Leisure Tea & Coffee

Following a dinner at Matsuyama, we headed in the direction of Leisure Tea & Coffee. However, this was simply due to the fact that Snowy Village was too busy and had a long wait. The ambience was typical for a quaint café. I ordered a strawberry crêpe and was disappointed — the crêpe was missing the rich quality of a generic crêpe, and was very soggy. It felt like eating soggy sponge cake with melted whip cream. Overall, it was below mediocre.

OMG，so good~~~~I like crispy chicken somuch, better than las vegas! and i like grass jelly with tofu pudding

I ordered the pineapple passion fruit shaved iced. Kind of underwhelmed since the fruit was most likely out of a can and quite tart. It needed something to give it more depth and texture; like soft serve ice cream.
The atmosphere was ok and the décor was quaint.
There were a lot of food, dessert and drink options though.

This place used to be good years ago. We usually get the icecream waffle and cold tofu pearl drink. The waffle back then was perfect, light and crispy, perfect with the vanilla icecream. The tofu drink was really good too.
Sadly the waffle’s texture now is like eating bread. No seriously, just like bread. The tofu drink now isnt cold at all. I dont know about the other food, but its just plain disappointing. I don’t think we will be returning.

Wonderful little hole in the wall. This place is definitely a quaint area during the day. There is some street parking available but we opted for the small lot next door.
As we entered we saw a few waitresses behind the coffee bar, one greeted us and showed us to a table; then handed us menus. My husband and I were surprised by how many options were on the menu. We opted for a chestnut milk tea and fresh taro milk tea. We also ordered some food, that came out first and was served with tiny forks (+1 on the cute factor). Our drinks took some time, but we found them wroth while.
The hardest part about the experience was finding somebody to hand us the check. Maybe we aren’t the typical clientele to hang out for a while after finishing our food/​drink. Took us about 10 minutes to flag somebody down. Heads up, this place is a cash only establishment!

Came here after dinner so didn’t eat anything. hmm I wish I had gone when i had the appetite. I heard their desserts are pretty good.
Anyway, the the place was very cozy and they offer a ton of options so i guess it’s a great place for a friend/​family gathering!
but service wasn’t good… the waitress was impatient and ended up messing up our orders with other tables…

Traditional Taiwanese style tea and coffee shop, they have various selections of tea, flower tea and fruits tea. Aside from Tea they also have good coffee and other beverages. My favorite is the ice sorbet and pudding.

I’ve been here a few times. It’s a decent place to go when you can’t think of a place to hang out with friends. I don’t particularly find their food or drinks all that appealing, but perhaps it’s just what I’ve tried so far. In terms of their wheat germ milk tea with pearl, I like the one at pearl castle (not the one in Richmond centre) a lot more. In terms of the fresh taro with pearl, I find it too Icy. Their pearls aren’t that great. In terms of their 甜不辣 (fried tempura?) and 鹽酥雞 (popcorn chicken?) They’re okay… But nothing special. Overall… A solid 3.
Service = nothing in particular to speak of

My favorite tea place in town! Great atmosphere, and love boba milk tea and waffle!

What a cute little place to stop for dessert and drinks (tea/​coffee/​bubble tea). My husband and I stopped by here for a quick treat and we were very impressed.
PROS:
Ambiance: From the outside it doesn’t look like much but the interior is rather charming and cozy. It reminds me of being inside a wooden cabin.
Service: We were greeted and seated right away. There was a bit of a language barrier with the lady that was taking care of us but she was very sweet. She did her best to understand what we were asking for.
Food: I ordered the light cheesecake and my husband ordered a strawberry/​banana crêpe with vanilla ice cream. My cheesecake was very light, sort of had a sponge cake like consistency. It wasn’t very sweet but that’s what I had expected. I loved it because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. My husbands crêpe was wonderful. The thickness of the crêpe was perfect. The fruits were fresh.
CONS:
Location: Their sign is rather small and easy to miss.
Cash only!!!

If you want dessert, bbt or snacks, Leisure can be a good option. It has been around for many years and they have been keeping up with their quality. Menu ranges from: drinks, desserts like ice cream waffles to snacks like deep fried squid legs to entrees. Pricing is fair for what you get. I tried the peach yogurt drink and blueberry tart and both were pretty good. Make sure you wear enough because the AC in there was just blasting away. The only downside is finding parking: paid or unpaid on Alexandra street.

I stumbled upon this place a few years ago and fell in love with the décor. My boyfriend doesn’t know why I like it so much. For some reason it reminded me of Legend of Zelda, like stepping into mystical world (minus the hanging art from the victorian era). But also the tea is good, the presentation is nice and the ambiance is calm and warm. I would come more often if Richmond wasn’t so damn far. But I guess it is more of a special treat then.

I really don’t understand the appeal of this place. It’s always packed in the evenings and the only explanation I can give for why this place is so popular is because people are bandwagoning. There are a lot of better cafes in Richmond… I mean it’s like China here.
The food and service here just don’t cut it. The only thing they have going for them is the fact that their café/​restaurant is really cute and has a unique vibe to it. I would only come here and relax in the afternoon and have a cut of tea, I would never come here to hang out with friends (it has more of an «old lady» vibe than young and chic café vibe).
A lot of people rave about their waffles and shaved ice — they’re both probably on the lower end of what I’ve tried in my day (and I’ve tried a lot of them). The shaved ice isn’t as smooth as I’d like and the toppings are pretty mediocre. Same goes for the waffles — the fluffiness and general composition of them is extremely disappointing (it was stale) and the toppings were thrown on.
Their drinks are OK though! I’m a big milk tea snob and theirs definitely passed the test. Their boba (bubbles) are also just the right firmness and everything, yay!
If you don’t speak Chinese and need help ordering, good luck with that because the servers here don’t have the best English. The menu is comprehensible though so you should be fine. The crowd who hang out here are interesting, you have a large mix of people. Overall a really «meh would not do that again» experience.

They go a little out of the box when it comes to dessert. Every heard of,“Everything and the Kitchen Sink.” This place lives by that motto. I had a shaved ice cream with a blob of crème brule… yes it is that epic. Very clean interior, decently priced, great customer service. Limited seating but the turn around is quick. Fun ambiance. This place gets really packed on the weekends.

I stumbled upon this bubble tea after I went to all you can eat sushi, and I must say IT WAS WONDERFUL. The place itself was very charming and the bubble tea was delicious. I had the peach black tea with pearls and it was the best bubble tea I have ever had. My friends had the blueberry slush and the strawberry slush with pearls and they both tasted super fresh.
Their selection is very wide and the lady was very helpful. I highly recommend this place if you are in the Richmond area and don’t mind spending ⁵⁄₆ dollars on bubble tea.

This place is tucked away along a row of restaurants so you probably wouldn’t see it unless you came looking for it, but it’s got a very cozy and homey feel to it. The fresh taro here is delicious, as are the regular drinks (grass jelly here is great as well!)
I probably wouldn’t come out of my way just because there are so many great bubble tea places in Vancouver, but is my mom’s favorite spot (perhaps because the crowd isn’t as young as some of those other places…)

3.5 stars.
The place is tucked in the corner of other restaurants on Alexandra Street. It’s a bit different than your typical bubble tea place. Inside, it feels more of an asian cabin, with some wooden accents and tables.
I had the mango milk tea. It was smooth, light and delicious. I didn’t get any pearls or anything. Also had a blueberry scone. The scones comes in twos or threes. It was $ 3.75 for 2 small scones.
My friend had tea and they use actual fancy tea cups, not regular cups. Well fancy in that the cups and saucer have flower patterns. Don’t think it’s Royal or anything but I didn’t really flip the saucer upside down to look.
The price is reasonable for bubble tea and such however the coffee price is expensive. It ranges from $ 4.50 — 5.75. It is slow drip but other coffee places that have slow drip is a lot cheaper (Matchstick, Timbertrain, etc).
There isn’t a lot of food here. There are a few desserts and drinks. Waffles with ice cream, scones, shaved ice, a few sandwiches, etc. Service is a little slow. Think there was only 1 server when I went and it was busy. The drinks and food did come quickly although they did have a batch of scones on the counter.
There is some free parking in the back parking lot but it gets full quickly. Try there first, if not, then it’s pay parking on Alexandra.
I went in the afternoon so was ok but if you go at night, expect a wait. People tend to set and sip tea for a long time.

I came here with a few friends for their shaved ice and also try out there bubble tea, which they are known for. I ended up getting their fresh taro smoothie and a shaved ice with a three types of beans: green bean, mung bean and red bean. Quite frankly the taro smoothie which was hot like a really thick soup or chowder with chunks of taro on the bottom. It was a meal in itself. This shaved ice wasn’t what I thought it would be because it was the typical shaved ice that was covered in beans which you could find all over America. It isn’t the shaved ice that is infused with flavor before hand.
One of my friends got the passion fruit tea with tapioca bubbles which I totally loved because it had a good amount of sweetness did not taste artificial as well. The tapioca bubbles were cooked perfectly by not being too hard or too chewy. Another one of my friends had a pineapple tea which also was very good and had the natural sweetness of the pineapple from the pineapple pieces on the bottom of the teapot. Another one ordered Blue Mountain coffee that was served with a mini cute cup of cream on the side.
Overall I could see why this place is so popular. The food is good and the lighting and the décor is very homey with magazine pictures of paintings and photos of traveling. The interior is very light wood which gives it more of a relaxed feeling.

3.5 stars. Service was decent but sloooow, although it was new year’s eve. Super packed, with two servers flying back and forth to serve everyone.
We ordered the strawberry crêpe, hot almond milk tea, and an iced strawberry yogurt drink with pearls. The crêpe was pretty good, and the drinks were alright. The almond milk tea was good in the sense that it wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet, but it was super powdery even after stirring for forever. I love the pearls though! Chewy and just the right amount of sweetness to it.

Leisure is a pretty decent spot to hang out late at night when you’re feeling hungry (or thirsty) but with the plethora of cafes and bubble tea restaurants in Richmond to choose from, I honestly don’t think leisure stands out that much.
I actually used to love coming here for their waffles, cakes, and taiwanese fried chicken in high school but lately, there have been so many better restaurants popping up in Richmond that I hardly ever come here anymore. I honestly have to say that a few of their items have seriously disappointed me recently, hence the 3 star rating.
We had their tiramisu and another cake the other day and they were pretttttty bad… The cakes just tasted very off and weren’t good at all. I can’t really describe what was wrong with the cakes but when I spoke to the waitress about it, even she agreed that they weren’t very popular at Leisure! Their crepes were mediocre while their waffles were pretty good. We also ordered a Taiwanese set that included fried fish paste pieces and deep fried chicken nuggets. Those were awesome!
The service is a bit slow because they seem quite understaffed at night but its understandable considering the small size of the restaurant. Their drinks are still fairly good and the staff are quite friendly. However, I think I would prefer going to Memory Corner for late night Taiwanese cuisine and/​or snacks if I felt like having bubble tea/​Taiwanese fried chicken/​etc.