The Alley — Restaurant in Mississauga

6 STARS: I love bubble tea aka bobba. My kids love boba. Did I mention that I love boba? With the pandemic, our fam hasn't had boba for months so last weekend while we were visiting my in-laws in Mississauga, we decided to pick up some pastries at Lazar and bumped into The Alley bubble tea shop. I heard so many good things about They Alley and I wanted to surprise the kids while my wife was picking up the pastries. There was a line up which was a good sign indicating that this was a good place to get bubble tea. Check. I had my mask and gloves on. Check. I bumped into an old church friend. Cool. I waited inside and got 3 large bubble teas with a tray. Check. I was coming out and my wife was calling me so this is when tragedy struck. When I went to reach my phone, 2 out of the 3 bubble teas fell out of the cup tray and my life went into high def slow motion Hollywood mode. As I tried to catch 2 bubble teas in mid air with my Ninja skills, they both successfully fell on the concrete ground with a magnificent explosion and the drink and tapioca balls painted a mural on the parking lot. What was I thinking? Why did I reach for my phone? How could I drop these precious pearls? :) We were already running behind schedule, so while being mad at myself and feeling so stupid and disappointed in not being able to bring the prized bubble tea into our van for the kids, I was giving my wife a hard time for trying to call me (mind you this is Mother's Day), no awards for me that day, I was fuming for many reasons. None of them good. As I was driving off, I started to reflect at lightning speed, and realized how stupid and how much of a jerk I was being. I came to my senses and apologized to God and then to my family asking them to forgive me for my outrageous and immature behaviour....all over bubble tea. But not just any bubble tea, here comes the good news!

On a whim and going for broke, I decided to call The Alley bubble tea shop to explain my sob story and see if they could do something for us. My ultimate goal was to get a free replacement but didn't expect anything considering it was completely my fault. I talked to the manager Kenny, who is super nice by the way, and after hearing me out, without hesitation he said to come back to the shop where he would replace the 2 drinks at no charge. Dang, talk about customer service! Not only were the kids happy, bubble tea was yummy, I became a devoted fan and disciple (yeah I know that's extreme, bubble tea is serious folks) that day. I just wanted to share my story and picture that I took after this crazy adventure.

Line up moves fast and they limit the number of ppl in the store to 5. Ample parking, clean inside, no washroom usage now, glass divider to ensure physical distancing, credit card tap payment, and friendly staff wearing masks. Shout out to Gabriel P who works there and for helping me out that day too.

I highly recommend The Alley and would have given it 6 stars if I could. 5 will suffice for now because they're pretty much perfect in my books. We are definitely going to make this our boba stop when in 'Sauga. If you got this far, you have way too much time on your hands. But seriously folks, stay safe...

This was really hard for me to give 4 stars as I would really want to give 5.

Their tea is delicious, I like the selection, and that soy milk is an option.

The location is fairly new (and it seems pretty new still because there is still a lockbox on the door). Staff have all been courteous but there have been little errors here and there (they've usually caught them before reaching me) that thankfully haven't happened again.

There are 2 reasons for 4/5 - first is because you cannot call in to order, and they do not do delivery. The manager(?) explained they prefer that people come in for the experience and they cannot guarantee the completion of the drinks upon arrival for phone-ins because of how busy they can be. I get it, but I feel that the convenience of delivery services or being able to call in adds to the accessibility.

Second, had an error with our tea one time but we didn't notice until we got home. We accepted we are not getting that error fixed, but I called in anyway. The staff seemed new and I understand errors will happen; it was more to bring it to their attention so that they don't make the mistake again. It is also partially my error as well for not checking that the drink was correct (it was a visible error). The person who answered apologized, asked if we had drank from it already, if we can come back, and insisted I speak to the manager, though I said it all wasn't necessary. Spoke to the manager anyway, who asked for my name and said that he'll 'try remember my name', and will give me a free drink the next time.

This was a bit of a turn off; I think using words like 'try to remember your name' are a little weak, maybe write it down and inform the customer you are doing so. It isn't a question of good memory; it's about the sincere effort to make it up to the customer. It would have been better to ask how they can make it right, and offer a free drink.

As I've mentioned, I have not had any errors since this incident a few weeks ago. I love, love, love the drinks here and I have always come back to feed my bubble...

The staff are nice but they could seriously use more customer service training. I’ve been here multiple times and it’s always the same situation. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to place your order because for some reason, they just can’t get it right. Asked for tapioca, didn’t get tapioca. Asked for large, get a small. Asked for no milk foam on my beverage and they said they can’t. I understand the staff are probably concerned about following procedures but they can definitely improve on their communication. I also tried to order an Orange Lulu with tapioca and was told I can’t because it’s in the Lulu Series and has orange pieces in it.. but then they suggest I substitute for the Aloe Lime and add tapioca (which is also in the Lulu series and has aloe in it).. doesn’t make any sense at all but what’s most frustrating is that the staff can’t even communicate in a way that makes sense. It’s not a language barrier, it’s more like a lack of knowledge about the menu. Also, they just go on breaks and leave their co-workers to take all the orders while there’s unmade orders piling up on the side. I own a cafe too, I know there’s slotted break time but anything is flexible. I’d definitely be disappointed if my staff left their co-worker hanging and had all the customers wait just because they can’t push their break back an extra 5-10mins. Seems like very poor management at...