Estea Beverage Club - Review
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 by Bubble Tea Reviews
Estea Beverage Club
Address:8400 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC, Canada
Centrally located in downtown Richmond, Estea Beverage Club is an inviting venue for a late night outing or evening meal. Unfortunately, Estea's relatively pleasing atmosphere and impressive food menu is marred by poor service, often resulting in our wondering, "Why did we come here again?!".
Ambiance[rating:4/5]
Featuring a large selection of food items spread across two menus, Estea is closer to a "Bubble-tea restaurant" than a "Bubble-tea cafe". The receiving area provides a clear divider between the dining area and entrance, but could be improved by removing the dying (if not already dead) plants. The rest of the establishment is divided (with a single step) into an 'upstairs' and 'downstairs', the upstairs portion of Estea utilizes high backed booth seats and presents a cheery diner feeling, compared to the dark and sophisticated look of the 'downstairs' restaurant and lounge. While the opposing halves of the restaurant offers interesting variety, the clear division and impressive number of seats can easily make one feel segregated from the rest of the customers, especially if your party is directed to sit downstairs when all of the other customers are upstairs (and no, the TVs 'downstairs' which happened to be on a sports channel featuring a bikini competition does not make up for it).
Food [rating:4/5]
The strength of Estea Beverage Club is found in the food it serves. Estea features two separate menus focused on Asian cuisine, and one can be quickly overwhelmed with the number of choices available on the two separate food menus. Confusion can set in when the same dish appears on both menus* with different prices. Although the large number of items on the menu can prove to be a challenge for anyone who has difficulty choosing, there is something for everyone, including: rice/noodles dishes, hot pot, egg dishes (omelette/omurice/etc.), and snacks. Many of the dishes are very reasonably priced and can provide excellent value; some of the rice dishes even come with assorted side dishes (two small vegetable dishes and a dessert soup). Most importantly, the food is delicious and filling, leading you to want more (if you could fit it in).
*The confusion between the two menus can be cleared up after sorting through the menus and associated pictures, and attempting to gain clarification from a server. One of the menus (the large one with lots of pictures) features items meant for an individual, while the smaller (and seemingly more expensive) menu features dishes that are shared among a group. We think.
Drinks [rating:3/5]
The drinks featured at Estea serve as a enjoyable refreshment and centerpiece during time spent with friends, but also lack distinction and uniqueness that would make Estea a drink destination. Despite being named 'Estea Beverage Club', the drink menu consists of items squished onto both sides of a single sheet of paper and is easily overshadowed by the food menus. Size of the menu aside, the expected variety is present - a choice between black/green/milk tea, slushes, fresh juice, and select drinks served hot or cold are available, as well as drink additions such as pearls and coconut jelly. While some of the choices are interesting (Piña Colada slush, anyone?), the cramped menu and lack of popular favourites such as a chocolate-cookie slush variant leave much to be desired. Furthermore, the size of the drinks seem to be smaller than most places; although the wide bottomed snifters used at Estea are deceptive when determining volume, general consensus was that the serving size was smaller than normal while the prices remained relatively the same. There was rumour floating around our table of a 'super-size' option for the drinks, but we were unable to find it on the menu.
Service[rating:2/5]
Now that we've covered food, drinks, and climbed up and down stairs, the one main thing remaining to discuss is service. Admittedly, making a blanket statement about service can be difficult, as a number of factors can affect both the actual quality of service and what the customer perceives, but at the end of the night what the customer (that's us!) experiences is what matters, so here goes. The service at Estea can be described as 'horrible', poor at best. While the staff wasn't overtly rude, a number of things stood out - so much so that they deserve a list:
As stated above, though we appreciate determining a level of service is very subjective, our overall impression of the service at Estea was not a good one. While we don't expect perfection, our experience at Estea was significantly reduced by the fairly low level of service we received. In the 'upstairs' part of Estea, small button stations at each table provide a fast way to call for service or request the bill, and while this feature didn't help our reviewers in our most recent visit (or anyone else seated 'downstairs'), it can enhance the experience for some customers. Further integrating technology into their business, Estea has the option to pay by debit card, fairly significant when the majority of bubble tea establishments are cash only.
[rating:overall]
Estea Beverage Club in Richmond mixes bubble-tea with notable menu variety and the polished atmosphere found in a normal restaurant. The lack of focus on drinks makes us consider alternatives for a regular bubble-tea excursion, and the unpredictable service may detract from any experience one might have... leading to a cautious recommendation for Estea as a (possibly good) place for bubble-tea with dinner and/or late-night snack.
Address:8400 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC, Canada
Centrally located in downtown Richmond, Estea Beverage Club is an inviting venue for a late night outing or evening meal. Unfortunately, Estea's relatively pleasing atmosphere and impressive food menu is marred by poor service, often resulting in our wondering, "Why did we come here again?!".
Ambiance[rating:4/5]
Featuring a large selection of food items spread across two menus, Estea is closer to a "Bubble-tea restaurant" than a "Bubble-tea cafe". The receiving area provides a clear divider between the dining area and entrance, but could be improved by removing the dying (if not already dead) plants. The rest of the establishment is divided (with a single step) into an 'upstairs' and 'downstairs', the upstairs portion of Estea utilizes high backed booth seats and presents a cheery diner feeling, compared to the dark and sophisticated look of the 'downstairs' restaurant and lounge. While the opposing halves of the restaurant offers interesting variety, the clear division and impressive number of seats can easily make one feel segregated from the rest of the customers, especially if your party is directed to sit downstairs when all of the other customers are upstairs (and no, the TVs 'downstairs' which happened to be on a sports channel featuring a bikini competition does not make up for it).
Food [rating:4/5]
The strength of Estea Beverage Club is found in the food it serves. Estea features two separate menus focused on Asian cuisine, and one can be quickly overwhelmed with the number of choices available on the two separate food menus. Confusion can set in when the same dish appears on both menus* with different prices. Although the large number of items on the menu can prove to be a challenge for anyone who has difficulty choosing, there is something for everyone, including: rice/noodles dishes, hot pot, egg dishes (omelette/omurice/etc.), and snacks. Many of the dishes are very reasonably priced and can provide excellent value; some of the rice dishes even come with assorted side dishes (two small vegetable dishes and a dessert soup). Most importantly, the food is delicious and filling, leading you to want more (if you could fit it in).
*The confusion between the two menus can be cleared up after sorting through the menus and associated pictures, and attempting to gain clarification from a server. One of the menus (the large one with lots of pictures) features items meant for an individual, while the smaller (and seemingly more expensive) menu features dishes that are shared among a group. We think.
Drinks [rating:3/5]
The drinks featured at Estea serve as a enjoyable refreshment and centerpiece during time spent with friends, but also lack distinction and uniqueness that would make Estea a drink destination. Despite being named 'Estea Beverage Club', the drink menu consists of items squished onto both sides of a single sheet of paper and is easily overshadowed by the food menus. Size of the menu aside, the expected variety is present - a choice between black/green/milk tea, slushes, fresh juice, and select drinks served hot or cold are available, as well as drink additions such as pearls and coconut jelly. While some of the choices are interesting (Piña Colada slush, anyone?), the cramped menu and lack of popular favourites such as a chocolate-cookie slush variant leave much to be desired. Furthermore, the size of the drinks seem to be smaller than most places; although the wide bottomed snifters used at Estea are deceptive when determining volume, general consensus was that the serving size was smaller than normal while the prices remained relatively the same. There was rumour floating around our table of a 'super-size' option for the drinks, but we were unable to find it on the menu.
Service[rating:2/5]
Now that we've covered food, drinks, and climbed up and down stairs, the one main thing remaining to discuss is service. Admittedly, making a blanket statement about service can be difficult, as a number of factors can affect both the actual quality of service and what the customer perceives, but at the end of the night what the customer (that's us!) experiences is what matters, so here goes. The service at Estea can be described as 'horrible', poor at best. While the staff wasn't overtly rude, a number of things stood out - so much so that they deserve a list:
- - Our initial table was right next to the door, making it rather cold (this is Canada, in November, at night). Moving ourselves wasn't a problem, but was also the only option as our server seemed to disappear after initially seating us.
- - We didn't receive enough menus for each person. Though this isn't strange by itself (it's almost the norm for sit down bubble-tea places for large groups), we also didn't receive enough spoons, leading us to believe that a few of us might have been invisible.
- - Our server was fairly scarce. Aside from seating us and taking our order (after a minute or so of waving our hands around - literally), we were mostly left on our own. While being too intrusive can be a problem for some servers, the opposite - ignoring customers - is also a bad thing (and how are we supposed to complain! ;P).
- - When our food/drinks finally did arrive, there was no discernible order. The first drink arrived around eight minutes after we ordered it, but we were still getting a mix of food and drinks twenty minutes after that. People who ordered side dishes of rice also got them a few minutes after their main dish, leading to some confusion and a rapidly cooling main course.
- - Table Goo. One of the trays an order of food arrived on had a slimy coating of *something* on the bottom of it, which left a streak along the table. This was conveniently ignored by the server.
As stated above, though we appreciate determining a level of service is very subjective, our overall impression of the service at Estea was not a good one. While we don't expect perfection, our experience at Estea was significantly reduced by the fairly low level of service we received. In the 'upstairs' part of Estea, small button stations at each table provide a fast way to call for service or request the bill, and while this feature didn't help our reviewers in our most recent visit (or anyone else seated 'downstairs'), it can enhance the experience for some customers. Further integrating technology into their business, Estea has the option to pay by debit card, fairly significant when the majority of bubble tea establishments are cash only.
[rating:overall]
Estea Beverage Club in Richmond mixes bubble-tea with notable menu variety and the polished atmosphere found in a normal restaurant. The lack of focus on drinks makes us consider alternatives for a regular bubble-tea excursion, and the unpredictable service may detract from any experience one might have... leading to a cautious recommendation for Estea as a (possibly good) place for bubble-tea with dinner and/or late-night snack.