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Zephyr Tea House Café
Category: Restaurants Taiwanese Taiwanese [Edit]
100A-7911 Alderbridge WayRichmond, BC V6X 2A4
Neighbourhood: Golden Village
(604) 270-2588
- Hours:
Mon, Wed-Thu, Sun 11 am - 12 am
Fri-Sat 11 am - 1 am
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
12 reviews for Zephyr Tea House Café
12 reviews in English
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Review from Edward L.
Came here for a dinner. Many places in Richmond are closed by 2200, which is a shame. This place is open late though, so you don't always have to resort to No. 9.
Parking is plentiful as this is in a (kinda dead) industrial park. No complaints here.
A couple of ads outside curiously advertise that the food here is "low carb". The dishes here go easy on the pasta and rice though. While it is a bit of a stretch, there is some truth to those signs.
The interior is a bit dim, with the walls painted black. There is a projector playing various music videos. Today it must've been Rihanna day.
I had a good chuckle at how the painters weren't too careful with the masking tape. You can see a lot of paint "leakage" between the white fixtures/pillars and the black ceiling. Might not want to hire them to do your place.
I had the salty peppery chicken (easiest benchmark for Taiwanese food). It was light on the better but heavy on the spices. They also mixed in some of those oh-so-awesome basil leaves. Some of the best I've had in Richmond for a while. My friend Vincent N. had some breaded chicken with noodle (it came with pasta and a small mango dessert) I tried some of his chicken and the skin was also crispy but light on the batter. I actually do prefer not having too much batter, so this also scored points with me. It also came with a small dish of pasta, which I tried a piece. The pasta is a touch bland but hey, this is healthier too.
I should come here more often, as the food is quite good. As everyone else (I looked around) looked like they were in university still, it made Vincent and I feel young again. Recommended.Listed in: 2012 Cheap and Tasty
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Review from Estella P.
5/22/2012 4 photos
My hubby and I were trying to find a late night spot to have a drink and relax. There aren't many places in this area that are open late. We happened to drive by this place and decided to try it out. They serve sodas and teas. I ordered the herbal passion fruit tea and my hubby had the blood orange soda. My tea came with a shot of simple syrup on the side. I don't usually put sweetener in my tea but this one needed it as it was quite tart. It was very good and it was a cute little pot of tea.
They also have a food menu that is hong kong style snacks. However, we ended up ordering from Tri Pot, which also shares the cafe. They serve low carb snacks. So we got the chicken feet and pig's ears. They were mixed and coated in a special sauce and served with cilantro and pickled cucumbers with your choice of heat. It was very good.
They have a tv playing the latest music videos as well as Chinese R and B music videos. They also have sections with sofas if you have a large group. A group of people were playing a rousing game of cards while we were there so it got noisy at times.
This place is mainly for the young asian crowd but we didn't feel uncomfortable since there were other people there around our age.
It's a nice place to relax and hang out. -
Review from Kenneth E.
Vancouver, BC
5/3/2012
Tough to rate since a lot of these places exist in Richmond, though it's a handful that opens later. Nice decor, spacious, attentive service.
Ordered the ma po tofu on rice, good sauce, and came w/ a few tapas in a bento box style: corn, sprouts, and a processed mango dessert fruit.
The condensed thick toast was better.
I'll be back sometime in the future.
Lots of parking in the afternoon. -
Review from Yumi K.
Richmond, BC
1/13/2012 3 photos
I heard good things about this place from a friend who worked in a bubble tea place before so I decided to try it :-)
I ordered seafood hotpot where I could choose my soup and the content. There was couple options for soup and content.
They gave me real seafood instead of fish balls and all cabbages, unlike pearl castle.
I can tell that they are not putting Too much MSG unlike other bbt places.
I will definitely go back again :-) -
Review from Michael P.
Burnaby, BC
1/11/2012 3 Check-ins Here
Ever heard of the 'Zephyr Song' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers? That's what's playing in my head every time I come to this place. Quite a contrast to the random mandarin and k-pop music that's blasted in this venue, I must say!
Recently Zephyr Tea House has renovated parts of the restaurant. Rather than having a lounge area near the entrance, they've accommodated a snack bar of Asian delights (i.e. various seafood and meat balls).
The food here ranges from the common bubble tea munchies to personal hot pot dishes. I'm a bigger fan of their drinks, however. They offer a variety of teas, slush, fruit drinks and Japanese calpis.
Accessibility is easy (a turn off No. 3), parking is available and it makes a great place to stop by at night for snacks and drinks. I give it three stars and a thumb up (not visible in the review). -
Review from Lukas O.
Richmond, BC
12/19/2011
I've only been to just over half a dozen bubble tea places in Richmond but I have to say that this one is my favorite. The staff have always been friendly and the atmosphere is quite unique - grab the couches if you can! They have a projection screen that plays music videos which most seating areas can enjoy.
Everything is great except the portion & prices of their food options; bubble tea prices are fair though and you can easily get them to go. -
Review from Larry L.
9/10/2011 1 photo
A bit pricey for what you get compared to other locations around this town.
My brother and a couple of friends came here for a little dinner as I wanted to try the Tri Pot which is also located within, but a different business.
(Tri-pot is a take out Taiwanese low carb snack place).
Taiwanese sausage, and like Stephen Y said, it wasn't much. Kinda small, (but not too salty). No rice. Just a side dish. Our lady friend seemed to like talking about it and poking at it. 3 stars.
Spicy Wuntun, but it was a bit mushy, still passable and the portions weren't half bad, but the Wuntuns were a bit smallish. 3 stars.
Pork with garlic. That was decent. Reasonable sized for the money and tasted good. 3.5 stars.
I ordered the Szechuan Hot Pot (Taiwnese style so it's not quite the same).
Not very spicy (for what we like it to be)
Decent amount of veggies inside and the pork slices were just enough to fill my belly!!!
The Hot pot came out on a tray with an individual hot pot and butane cooker underneath to keep the soup stock boiling and cook the meats properly. I didn't much like the sauces it came with, but that's probably cause, it just wasn't what I liked, so I left them intact and just ate the hot pot stuff.
3.5 stars.
My iced green tea, no sugar was good. Looked like beer in a glass with frothy head on top and everything! 4 stars. Kudos for no sugar.
If they gave you larger portions for price you pay, it's be worth trying again. The flavour and ingredients don't make this any better than other places around town, so I'd just have to say, it's average.
What I did like was the Tri-pot next door within.
Interesting concept.
BTW. the four of us were probably the oldest people here. Most of them were under 25 something kids with BMW's and Benzes.Listed in: Taiwanese Food
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Review from Amanda L.
8/9/2011 1 Check-in Here
Stopped in here quickly on the weekend for bubble tea. We sat on the couches briefly while ordering and waiting and took off pretty quickly after that.
It is a big space that seems to have a lot going on inside of it, would be confusing on a busy night I assume. The staff were really friendly although the English of the waitress was pretty poor, we pretty much just had to point at what we wanted and hope it was correct. Bubble teas came quick and were nice an tasty! -
Review from Linda C.
4/18/2011 9 photos
This Taiwanese cafe is "legit" as my Taiwanese friend says with their candle cradles to keep your tea warm, good milk tea, and other good food items. The place serves hot pot, which you can also get to-go...interesting. They also have a ton of magazines for you to read while chilling there. I like how the seating is partitioned off into mini seating cubicles for privacy.
Service was slow and we had to flag down our server to get the bill. We only stopped in for a quick snack so I can't really comment on their actual food.
- Zephyr Milk Tea: not too sweet, good tea/milk/sweetness balance, and the jelly and whip cream is icing on the cake
- Condensed Milk Toast: i love it when places use the RIGHT kind of bread for this. the nice extra thick toast. this place also cuts an X in the middle so the condensed milk drips in a bit=awesomeness
- Coconut Toast: light layer of toasted coconut on top with a light sweetness, which was also very good and that is coming from a person that doesn't really like coconut! -
Review from Stephen Y.
Richmond, BC
3/15/2011 2 Check-ins Here
First of all, this place needs to hire a interior designer or something. It's a trainwreck inside and at 9:00PM, they start showing a mix of hip-hop & pop music videos from North America and Asia. Not the greatest mix for eating, but I suppose I'm a bit outside their target demographic.
On to their food, my wife ordered the beef noodle soup with tomatoes and I had my usual Taiwanese sausage on rice. She loved her dish but mine was only passable. The portions were too small (even Pearl Castle has bigger portions) and the sausage was too salty...thank god for lots of white rice.
They also have a small, separate (more on that in a moment), shop inside called "Tri-Pot", which serves up stewed vegetables and meat of your choices. This brings up my biggest issue in this place, it's inside of the restaurant and their is a small menu at the table. Yet, I cannot place an order with the server, I have to walk up to their to order? WTF?? I also have to pay up front instead of waiting for it to be added to the bill. Seriously, get your act together. I could put up with most of this, if the food was good, but I wasn't thrilled with the stewed tofu, enoki mushrooms and the chicken wings when I finally picked up my food...especially compared to the fare I've had in Taiwan.
I hope they get their act together and link up the two systems, because this is borderline absurd. (end rant) -
Review from Maria W.
Vancouver, BC
7/10/2011
I'm actually a fan of the kitchen in the corner inside Zephyr called "Tri-Pot" which serves your pick of meats and vegetables and noodles and stews them together to make your dish...kind of hard to describe, but it's a very unique and very Taiwanese dish.
It's quite tasty, and reasonably priced, and the portions are huge. I can never finish the portions and always have enough for a second meal the following day.
Nowhere else have I seen a place that serves food prepared in this manner, and every time I go, I don't regret it!
Warning: Tri-Pot operates separately from Zephyr, so as such, they take payment at the counter when you place your order, and it's cash only. You can sit and eat anywhere inside Zephyr, and order drinks from Zephyr, but would have to be ordered and paid for separately from your meal from Tri-Pot. I find this kind of weird, but it's how they've chosen to operate.
I give Tri-Pot 5 stars because of its uniqueness, and the food is quite tasty, for a good price.
I've tried the drinks at Zephyr...they're alright, nothing you wouldn't come to expect from your usual BBT places. Zephyr gets 3 stars for their drinks. -
Review from Annie M.
Vancouver, BC
We went for lunch there today with 4 co-workers. When we arrived at 12:10 and there was only one other table of customer. We thought great, we'll be in and out in no time. We ordered and got our food almost same time.
We had side dishes and noodles to share:
Cold cucumber in spicy sauce - Very crunchy and tasty
Taiwanese style sausage - ok.
Diced chicken & peanut with chili pepper on rice - chili sauce mild and a lot peanuts
House Special Spicy Beef brisket noodle - Tasty and quite spicy
Deep fried chicken steak with noodle in soup - full size of chicken steak with thick noodle.
All of us ordered bubble tea, overall BBT were good.
For sure, we will go back there for lunch.
