Chatime Bubble Tea — Restaurant in Mississauga

3.5 stars ... its actually good for Mississauga but I felt this particular location was chaotic with the parking and it's a bit slow.

Chatime is another international big brand for bubble tea that landed in the GTA. I knew of Chatime when it first went into the GTA East and I've seen it a few times in busy spots like Square One. I totally forgot it was in Mississauga until my yelp search had it pop up. This location is just ... crazy. It's a strip mall off the super busy intersection of Mavis and Burnhampthorpe. Even on a late afternoon before the after dinner rush, the parking lot was completely filled and there was a constant rush of cars coming in and out.

The store itself is one of the larger spots I've seen... there's at least 10 tables where you can sit after ordering. The decor is the brand standard of white walls, light wooden touches, and the bold purple as being the key colour. The ordering area was busy with a few people... maybe 2 people in the line up before us. There was a decent amount of staff. I spied at least 5 different people. Service here is not quite efficient. For that many staff, I would hope teas would be made quicker than waiting around for 10 minutes. Even the people before us with an order of one tea... still at least 10 minutes.

One thing I did think was cute... they've got a promo right now. For an order of 2 drinks, you get a lucky 'purple' pocket with different prizes. We got the basics of buy one get the second for $0.88. It's a nice touch for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Chatime milk tea (hot) - I've had a few hot milk teas from the past few brands. I felt this one was a bit more diluted than the other stores out there. Though I got this half sweet, it was still a kick of sugar with a lighter black tea flavour. I like if it had more of a robust black tea so this one was good but not great. 3.5/5

Coffee Slushie - Another decent drink but I found here the flavour wasn't as good as others spots in the GTA West. A touch too light on the coffee flavour. At 30% sweetness, this was one of the more balanced drinks. I know this is a slushie so you have to use ice to make it a slush but I found this was a lot of iced used. I felt they just overloaded it with possibly too much ice... after finishing off the drink, there was ice slush half the cup size left in it. 3.5/5

Chatime milk tea with boba - Similar to the hot chatime milk tea, its a pretty decent tea with a lighter flavour. I think there was a good amount of bubbles given and if anything, I probably finished the drink before the bubbles. The bubbles was actually nicely cooked... chewy and touch sweet. 3.5/5

Brown Sugar milk tea - I honestly couldnt tell that much of a difference from the chatime milk tea. I felt this one was just maybe a touch more of a caramel flavour that the regular chatime milk tea. Similar to the others... definitely lacking on the good tea note. It was good but could be better. 3.5/5

Overall, its a decent spot but only during the slow times... I cannot imagine trying to get in and out of this place (and the store) when it's dinner time or right after dinner. It would be a crazy nightmare and the wait for parking and your drink...

First time here and thought to give it a try having been to many bubble tea places. I wasn't near my favorite bubble tea places and thought to take a chance looking at the reviews now I question if the reviews are even legit. The drinks came so fast which had us questioning how we got 4 drinks that fast that was my first sign something wasn't right. I been to many places nobody makes drinks that fast unless you skip the quality of your products. Doesn't take much to hand people bubbled water. This place was utterly disappointing. I ordered 4 drinks at $31.75 and they all lacked flavor and seemed very watery no flavor not sure if they used powder or syrup but all the drinks tasted watery everyone complained about the same issue and they were 4 different drinks🤨. The Lycee barely resembled lycee. Chocolate smoothie had barely chocolate taste. Brown sugar was warm., Passion fruit seemed like water with fruit. Total rip off if your going to charge this much the drink cannot be watered down unless your don't care about quality and want to make fast buck. Paid extra for tapioca and barely any pearls inside 🙄. I learned an expensive lesson here, that I stick to my favorite bubble tea places where they actually serve you the properly made drinks. If I wanted water, I go the tap at home next time and add some ice it be much cheaper and...

I really like what they have to offer when it comes to the product. What they need to work on is service. From what I've observed, its not from employee lack of trying. I wouldn't blame them at all. The system seems flawed, which seems blasphemous to say about a global brand perhaps, but it seems to me that even when the line-up is only 6 to 8 people, it takes 10-15 minutes to complete an order. Mobile orders (uber eats, etc.) muck things up a bit too.

I think a bigger property would help immensely. This location is way too small for the popularity, peak periods see line-ups outside the door, and it is popular to sit in as well, but its rare that therr is ever space too sit and enjoy your beverage.

Last time I was there, it seemed like the reason for the long lines/waits was because all beverages were being funnelled to just one machine that seals them. Thsts insane! Maybe theyve added another one since, but to have a location of a global brand a stones throw away from UTM and to not expect it to explode rapidly in popularity seems rather short-sighted.

Anyway, the employees do their best, if you find yourself frustrated at the wait or the line-ups, blame the suits, not the workers. They're just working with what...