The Alley

Visited The Alley to experience their latest collaboration drinks with Jujutsu Kaisen. The Alley's ambiance, characterized by wood textures, greenery, and warm lighting, consistently provides a delightful café feel. While the service was a bit slow, it was understandable due to limited staff and low activity. I tried their Jujutsu Kaisen collaboration drinks: Gojo's Limitless Coconut Smoothie and Geto's Powerful Tropical Smoothie. The coconut smoothie, reminiscent of Buko Pandan, had just the right coconut flavour. The Tropical smoothie, topped with corn flakes, featured a perfect peach balance. Overall, the drinks and ambiance were delightful, making The Alley a recommended spot for me!

Not a great experience. I’ve never gone to a place where you can’t customize your drinks! I ordered a brown tapioca requesting some extra brown sugar, willing to pay extra if necessary but the staff refused. Just because the brown sugar is “fixed”
of course you could’ve added more if you wanted to. The other location allowed this before. Not going here again.

Ordered the ube puff milk tea
Overall it was pretty good however it lacked a bit of the ube flavour

I love The Alley and the drinks they offer. Unfortunately, this particular location has gone downhill significantly both in service and quality. There's a reason why there used to be lineups out the door and now it's a ghost town most of the time. You're better off traveling a bit more and going to the Midland/Finch location.

I ordered the Royal No. 9 - a signature drink. The drink itself is so watered down, it tasted like milk flavoured water. Ended up going to another bubble tea shop in the mall to make up for the disappointment. I am fine with paying a premium for quality milk tea, however this particular Alley location makes me question my choices.

The drinks at The Alley are delicious especially their Derioca series. Don't go to this location when they first open though. They do not have any drinks other than their classic tea available, and no brown sugar or regular tapioca. I would rate this location hire if they had the whole menu available prior to opening.

As person with bubble tea in her veins, I'm always on the lookout for places that offer the perfect combination of quality ingredients and a wide variety of flavors. Alley Bubble Tea has quickly become my go-to spot for satisfying my bubble tea cravings. With their exceptional tapioca and aromatic teas, along with their fantastic soy milk options, Alley Bubble Tea is a true gem.

Let's start with their tapioca pearls – they are an absolute delight, and perfectly chewy. But it's not just the tapioca pearls that make Alley Bubble Tea stand out. Their wide selection of teas has something for everyone. Whether you prefer classic flavors like assam black tea or crave something more adventurous like Royal no. 9, they have it all. The teas are brewed to perfection, showcasing a balance of fragrant flavors that are truly delightful.

They offer a great selection of soy milk-based bubble teas, allowing me to enjoy my favorite beverages without any worries. The soy milk blends seamlessly with the flavors, creating a creamy and velvety texture that enhances the overall experience.

Each drink is meticulously crafted, ensuring that every sip is an explosion of flavors. If you're looking for a bubble tea spot that has it all – exceptional tapioca pearls, aromatic teas, and soy milk options – look no further than Alley Bubble Tea.

I have recently visited this location and tried their specialty drink Lime Honey With Aloe and it was pretty good and something to have during summer. The store was quite clean and well maintained and also staff was nice and polite too.

I don't usually drink Bubble Tea, but when I do, I get it from The Alley!
Best Bubble Tea franchise, period. Amazing quality, absolutely fresh and delish.

Everything made fresh from scratch in-store - not from pre-made powders like everywhere else. And since it's not made from instant powders, you can get it with soy milk instead of regular milk.

I absolutely love this place. My number one choice ever for tea. All the options are good, also good prices. The customer service is great. I'm in love with the decor. If there's your first time, you can try the Derioca fever. You're going to like it.

I am trying to contact customer service but there’s an error, I bought a bubble tea drink from the Alley Scarborough Town Centre, the Derrioca Puff. I was excited to drink this drink and put it in my bag to drink at home, upon arrival to my house I saw that the whole drink spilled in my bag. This has never happened to me, as I suspect the lid was not secured tightly by the tapioca was left…. I was extremely disappointed as I paid almost $8 for a drink that I could not drink, I usually buy from the Alley and have good experiences but I feel like this experience may deter me from coming back.

Refused to give me a drink without tapioca. My mom and I wanted their new tiramisu milk tea but without tapioca. Should be no big deal right? Instead it was a whole song and dance about them not willing to change the recipe. They assured us the drinks are not pre-made, so not including tapioca would literally take less time, work and money to make. Anyways, their unwavering determination to not satisfy the customer was too strong to bare. The Alley establishment would rather us leave thirsty and defeated than accommodate their customers. My day was ruined and now I hate my life in this cruel society.

Got some drink for my kids on Saturday. Their drinks are always excellent and the only concern is about the chubby girl. She seem like angry with her coworker and so rude with customers (this is not the first time), the way she prepares drink for customers is unacceptable. Bad attitude cannot make good drinks.

I came in today April 19th for my birthday! I didn’t get the name of the lady taking my order but she was AMAZING! So helpful, recommended the best drink ever! I will for sure be back because her service was so great! She was kind, patient and helpful!

The place is nice and clean and the staffs are really nice, especially the girl who was wearing a red bonnet.

A drink dropped due to a faulty bag. Brought it back and they replaced the drink. Great service.

I got the Oreo devil slush. It was good but it was watery. Also, this location always takes so long to make the drinks. Their alley trio is for sure my favourite drink.

I had awful experience in The Alley STC. I have found a hair on my drink afterwards. Totally unacceptable and disgusting. The waiting time is long and drink taste like water. Never be back again! ！

Mark took wayy too long to make my 3 drinks. He forgot one of them and had to get manager confirm. Tom too long.

I honestly was surprised to see so many not-so-positive reviews. I do not doubt that some ppl have had issues with the wait time and other stuff, but I personally have had pretty positive experiences for the past 6 or 7 visits to The Alley— waiting in line is occasionally a bit much but after that the order comes out almost always under 3 minutes, I’d say. Staff is also always nice (my perspective could be skewed tho cause I’ve only ordered in Mandarin and that could make a difference).

Do take my review with a grain of salt though cause I’m just SUPER stoked to actually have a The Alley near me. I mean seriously, as far as bubble tea franchises go, The Alley is one of the better ones even in Beijing, and it’s arguably the best I’ve had in Toronto (Yifang ain’t my type, and nothing else comes remotely close IMHO).

Completely inefficient baristas. Like many customers have stated, there are 5-6 people working, yet they take 15-20 minutes to serve drinks. They need to be faster to survive at STC.

I came to this location at around 5pm today. I dont understand you have 4-5 shakers and still be so inefficient and slow. About 2 of the shakers were actually doing work, while the rest were just giggling and talking to each other. Ice, sugar, tea, shake. There's really no excuse to take more than 10 minutes for a drink when there's so much staff. The workers need to keep in mind that it's an open bar, the customers can see you working. Such a disappointment.

Edit after owner's response: I have worked in making bubble tea before at multiple franchises. Although the recipes may be different, there is a tea brewer for you to pre-make the teas, and I know it does not make long at all to make a simple milk tea (which I and many other customers ordered). I understand drinks like lattes take a little more time, but no one really ordered them.

Also the "talking and giggling" were not training sessions, seemed more like chitchat between the trainees. I would understand if they were training and actually trying their best to work quickly and efficient, but they just looked like they didn't care.

Edit after response from owner: Giving one start due to the fact that the line was long (understandable) but more importantly the rude dismissive attitude I was treated with when I ordered. I understand that employees can be pushed to get through orders fast, but I felt like I was attacked for hesitating on choosing my drink levels.

Friendly staff, good drinks!
Spacious! Limited seating tho.
Washroom without a change table?

I came here specifically for the limited edition Christmas drink that I'd seen on their instagram. (And was so happy when a STC location opened.) Wow, was I disappointed.

Now, I know nothing ever looks as good as Instagram makes it seem but this was a joke, comparatively. Go check out their IG if you want to compare it yourself. The $11 price was high but I thought I'd be getting a really great drink and I wasn't that concerned. I'll pay extra for something really good. (Plus you get a tin cup which is actually quality.)

I waited a strangely long time as the cashier did a gift card for someone. She took so long that all the baristas had nothing to do. Meanwhile a big queue was forming. Then I waited a long time for the drink itself. Which again, I wasn't too fussed about since I thought I'd be getting something worth the price and wait.

Then it started to go wrong. Firstly, they use aerosol whipped cream from a can. Even Starbucks whips its own cream in siphons. This spray cream tastes so synthetic and doesn't last. It looses firmness and airiness so quickly. I don't understand why you would spend all that effort and money to make good, flavourful, crafted drinks with fresh milk and custard.and then top them with fake cream? It ruins the whole drink.

I waited and waited as the barista went back and forth between the backbar and the kitchen to get ingredients. Really disorganized flow. It's like they weren't expecting anybody to order this special Christmas drink. 3 days before christmas? All the while, the cheap whipped cream was deflating. He then had some difficulty putting the red M&M on with tongs. Just let the employees use their hands, as long as they wash them frequently. It would save a good 2 minutes.

The end result was like an episode of "Nailed It! "

Really not worth the money or wait. It was missing half the toppings in their IG post. I will say the baristas were nice and apologised for the wait. The puff was almost unnoticeable with the icy slush overpowering it. The hojicha taste was good but again, the cream was not a good choice and it looked like something a 14 year old could make at home. Don't be fooled by their social media. I didn't see any drink come out like it looks on the menu or IG.

I'm sure I'll be back again, just never again for any limited edition specials. The decor is really nice and there is lots of seating and maybe I'll order something a little simpler.

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ADDED EDIT after response from owner:
Did you even read my review? I noticed not once did you apologise for my poor experience or acknowledge the issues I had and that says a lot about this business. Sorry I will not be returning now. Changing my review from 3 stars to 1 star based on your response.

PS. M&Ms don't require refrigeration lol. And jsyk, if you care about customer service, maybe listen to your customers when they complain? I don't have a problem with customers getting gift cards at all! I have a problem waiting 6-9 minutes minutes for the cashier to slowly, slowly, slowly program one and seeing baristas just standing around doing nothing cos of this. Judging by other reviews, this location has a TERRIBLE problem with slow service, both cashiers and baristas. I did not expect custard pudding, never said I did. I said it (the taste, creaminess) was overwhelmed by slush. And don't lie about "decorating time". My drink was missing half the decorations you promise in the ad! No cookie stick, no dusting, etc. You can see my photo as proof posted here. It was just inefficient and badly done with the barista running around all over, wasting time, gathering and forgetting ingredients. (And I never complained about the cup? I said it was quality. Why did you even bring that up?)