The Alley — Restaurant in Markham

I have always been a fan of The Alley. However, I was very disappointed today with the careless way your worker prepared my drinks. I was at your Main Street Unionville store at around 5pm today. I ordered 3 drinks. As I was waiting for my drinks to be made, I noticed that your worker placed 2 of the cups that I ordered on the counter where the cash register is and that is also where customers go up to place their orders. A teenage boy not wearing mask came up to the cash register counter and started to talk to your worker to order his drinks. I noticed my cups were quite close to him when he was talking to your worker, and that made me feel very concerned and uncomfortable because he wasn't wearing a mask and there could have been some small saliva particles from his mouth that might have landed in my drinks as he was talking to the worker.

I don't think I will return to buy from your main street unionville store again unless I receive an apology for your staff's gross negligence of handling my drinks. I understand you guys have a limited counter space at this location, but during this covid pandemic, limited counter space is no excuse for putting the health of your loyal customers at risk. You need to train your staff to put drinks that they're preparing far away from other customers until they are ready to be handed to the customers that ordered them. You guys should also put a sign on your door to say "Please wear mask, no mask do not come in. But I guess you won't ever do that for fear of losing business.

By the way, you should also train your employees to be more courteous to your customers. There are plenty of other bubble tea places that would love our business during the recession. I am also considering reporting you guys to the health inspector if I don't get an apology and confirmation that you guys will train your staff about what I just mentioned above. We placed our health in your hands by going to your store and trust that you'll take good care of our drinks, but this is the kind of treatment you give to your loyal customers, it's really bad business practice and frankly, a...

Well, I have some good and bad things to say about this place. Bad #1, you cannot customize anything but sweetness level here. Their menu is their menu and you cannot order anything custom. I personally like Jasmin green tea sweetened with honey, with a splash of fresh milk (whole or 2%), the issue is that they have milk, but will not fulfill that request. Simply stating "we cannot deviate from the menu". This even follows suit to portion size! If you want a little less boba, the answer is NO. Their milk teas are made with creamer, their lattes are made with fresh milk. The issue here is that their lattes are primarily milk with very little tea. I finally asked if I could simply have it in reverse.. Mostly tea with little milk, again I was met with a firm NO. BAD #2, I also find it interesting that they have 2 completely different batches of boba. Which would be fine if this was/is clearly stated but in this case it isn't. Example, in my case I try their boba and realize I want 2 drinks (one for later, the boba was that good), only to be disappointed. The boba didnt taste the same! Come to find out that the boba I originally tried is for a special drink that the boba is slow cooked for 2 hours. Now I have wasted money on 2 boba drinks (this place is pricey FYI) with decent enough boba but NOT the boba I expected. Okay so onto the GOOD, That special 2 hour boba I mentioned earlier, is the BEST boba I've had in a long long time. The teas they have are of the best quality I've tasted and are brewed perfectly with passion tasted in every sip. The majority of the staff was friendly. In closing, hopefully you get a chance to try the coveted boba! Make sure you ask for it but don't expect to get it in whatever drink you want, you MUST order the special drink. None of this is clearly stated so I hope this helps you and you avoid wasting money like...

The Alley is a little bubble tea cafe located in the historic Main St. in Unionville which is a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For those who haven't been here, it reminds you of a small village in the mountains of Germany, except it's like Chinatown decided to have a baby with it. Since you'll notice the large Chinese population that frequents the area.

They serve their drinks either hot or cold. You have options for milk or soy milk based milk teas. Also they offer some non milk based teas as well. All drinks usually come with tapioca bubbles. Their signature and most popular drink is the Deerioca milk tea. I get mine in the hot option with soy milk as the base.

Menu isn't too big in terms of options. The cafe itself is rather small and narrow. On a busy day you might feel it's a little too cramped. Lots of people come by to drink and chill. It's a good place to have a nice conversation and relax. Definitely worth checking out if you're...