杏记甜品 SweetHoney Dessert — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

Terrible service, mediocre food.

I had a gift card with a remaining balance but no one knew how to redeem the gift card. It was for $100 and I had only visited 3 times before. There's no way I could've spent it all on previous visits alone. They must've reset their backend system or something because by the time they figured it out they said my balance was $0.

Besides the gift card fiasco, they had music blasting right at the order desk. I turned it down so I could discuss what to order with my friends, and they used Bluetooth to turn it back up, knowing we were right there about to order. And rather than being helpful and answer questions, they pretended not to hear and went to the back to scroll through their phones with 2 other employees.

When we ordered they asked which table we were sitting at so she could place our order... There were zero customers in the entire store, and in fact no dine in customers the entire time we were there. Like come on, use common sense.

This is supposed to be a Hong Kong style dessert shop and while I understand that some menu items have to change to adapt to other Chinese students nearby, they started using Simplified Chinese on their signs instead of Traditional Chinese, further neglecting the original diaspora community the dishes are intended for. But that's neither here nor there.

Other times I've come, they block out desserts which take time to prepare beyond the microwave they use to heat up (if it needs a pot and stove, they don't bother and tell you it's a 30 minute wait to deter you from ordering).

We shared a dessert hot pot at regular sweetness which had no flavour at all, including no taste to any of the toppings except the crystal ball one. We had to ask for additional syrup, which as someone who doesn't take sweetness to desserts, which means that there's no thought nor quality control to their dishes. After adding syrup, it was decent, but definitely not a Hong Kong style milk tea, nor proper toppings available for a HK dessert.

Now that my gift card seems to be empty, I don't think I'll be returning here, and it's evident by the fact that no one else was there other than us.

I might try the Saskatoon location instead to see if there's a...

There are many dessert shops in town, but this is the only place that I know of, that uses quality mangoes. I had the Mango Pomelo Sago with Grass Jelly and mango mochi and pancake and it tastes just like the dessert shops in Hong Kong. Texture is the right balance of thickness if eaten in a bowl, but also thin enough that it can be taken out in a cup. It is literally a dessert in a cup! Grass jelly is made in house - you can taste that it is not made from the can. Mochi and pancake also had perfect texture. There are some people that complain about the price. Honestly, I would rather pay a bit more to have items that are made fresh in house. Their Tofu pudding is also made in house. The amount of work, time, and love that these guys put into making their products separates them from other dessert stores. And I haven't even gotten to the mangoes yet. The mangoes are top quality mango, sweet to the point of being sugary, and absolutely rich in mango taste. Just as how a real good mango should taste. The price reflects the quality of their fruit, and the labour of their work. I will definitely go again to try their other items, as I have been thoroughly impressed by the...

The portion size is extremely small. The bubble tea is charged full price yet it’s about 1/4 in height less for the cup size compared to other bbt stores. It was also filled with mostly milk. The portion sizes are smaller than a snack size, somewhere along the size of an Asian sauce dish, for the deep fried things. The desserts are as the other reviewers photographed, very small for the price they charge, and hardly any fresh fruit topping. Despite the earlier reviews I wanted to check out the place before I made any judgement. But I’m not planning to come back. The female staff that gave me my food in a to go bag was very, very unhappy. She just gave me my bag on the table, didn’t say anything and walked away. It got me super confused because I wasn’t sure if my entire order was there. Otherwise taste wise, the deep fried stuff was very delicious. Taro balls are good but it wasn’t as delicious as meet fresh. For the price to portion size and how the location was completely out of my way to get there, I won’t be coming back. Location is not their fault, however I am willing to drive out of my way if the food was worth it, in this...