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| - Oh my god. This place is...just no.
Let's start off with approaching the place. I get that it's Harbord St. in Toronto, but really? It looks like a run down shack with a sign. Entering, you see some art; some is quite nice, and the idea to support young local artists is excellent, but do I REALLY need to see a FOUR ARMED WOMAN WITH HER ENTRAILS FALLING OUT OF HER while I eat and sip tea?! I think NOT! Absolutely TACKY décor from the 1950s, this place needs to be vacated and renovated with a nuclear weapon.
The tea: You would think that, being a teahouse and all, that they'd have a tea list on their website, but they don't. First strike. Second strike? The tea is frigid. The water is always lukewarm to ice cold. Third strike? It tastes gross. The fairy's blood tea (what a morbid name, gross!) tastes as though it was created by Paula Deen on psilocybins. It's like...liquid soap with some weeds from the garden, it's FOUL. And don't go "teehee my tea is organic and has x, y, z as health benefits," because they do not. They're teas, not magic. They do not heal you or help anything but quench thirst, or scald a tongue. In this case, they ruin your day.
The food: while some of it does indeed appear nice, their menu is really all over the place! You don't go from "poutine soup" (Yes, it's as disgusting as it sounds. It's watery gravy with half-baked potatoes, and stringy white cheese), to baklava and sahlep! Speaking of which, REALLY? If you're going to serve food from another culture, it better be spot-on, otherwise this is just some wannabe crap that's insulting. Unfortunately, it falls into the latter category, and it's offensive. You sahlep should not be dirty dishwater, and your baklava should not be some frozen, store-bought nonsense! Unacceptable! And RESELLING CHEERIOS? CHEERIOS? GET OUT! OUT, OUT, OUT!
Removing shoes at the door sounds cute in retrospect, but quite frankly, I don't want to smell other people's nasty shoes!
Service was rude, and the workers only talked to white people like myself. The Arab girls in the place were completely ignored, despite being paying customers. This place is honestly like a gentrification cafe, it's just disappointing.
The store's house should read "MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: CLOSED!"
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