I love walking into The Alley because the decor sets it apart from other bubble tea shops. It also makes a great background for photos. I've tried a handful of items from the menu and I feel that I can finally give The Alley a proper review.
It's not an Alley review if I don't mention the Royal No. 9. I was told that this drink has a hint of blueberry as it's made with blueberry tea. I thought this would taste weird but it was actually really good.
I wanted to try the Garden Milk Tea mostly for the presentation. How cute is the little leaf?! Unfortunately when I got this, there was no leaf. Apparently the plant died : (. The actual taste of the milk tea was still good with less sugar. I mixed the drink with the Oreo (the dirt/soil) but I think this is purely for aesthetics as it doesn't add any special taste to it : P.
Be sure to order the Lime Honey with Aloe drink on a hot summer day. This drink is probably my favourite for the hot weather because it's so refreshing. The honey and citrus taste balance out perfectly. The only thing I didn't like about it was that there are bits of lime skin in it. It looks great for the pics ; ) but in reality I was spitting out lime peel with almost every other sip (quite inconvenient, actually). I don't suggest swallowing it as the pieces aren't cut small enough and it's also very bitter if you bite into it. I actually wondered if that was a mistake! Haha. I would still order it again though.
If you're looking for a warm and toasty drink, the Brown Sugar Ginger Roasted Milk Tea is another good choice. The ginger was stronger than I expected but the sugar evens it out. I got this half sweetened but I would actually opt for less sweetened next time (and I'm someone that usually puts a lot of sugar in milk tea).
I normally don't eat tapioca from any bubble tea place but their housemade tapioca is actually really good. It's not overly sweet and has the perfect amount of chewiness to it.