Gong Cha Chinatown - Bubble Tea — Restaurant in Calgary

Since this place opened, I sometimes see LONG LINEUPS out the door, down the block and around the corner to the bank.

So, I decided to finally stop in and see what the hype is about and what's up with this cult following.

There was obviously a lineup and it gave me time to look at the menu and see the choices.

So when I go to order, the chick tells me they ran out of sparkling water that's needed for first drink I tried to order and apologized. Which was fine because it was NOT my intended choice. That was just a random flavor that looked appealing and wanted to order a second drink, just to make it worth my while to go there. So I ordered my first choice, which was the mango green tea with mango pearls.

It was totally magical, the mango pieces were the good stuff and the mango pearls were also a nice texture and seemed different from basic pearls.

There were some really interesting looking choices on the menu, including combinations I never knew could exist together.

The only down side was the lineup, it was probably a 10 minute wait to get my drink.

Most people would agree that long lineups are annoying, so the only thing I can think of to make it more enjoyable, is to offer ONLINE SHOPPING. Kind of like pizza places and the limited possibilities for customization, that would include the option to place orders for the future

Then when the person goes to pick up the order, there's no wait line since they can just grab it and go.

I don't see it happening anytime soon, since bubble tea only started getting popular during the last few years and most of these new chains came across the ocean. I can imagine they are still trying to get settled in and don't have the luxury or ability to advance to that extent so rapidly.

But until then, I guess there's no way to deal with the lineups.

I do plan to stop by...

Don’t get me wrong I love Gong Cha but the customer service at this branch just disappointed us today. My friends and I came to get a few bubble tea’s after a long day of work. However my friend was just not feeling too well, so for this particular day she wanted to get a bubble tea with NO ICE. When she got her drink, her bubble tea had ice in it(despite the label saying otherwise). On top of this, my friend was told that she can HAVE the drink with no ice prior to her paying + tip for the bubble tea. So we asked them if they could remake the drink. But to no avail they declined our request and stated that they couldn’t remake it as milk requires ice. We get that but my friend was told otherwise. They didn’t make an effort to apologize. They could’ve declined our request and apologize and we would’ve just accepted it and went on our way. The lack of effort to solve the matter in hand is just...

Came in today hoping for a simple cup of boba, and was instantly greeted the apathetic cashier. The service was just as bad as the cashier's impression: she only replied in short, abrupt answers.

Although they still had 1-2hrs before closing, they were out of many teas, including milk tea and Earl Grey, which seems like poor management to me.

Upon receiving my drink, I was politely thanked by the server for waiting, contrasting the rude service I encountered just 5 minutes ago with the cashier. The drink was not special comparing to the other bubble tea shops nearby, Jusfruit and Chatime to name a few. It was also missing the pearls that I requested, but it was also missing in the drink label, and receipt so I guess the cashier missed it.

Factoring in the mediocre drink with bad customer service, I would be considering the other boba shops near Chinatown before coming...