Gong Cha - Markham

Just the strangest service, they're not mean or rude, actually quite nice even but they're just terrible drink makers. My advice to them is to calm down take a... read more Just the strangest service, they're not mean or rude, actually quite nice even but they're just terrible drink makers. My advice to them is to calm down take a bit of time to read and understand the label and than make the drink. It's as if they're not thinking at all and just pouring as fast as they can and reaching whatever container they happen to come upon. And we were the only ones in the store it's not like there was a long line up of people after us. I am paying 7 bucks for tea and water because it is meant to be special and a treat, show some thought. Really the whole experience was kind of odd, Gong Cha head office really needs to provide some proper training and reconsider how sweet their drinks and their sugar levels should be. Asked for no sugar added, guess what Soo much sugar in it. I couldn't even save my drink, tried to make more tea to dilute the drink and it was still too sweet. It's like a concentrated sweet syrup base to make other drinks with. Gong Cha is sourcing the sweetest most undilutable sugar that was ever invented.

With so many bubble tea chains around, I thought Gong Cha would have something unique to offer. Compared to major chains such as Chatime, Coco, and Sharetea, Go... read more With so many bubble tea chains around, I thought Gong Cha would have something unique to offer. Compared to major chains such as Chatime, Coco, and Sharetea, Gong Cha is just another typical place where you could order your usual bubble tea flavours--this isn't a bad thing if that's what you want. Generally, I like when food--or in this case--drink places give you a special twist to the regular. I ordered a black sugar oolong milk tea with 2J at 30% sweet and light ice. I probably should have ordered the drink with 0% sweetness because the jelly and the tapioca made it a bit too sweet for my liking. Also, I felt the sweetness also overpowered the tea flavour; in fact, I don't think I could taste much of the oolong tea in the base, which is kind of disappointing because I really like oolong tea. One thing I did like is the chewiness of the tapioca, which was just perfect. I didn't know what to expect with the tapioca and jelly combination but the overall texture balanced well. My sister got the peach green tea with jelly at 30% sweet and light ice. She told me that the drink had an awful bitter after taste to it. I am assuming the bitterness is probably from over-steeped green tea. This makes me wonder whether Gong Cha knows how to prepare their tea base; regardless, this storefront just opened so maybe they're still figuring out how to properly brew tea--which, I must comment, is an art on its own to make it just right. Service wise, I appreciated how patient the lady at the cashier was as I verified the order that my sister wanted over the phone. However, she did mess up my drink order by putting the sticker on regular size cups instead of the large--even when I confirmed with her that I wanted two large drinks TWICE! The wait for my drink took a bit longer because of the cashier's mistake. On the one hand, I am glad when the workers had to remake my drinks that they didn't just cut open the regular size drinks and poured the contents into the large cup and filled it with tea--I have actually seen bubble tea shops do that before--so I applaud their sincere remake of it. On the other hand, their attention to detail in the remake was kind of disappointing because I had to loudly tell the worker to make sure that the drink is light ice and less sweet. Overall, the question comes down to: would I return to Gong Cha? With the BOGO free offer, most definitely! But on a regular day, $7 for a mediocre cup of bubble tea is just too much for me to spend. I'd rather drive a couple blocks to First Markham Place's food court and pick up a cheaper--and probably similar quality to Gong Cha--bubble tea from there.

Yeah sure their BOGO is a good deal (you can only pick from 6 drinks) but that deal is only for a week so... Let me start off by saying their drinks will actual... read more Yeah sure their BOGO is a good deal (you can only pick from 6 drinks) but that deal is only for a week so... Let me start off by saying their drinks will actually give me diabetes. I've tried many different drinks (including all 6 of their BOGO drinks, aka their top 10) and found that their drinks are way too sweet, especially the milk teas. I purposely asked for 50% sugar but it's still disgustingly sweet. OH and they are always out of tapioca... always. But that's not even the problem. They won't let you swap for a different topping. I find that unfair because my drink is supposed to come with tapioca and if they don't have tapioca then they should let me replace it with any other topping of the same price because it was originally included with my drink. Honestly EVERY BUBBLE TEA PLACE is okay with that, except this gong cha. I know I'm not the only one who finds this unfair because everyone in line complained about the same issue I had with this place. They also cheap out on toppings too. I obviously don't expect half a cup of toppings but they legit gave me 1/10th of a cup of toppings..... Should've taken a picture to post it here but there was so little topping it looked like someone's left over drink, before I even poked my straw through the sealed drink. Last but not least, everything is very disorganized. Not sure if it's because of the BOGO event or people (not all employees) just aren't trained properly and don't know how to make a bubble tea or provide decent customer service???????

We tried the milk foam wintermelon tea and wintermelon milk tea with grass jelly (both included in the bogo promo). They are both very similar in taste. We got... read more We tried the milk foam wintermelon tea and wintermelon milk tea with grass jelly (both included in the bogo promo). They are both very similar in taste. We got them with 30% sugar and light ice, which was perfect. The milk foam wintermelon tea is a wintermelon tea topped with some milk foam. You can drink it with or without stirring. The wintermelon taste is stronger if you do not stir. If you stir the foam with the tea, it will become wintermelon milk tea. So pretty much both drinks are the same, the only difference is the grass jelly. The grass jelly made the wintermelon taste less strong. Overall we loved both of them!!

I like going to try out their grand opening special as most bbtea have a BOGO special! Most places also have some sort of catch in their BOGO! Chat time has the... read more I like going to try out their grand opening special as most bbtea have a BOGO special! Most places also have some sort of catch in their BOGO! Chat time has their fixed drink that u get for free! This one has heir top 6 BOGO, however when u get there u see only 6 selective drinks they have on their top 10 fave drinks are part of the BOGO! Unfortunately my Royal milk tea with 3J which is #6 didn't make the cut Still decent deal coz if I order a large they give you a large unlike others that only give u a reg size drink! Overall go check them out as BOGO deal finish April 13th! I got 0 sugar on winter melon milk tea with grass jelly it was still a bit sweet! So is the Peach Green tea with QQ jelly! Always order 0 sugar 0 ice!