Restaurants in Mason

Essencha's leisurely tea lunch begins with your selection of either a hot pot of tea or a shot of matcha (finely milled green tea). The tea house lets you choose from over 70 varieties of high-quality blacks, oolongs, greens, whites, rooibos, herbals, and organic flavors. Essencha's passionate staff of tea-totalers will help you navigate this voluminous variety until you find the tea you never knew you craved. Next, a soup of the day or miso soup stretches tongue tendons, followed by a fruit salad or a café salad with seasonal greens, veggies, dried fruit, pine nuts, and lemon vinaigrette. After you fill up on finger sandwiches with your non-teacupped free hand, enjoy a scone paired with clotted cream and jam. A cupcake or triple-chocolate-chunk brownie caps off a meal fit for tea tycoons and tea-drinking raccoons alike.

Giminetti Baking Company epitomizes oven loving with a crop of toasty sandwiches, fresh-baked buns, and yeasty edibles. A fluffy stack of syrup-drenched pancakes ($3.95 for stack of three) challenges forks and pancake-climbing army men, and brownies ($2 each), white-chocolate macadamia-nut cookies ($0.75 each), and monstrous Danishes ($1.50 each) complement freshly brewed coffee ($1.50). For midday meals, the Vedgewich ($5.50)—two slices of multigrain rustica bread piled high with sprouts, bell peppers, grilled onions, and horseradish mayo—crunches under teeth and silences stomachs whimpering for one of their daily servings of vegetables. Dine inside or saddle up to two- and four-seat outdoor patio tables, which encourage impromptu games of Uno with sun-warmed stray cats. Open six days a week and as early as 7 a.m. on weekdays, Giminetti Baking Company offers a doughy start to the day, a speedy handheld lunch, or a savory solution to the sluggish 12 p.m. slump.

Cornerstone's hefty menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, and pizza is generously peppered with creative takes on café classics and daily specials that will keep your tongue on the edge of its eat. The sandwich lover singing lonely laments from the dark corner of your stomach-tavern will settle down when it meets the Cornerstone Hero Sandwich (ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion, black olives, horseradish and balsamic vinaigrette, $6.49), a Cajun roast-beef sandwich (lean Cajun roast beef, lettuce, tomato, red onions, jack and pepper-jack cheese, and a Texas petal sauce, $6.59), or a handsome, vacation-tanned Caribbean chicken sandwich (marinated chicken breast, red onion, lettuce, tomato, pepper-jack cheese, and homemade sauce, $6.59).

When whipping up tasty teas and edible accompaniments, The Tea Parlor calls on the finest local ingredients available, ensuring the beverage's boasted health benefits don't get lost like a baby hedgehog in a ball pit. The full tea menu for the month of May starts with freshly steeped Garden Rose tea, impeccably paired with shortbread, seasonal fruit, and assorted finger sandwiches filled with cucumbers, carrots, cheese, turkey, and ham salad with orange marmalade. Savory asparagus is balanced with mixed-berry crumble cake, hazelnut truffle, and strawberry bread to satisfy sweet-seeking incisors. The featured menu items change monthly, so check back periodically to update your cravings accordingly.

Conceptualized by Chef Joshua Steven Campbell, a Cincinnati native, Mayberry and World Food Bar bring creative tastes to the community without ever pressuring the community to adopt creative eating techniques in return—traditional methods such as teeth and forks are acceptable. Mayberry's modest, warm atmosphere invites patrons to feast on fancified versions of classic comfort food such as the Sloppy Josh sandwich (slow-cooked beef with rosemary and spicy mustard, $7) for lunch, paired with a tater-tot casserole ($3). Transitioning palates to dinner hour are elegant small plates such as pepper-bacon-wrapped pork medallions sweetly accompanied by barbecue chickpeas and goat cheese ($10) and the restaurant's herbed flatbread with guava, kalamata olives, and feta cheese, which can be made with lamb or with minted tofu for vegetarians ($10).

Bucks Tavern combines the atmosphere of a cozy neighborhood sports bar with the menu of a locally minded gastropub. Start with an order of crispy potato skins—stuffed with cheese, bacon, and scallions, and served with sour cream ($9)—or a bowl of Bucks' homemade beef chili ($5) before tempting your taste buds into swimming up-tongue with a grilled-salmon salad (baby spinach, provolone, tomatoes, candied walnuts, and hard-boiled egg, topped with Atlantic salmon, $13). A hand-breaded, all-natural whitefish sandwich ($8.50) will satisfy lunchtime customers who suspiciously resemble a flock of seagulls in a trench coat. Even pub staples are delivered with an upscale twist. The grilled cheese showcases creamy havarti, tomato, fresh basil, and a drop of honey on a pedestal of wheatberry toast ($7), and Dan's burger tops a hand-sculpted beef patty with pepper jack, bacon, fried-onion straws, and a drizzle of barbecue sauce ($8). All sandwiches come with a side of Bucks’ slaw or seasoned fries—the raffish, fast-living, smooth-talking brother of waffle fries. A children's menu, meanwhile, delights toy-humans with favorites such as sliders, chicken fingers, and mac ‘n’ cheese, all served with a side of fries.