Pacific Surf Inn, Encinitas

Kevin Lee and Tiffany Lo opened the Beach Tea House 101 at Pacific Surf Inn eleven years ago. Before they opened the teahouse and inn, Kevin was a general contractor until 2001 when he retired. When they purchased the Pacific Surf Inn, they created the Beach Tea House 101 from a work shed. The outside has been painted a beautiful, dark red color. It is hard to miss while driving down Coast Highway 101 Leucadia. They have a large patio seating area or if it is a bit chilly there is also an area to sit inside of the teahouse. The inside is filled with traditional Ishing teapots, chopsticks, place settings, sandals, statues and bowls of luck. The extensive menu at Beach Tea House 101 includes boba drinks, iced slushies, creamy smoothies, iced flavored teas, iced coffees, iced milk teas, healthy juice, soup noodle, thick toast, Chinese hot tea and fresh brewed coffee. The most popular items are the Mango, Peach, Passion Fruit, Coconut, Mocha, French Vanilla, Japanese Green Tea, Mango-n-Peach, Chocolate-n-Strawberry, Strawberry-n-Banana and Pineapple-n-Coconut. The iced vanilla lattes, iced matcha (green-tea) latte and iced white chocolate mocha are also very popular. The honey milk tea, almond milk tea, matcha (Japanese milk tea), rose milk tea, taro milk tea and thai milk tea are teahouse favorites. Tiffany recommends the Seafood (green tea noodle) soup. The oolong, pu-erh, oolong osmanthus tea, and the oolong rose tea are great too! While listening to the sound of the Coaster and looking at the beauty of the Coast Highway 101 I enjoyed a Coconut, Almond Tea with Coffee Jelly, Mango Stars, Rainbow Jelly and Boba. It was delicious. Although milky it was quite refreshing and the coffee jellies complimented it quite nicely! Tiffany explains, “A lot of our customers are local and just walk into the teahouse. We have a lot of people who are traveling and staying at the hotel come in for Boba and tea. Beach Tea House 101 has a lot of great, healthy drinks and snacks.” Kevin’s brother Richard Li, a graphic designer who has been published in many magazines helps out at the inn and teahouse for a couple months out of the year. This truly is a family owned and operated business. If you are visiting rent a room on Coast Highway 101, right next to the beach and have the choice of many different teas at the Beach Tea House 101. Yum!

The location is great. We were visiting our son, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton. He lives in Leucadia; and the Pacific Surf Inn was just a few blocks from his rental house. We walked to the beach, which is just a couple of blocks away, every evening to watch the sun set. The room was large with a full kitchen, although pots, pans, and dishes were not included. The family that runs the Inn could not have been nicer. The trains going by did not bother us a bit. Although the motel has been there "forever", The train tracks were still there first. My wife and I noticed immediately that the Encinitas-Leucadia area has no high rises. That makes it special. We would definitely stay at the Pacific Surf Inn again.

I arrived 7/06/08, nice hardwood floors, LARGE room with kitchen. The beds (2) are extremely hard (be prepared), beds from LONG ago...need replacing. I was prepared to bring and wear ear plugs due to the train tracks across the street. I didn't find the train an issue for a Sunday night, ear plugs helped! Expect to pay around $90 for June/July/August months. Hotel is less than 5 miles from Moonlight Beach and tons of shopping/eating nearby. I have stayed in many hotels in the years, and found this one decent for the price...

The weather is great. The ocean is in walking distance away. It has plenty of parking spaces. The kitchen has a very nice size refrigerator. There are many good neighboring restaurants. I can put my bike and surf board in the small patio. This hotel is really one of a kind. The price is incrediblely affordable.

We we're in encinitas last year and we couldn't find many places to stay because it was around july 4th. then we found the pacific surf motel, which was at least 30 dollars cheaper than everywhere else. AND it had a kitchen, couch, flatscreen tv. and the people at the front desk, i'm assuming the owners we're incredibly nice. would defiantely recommend.