Gardenhouse Coffee & Espresso Bar — Restaurant in Victoria

This is such a charming coffee place! I've tried most coffee shops in Victoria, but this is by far the friendliest one I've ever been to. Stay tuned for this review because I have a latte say about it.

ALL the baristas humor me with small talk. They're very kind and helpful. It's the kind of service I truly appreciate. It makes each visit pleasant.

Everyone I've brought to this place loves the drinks, but I especially love the boba drinks! My favorite milk tea in Victoria!

They have little baked treats as well, which are a bit of a low point for me personally. Some come across as a bit mediocre, and you can tell from the uninspired designs of some scones, the uneven baking at times, and the overall mouth-feel and flavor profile. They're not very impressive, and I wish they were given a little more attention to detail. I would post a picture of the silly looking scone I bought the other day, but I don't want to bring this place down with harsh imagery; I love this coffee shop and its people, and I want to see it succeed.

The service really sets this apart from the other places in Victoria. Every coffee shop will have their fun little distinct flavors and their traditional coffee and boba tea offerings, but only this place makes you feel like a friend. And I think that's worth 5...

This is a very new coffee shop by Sichuan Garden past the phone store in the shopping center by the college on Red River!

The drinks are rather good; I got three things so far: honeydew tea with strawberry boba jelly, mocha frappe, and iced dark chocolate mocha. All are very delicious and well made. The boba jellies are not rounded on the strawberry they are cut into strips which is different!

It’s a large area with lots of room and sitting space. I gave it a three star on atmosphere because it’s rather noisy because a lot of children are here for children friendly events. So if you want somewhere quiet to study or quietly socialize, it might not be the coffee place for you. But if you want a place to bring kids for events or to go for art events, it’s good. I won the cup design contest as first place so that’s a definite positive; they gave me a $30 gift card.

Service was good but they only had one worker today so it was a wait. Still polite service!

Overall a five star for the atmosphere and taste; they also have a wandering orange cat named Panini and she...

Went here with my girlfriend trying to find a wifi cafe to do work and study side by side. Really awesome vibes when you walk in. Comfy and quiet unlike Starbucks which is always crowded and busy and SUPER LOUD. Plenty of cute seats and plants every where and an adorable friendly cat I got to pet! As an Asian couple it was nice to have the option of lychee flavor for our green tea. We worked and studied there for about 2 to 3 hours. Wish they stayed open till 8 or 9 at least, or were open Sunday but that's just a skill issue on my part because of my job. Overall really nice quality, great comfy cafe that we were surprised to find here in a small nobody town, instead of a big city like Austin where we usually work and study.

Edit (Aug 1st): Found out after a few visits that the cafe is owned, and a hybrid of, a church. Pretty yikes finding this out as an LGBT+ person. Probably won't be coming here anymore since I have values and don't want to consciously support religious...