CHICHA San Chen — Restaurant in Markham

I must express my frustration here. I won't point fingers, but let's delve into the management's disorganization. Having worked in a boba tea shop for years, I know the ropes. First, the staff taking orders seems inexperienced. While I appreciate the attention to detail, when there's a line of 10+ people, some speed would be nice. Plus, asking repeatedly if I need a 50-cent bag is a bit excessive – keep the detail but work faster and pay attention to the customer's response.

Then there's the issue with order delivery. The staff seals cups with care, even adding award stickers, but they lack proper training. I waited for my drink patiently at the front. After 15 minutes, I saw one of my drink placed in a bag. But I wasn't sure if the person before me ordered the same drink, so I stayed quiet. The staff panicked 5 minutes later when they couldn't find my drink. They went back, passing the blame around, instead of addressing the issue. At this point, I believe it is better they came to the client, apologized sincerely, explained the situation, and provided a time estimate for the remake.

In the end, I had to approach the staff and ask how long it would take. They said two minutes and apologized. But when they checked again after five minutes, no one had even started making my drink and started doing the “oh really, when did you ask me to remake” game. I get that the staff might be new and frustrated, but communication is key. The tea takes less than 5 minutes to make, yet I waited 45 minutes for this mess to be resolved. I was already warned about long waits here, but this was on a quiet Monday with no line when I got there (more people came after 20 mins). If the management trained their staff better and quickly fixed mistaken orders, my drinks could have been ready within 20-25 minutes.

To the administrators or management team, please, train your staff better, rectify missed orders promptly, prioritize those missed orders first, and don't leave the customer waiting indefinitely. Don't just say you'll make it; actually remake it!

The tea quality is acceptable; it's not terrible. The boba and taro balls are cooked to perfection with a great chew. However, I requested no sugar and no ice to experience the authentic taste of the award-winning tea, but it turned out a bit watery and bland. I'm uncertain if my preference was prepared incorrectly or if sugar is necessary for a better flavor. On the bright side, it does have a pleasant aroma. Also, the store is quite nice decorated and pretty photogenic!

(My rating: 3 stars in drink+ 1star in service+ 3 stars in atmosphere/ 3 = 2...

Award-winning (supposedly 3 michelin star equivalent) Chicha San Chen has finally arrived in markham at markville mall!

My gf and I stopped by on a sunday and the line was surprisingly only around 10-15 min long.

My colleague had raved about the downtown location to me as she lives near it but because of distance to me it's been sitting in my bookmarks.

The tea is very fragrant. You can waft and sniff all the aromas of each tea in the display tins as you walk up to the counter.

My gf opted for cassia black tea with cream (she wanted oat milk but they had already run out of it unfortunately) and grass jelly. For me, it was a toss up between dong-ding oolong or high mountain pouchong. I ended up going w/ the high mountain pouchong w/ fresh lemon juice and konjac jelly.

Both teas tasted great! Very strong tea flavour (could taste the essence of the leaves). The pouchong was definitely more floral than the cassia. Idk if it's roasted, but the cassia had deep roasted undertones to my taste buds.

I've heard the taro balls are supposed to be really good so I may try those way further in the future.

I say way further because MAN IS IT EXPENSIVE.

If I'm giving a rating solely on tea taste and quality it's an ez 5 stars. However, they only have 1 size for the drinks and you're basically paying around $9 per drink which is infringing on Ten Ren's price territory .

The tea is better than a lot of chains but is the value THAT much better than say a large bbt at The Alley (which also has solid tea) at almost $3 more expensive for a smaller size (including topping)? I'm not entirely convinced tbh.

So for overall rating, I'd give a SOLID, SOLID 4 star rating. EXCELLENT tea but I have to drop a star because bbt should never get close to $10 (especially...

I've been to their other location previously. I like that this location has a much more open ordering counter. The other location at Dundas/Spadina is cramped and a bit claustrophobic. It was a bit busy when I went during the holiday rush, and I waited up to 10 minutes for my 2 drinks. They have some seating indoors, but very limited. Probably 1-2 2-person tables.

The drinks I ordered were okay. My mom hated her Taro Queen as she didn't like the texture of the Taro balls. Personally, when I first tried the drink at the Spadina location, I enjoyed it, so not sure if it's due to location or just preference. I ordered the Formosa Fruit tea. I personally like to drink every bit of my bubble tea. Unfortunately the way the fruit was cut, it was impossible. I hated that I felt like I wasted the leftover fruit since I didn't have an alternative method to eat the rest, and I couldn't just rely on my straw because it wouldn't have fit through the hole. A smaller thing I didn't like about ordering in general was that some drinks have fixed sugar levels, but it's not clear until you order and they correct you.

Also, I didn't like how out of the way it is in the mall. It's basically just above the food court, but unfortunately very far from where I usually shop, although I know that was not too controllable from their end.

Overall, I might return, but it wouldn't be...