this place as well and have been meaning to go! So happy you went and reviewed….we will definitely make a point to get there soon! 🙂
You would LOVE it! <3
Cream cheese icing ANYTHING is my jam. You don’t like icing? Heather, I’m sad about that … 🙂 Sounds like a fun place!
Ha… I’m not a huge fan of icing. I’ve always preferred the cake. Homemade cream cheese icing? Now that’s another story. YUM!
I am obsessed with tea rooms! Definitely my kind of place.
I would love to visit again just for the desserts and tea!
That place is so neat!! I, too, have a thing for Alice in Wonderland. I even had my own Sweet Sixteen party as a mad batter tea try decorated with all things Wonderland.
Oh that sounds adorable!
I’m most interested in the Metabolism cleanse!
Oh my gosh, this place sounds so cute! I love that the decor was fitting with the story but not overly cutesy! I love the silver platters with the London newspaper on them! And those risotto bites look so amazing too! The only Disney restaurant I really remember is the Blue Bayou and getting Monte Cristo sandwiches!
I loved the newspaper touches too. We are looking forward to visiting again soon!
That is so cute! How fun would that be to take a little girl there and have a tea party downstairs? http://www.eatallovertheworld.com
I know! I was thinking that too. We actually saw a mother and two girls enjoy their tea upstairs next to us. It was so cute!
This is too cool!! Love Alice in Wonderland. I’ll have to make a trip one day to go see this!!