Go For Tea

We ordered the dinner for 2; spicy chicken with spicy sesame sauce & lamb with onions and peppers. The chicken dish came out within 5 minutes, but lamb took a lot longer. Service was terrible. Overall food was okay, service was terrible, atmosphere was nice.

Feel this place has been here since like forever. though I don’t go there all the time, I always like going here because unlike Destiny, their food is adequate and decent enough for dinner and I find their customer service is always so much better than Destiny.
The downfall is their place is so busy, it is very hard to get seats at busy times. However, you can call and make reservations.
Their drinks have more variety and you actually feel bang for you buck without getting ripped off or overpriced items. I also loved they have a separate round square tables at the back or small private room for groups…
I will definitely miss this place since it closed down since Feb 22^nd… and their new location is due to open in Downtown Markham. but when? we won’t know :(

I can’t stand Go For Tea.
Terrible, extremely over priced food and horrible service.
I’ve only been here once, had a terrible experience and never came back. It was that bad. I usually give places 2 chances before I cross if off my list … But Go For Tea isn’t worth it.
Save your money and go to Green Grotto or even Ten Ren.

I’ve been going here since I was a teenager. I have never gotten good service here. They take forever to come and actually take down your order. One time it took a good 40 minutes to get served and it wasn’t even a busy night at all. If you come here with a date, you’re sometimes seated in a table only inches away from the next couple beside you. I’ve asked several times for a more private spot only to be told no.
The drink orders are often incorrect. If you tell them so, some waiters/​waitresses will try to convince otherwise. Order just a water with your meal and you’ll never get it without pestering at least several servers for it. Once you get it, they give you a tiny cup half filled with water. Thanks!
On the plus side, once you finally manage to make your order the food can come out pretty quick. The food itself is also not bad. Not noteworthy, just enjoyable enough to justify coming here more than once. I recommend trying out the paper hot pot. It’s a pretty cool sight to see soup in a paper bowl over fire. They also have more interesting dishes such as frog legs which are also pretty good. The price for their dishes is also reasonable.
The drinks themselves are overpriced. Many of the better ones being $ 8. The cheaper drinks for $ 4 – 5, often the bubble teas, are just your average powdered crap you can buy anywhere else.
Overall, the décor and ambiance is nice although they tend to leave the Christmas decorations up all year round unless it’s Halloween. The service is terrible but the food isn’t bad at all.

Most people come here for the bubble tea, so did I, until I tried out their dinner menus, and I am not referring to the single serves, I am referring to the dinner for two and up. They actually have a good variety of Taiwanese dishes, my favorite is the stewed pork, 3 cup chicken is a bit on the spicy side, portions are smaller than I would have liked, but price is definitely reasonable.
I give it a 7 out of 10.

I come here whenever I am in the area, because I can usually expect the food to be good, and I can also get bubble tea and certain authentic dishes that are hard to come by. However, the service always leaves so much to be desired. It’s as if the servers are bored by you, or as if you’re inconveniencing them by asking questions or making requests.

I’m lowering my rating because one of the servers is SO rude. A skinny plain looking guy with short spiky hair, usually wearing a white shirt (the others usually wear black). All the other servers are super friendly, except for this guy. Every time we come we pray that we don’t get this guy.
Our party of 5+ used to come here all the time, but after tonight we’re never coming back.

This restaurant is more on the pricey side… Like destiny!
Hmm. I ordered a lunch set $ 10.99 and it tasted OK. It actually didn’t taste that good, the flavor of the pork tasted a bit off. Also the vegetable spring rolls tasted bland, and the soup just tasted like water.
But I didn’t expect much from a tea /​loafting/​hangout /​bubble tea place.
Also ordered popcorn chicken … Portion was smaller than I expected. For 10.99…more greeon onions than chicken lol
The popcorn chicken isn’t that good compared to cha me cha /​papa Chang .
Plus a kiwi slush large $ 3.75 — tasted decent but probably a little bit too sweet lol
Service seems unaware at first when we got there. We waited probably 10mins untill someone realized we were there in an empty restaurant around 1pm.

Went to Go For Tea tonight for supper. When we came in there was no staff to greet us. It took almost two minutes before someone came to us. The restaurant is huge but very dark. Our table had a small spotlight shining on it but it was not very bright. The menu had a good selection. I took the fried rice with taiwanese sausage and my wife took the pork lunch set. I ordered a black tea to drink and the waiter asked me what size. I was confused because in the menu only one size was mentioned. The food was quite good. My wife had spring rolls with her lunch set, and when she asked if there was sauce with them, he did not understand the question. Overall, the food was fine but the atmosphere and service could be better.

I’ve visited this place a few times, and for all those that are coming here with high expectations for the bubble tea, either lower your expectations immediately or go to a different tea shop.
From my experiences, I can’t speak on behalf of the food, but dessert and bubble tea wise… Well let’s just say that there are way better cafes in the area that are actually worth your time and money.
The bubble tea here is always either too sweet, too bland, or too sour. I recall trying a friend’s mango slush and it just tasted so bland as if the baristas did not add any sweetener or what not to the drink — the $ 5 – 6 drink tasted like something that I’d pay less than a buck for.
I remember trying their green apple slush and man it was so sour I couldn’t even finish it. I’ve tried the green apple slushs from numerous tea shops and I can honestly say that the one I had here was the absolute worst. And the tapioca, don’t even get me started. It was way too chewy, soft, and undeniably undercooked — again, it did not have the sweet taste that it was supposed to have.
As for the location, it is located near central downtown Markham; pretty easy to find but minimal parking space especially on Friday nights and weekends. For the interior décor, it has a chill atmosphere with dim lights and a more trendy feel that newer cafes seem to opt for. They also have private rooms for groups which are good for gatherings and parties.
Service was mediocre — nothing particularly special. Waiters are bilingual in both Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and also English. You’ll find that there are those table buttons that are used to signal the waiters, which is something more common in asian restaurants/​cafes nowadays.
Overall an average experience in regards to the bubble tea and desserts. Haven’t tried their food but based on the other reviews here I don’t think I ever will.

This place isn’t bad, I guess.
Nothing really stood out to me, but it was just a regular bubbletea place.
The menu prices are alright, not too high but not great either. The portions for a regular plate of food is more expensive than destiny, but it doesn’t taste that much better to be honest.
The set meals would be the most worth it, so much food and a half price drink?! Wow. Unfortunately if I ever got that, I would definitely explode.
Seating area is not bad, they closed a curtain thing between us and the table beside us, which was a good idea because I ain’t about seeing other randoms while I eat, and this definitely helped.
The service is alright, they will definitely come as fast as they see you but if you sit in a further corner. good luck. I would suggest investing in bells or something so they can get to everyone since this place is huge.
Parking lot could be better, or maybe the people driving could be better.
Overall, nothing special.

Close to Hwy 7 and 404 this location is convenient as its right off the highway and accessible! I have been to GO FOR TEA before, but figured it was time to finally write a review about this place lol!
The place is very modern, with asian inspired contemporary décor. Its dim lights with variation of lighting all around the vicinity creates a chilled out environment, and most of all this place was clean!
Our server was able to accomodate our request once we realized our table for 2 kept on tilting back and forth. In no time we were placed in a larger booth.
For drinks ‘the miss’ had a small banana smoothie (which was more than enough) and I decided to GO BIG or go HOME with a large banana mango smoothie. Let’s just say holy s#@$ it was a huge glass mug. It took me some time to finish it, but nonetheless you could taste nothing but pure fruit, which was delish! I’m just glad that I didn’t take my blood sugar after lol!
Overall the drinks were a 4.5÷5
*****…side note the miss advised HER banana smoothie was too sweet. :/​
(sounds like a potential Unilocaler in the making ;))
Our service was nothing to rave about, they were pleasant, and efficient. :) at times, but barely came by to check on us. Next time I will have to stop by and try out their versatile menu… overall ³⁄₅

I used to love this place but it’s continually gone downhill.
I’m here at 2am on a long weekend and they don’t have any food or juice. (Wtf). They only have power bbt and slushie (powder again). I wanted the aloe and apple juice — to beautify as the drink intended for … :(
Their very mango slushie isn’t what it once was. They use to give star mango jelly but now it’s just the regular ugly ones. At least they give real mango chunks still.
Their hotpot use to be so good but I don’t know about it anymore (I couldn’t order it!)
Anyhow. It’s a typical Chinese establishment.
Hope this helps!
–jT

I used to come here all the time but I haven’t been here in 5 – 6 months. What can I say about this place? It’s your typical bubble tea café, where the focus is on drinks and the food is a bit of an afterthought.
I’ve gotten the fried rice and noodles before and they were so salty, I couldn’t stand to finish the plate. And if you know me, no matter if I like the food or not, I try my darndest to clean a plate.
As for the drinks, I think they are pretty good. My favourite is the hot taro milk black tea. It has a strong taro taste and quite sweet and it makes an excellent dessert.
Verdict: Service is a bit lacking, food is mediocre at best, but this is a great place to chill and have a few desserts and dessert drinks with friends.

I have encountered way too many horrible incidents from this place to keep track. The only reason I ever go is because my friends choose to come here. Terrible service and they manage to screw up almost every order.
Here are some examples:
— I would often find things in my drink that aren’t supposed to be there.
— Some items never arrive. Sometimes even charged for it.
— Asked for honey green tea. Got black tea instead and they tried convincing me it’s green tea and the dark colour is «because of the tapioca». Sent it back and got another that was actually green tea.
— The best one was when they included a surprise plastic lid inside my bowl of ramen at the very bottom. Didn’t notice until I was halfway done eating it and dug out something hard. How on earth do you manage to do that? Still charged me for it even though the server was all wtf when I fished it out for him to see.
Bottom line is don’t go here. Serissa is a 5 minute drive away with better drinks and service.

My office used to be a block away so I and my staff enjoyed an addiction to a daily bubble tea. It was unusual in that they use a very fragrant, perfumed tea, which is superior to almost any other bubble tea place I have visited.
But about the food: Today I stopped in after a 5 year lunchtime absence. I ordered the lunch special #2, Chicken and Mushrooms in a Black Pepper sauce. In regular Chinese food, a translucent sauce usually means very subtle in flavour, or even bland. This was a perfect pepper sauce – just the right amount of pepper, and a layer of incredible spices that made the sauce alone outstanding! The large chicken cubes were nicely cooked, along with the mushrooms and onion.
In addition to the main course the tray included a Winter Melon soup, a warm celery salad and a couple of small spring rolls along with a generous bowl of rice. It was all delicious!
One thing I have noticed over the years: Go For Tea is more Taiwanese than Chinese. You don’t see their variety of dishes on typical Chinese menus. The flavours are bolder, and the execution has always been excellent. Follow up the meal with a Coconut Milk Black Tea…

Drinks are average quality. I prefer the drinks at Destiny and Ten Ren, although I prefer the food here. They need to update their menu which doesn’t seem to been changed in years.
There is free wi-​fi, but it’s always slow regardless when you come. Destiny and Ten Ren has faster wi-​fi.
I come here a lot since it’s one of the places my whole family can agree on. My son loves the beef paper hot pot.
It’s a good place to meet with a large group to chat and have a few drinks.

All the reviews referring to the bad service here weren’t kidding. The employees could careless about this place. When I asked for water, the Asian girl with bleached blonde hair made an annoyed grunt and said ok. When ordering, the guy taking my order didnt know anything about their food items or drinks.
«Hello, Is your Lemon Green Tea made with real lemon or lemon syrup?»
*shrugs* «I dont know, I think it’s real.»
«Do you recommend your taro toast or the sesame toast?»
«I dont know, havent tried either.»
… HmmMm I’m thinking in my head «couldnt you at least tell me which one is more popular?»
The staff here does not know what «boba» is… ask for Tapioca or Pearls (in Chinese) which is the lingo they use.
Bad service, you will have to flag someone down to order or get anything you need. Employees doesnt care, doesnt give a damn. They will ignore you when you enter and exit the restaurant. Loud clubbing music that will give you a headache. Drinks are very mediocre to bad. Not impressive for the prices they charge.

We stopped in to grab a drink and a snack. I love the classy/​modern feel. I wish we had a place like this in the Bay Area.
As you can see in my pictures. Their reg size is plenty. However, if you are thirsty or looking for a drink to baby over the course of the evening — this is your drink size.
Will definitely come back again.

Still love coming here to hang out with friends and grab some small bites. I think part of my liking this place is because I don’t live around here, so whenever I do come, it’s always a refreshing change from back home. I agree with a lot of other Unilocalers in that this place is somewhat overpriced, but if you order the better food and drink options, then it doesn’t sting as much. :)
After trying quite a few drinks and small plates, I think I’ve narrowed down the ones that are worth getting.
1. Popcorn chicken a la carte ($ 4.99). There is a combo that gives you rice as well.
2. Mango green tea ($ 5.99 small, $ 6.99 large)
3. Shrimp and Egg fried rice ($ 9.99 CAD)
As previously mentioned, their popcorn chicken is fried well, and not greasy. Lean meats underneath a thin bread coating, and for an a la carte dish, portion is not skimped. Served with toothpicks, and plenty to munch on between 3 – 4 people, provided that you order another carbohydrate.
The mango green tea was well flavored, although sweet. I’d get this again next time, but request less sugar. Husband and I ordered 1 large, and that was plenty for the two of us. I couldn’t imagine each ordering 1 large, because we’d probably be bouncing off the walls. Our friend ordered a Very mango slush (large size), and he couldn’t finish it. Go with the small if you’re looking to finish a drink on your own.
Shrimp and Egg fried rice has a nice and light flavor. I don’t like my fried rice to be greasy or mushy, and Go For Tea does a good job in preparation. Flavors were basic in a salt and pepper with a little bit of soy flavor, but the shrimp were small, sweet and fresh. Two eggs were mixed in, and considering the portion of the rice was about 3 cups, this was a great balance in proportion.
The selling point of this place is the fact that it’s open late (around 4am), and there is free wi-​fi. Depending on the volume of people, the wi-​fi speed can vary, but it’s still reliable and works. On late weekend evenings, this place is loud, but the tables and booths are spaced pretty well so you’re not shouting to your friends in order for them to hear you. :)
All in all, still like this place, and will come back here whenever I’m in the area and want a late night place to hang out and chat.