[Merged] The new Destiny Tea House/Restaurant @ East Beaver Creek in Richmond Hill

[CSAgent]

Destiny Tea House, the chain of bbt house. The notable big one at Midland and Steeles, across from Pacific Mall has opened another post-modern location at the same plaza where Honest Lawyers, Jack Astors, Moxies, The Keg, Boston Pizza, Demetres is located in Richmond Hill on Hwy 7 and 404.

If you've been to Go For Tea, this place tries to duplicate the setting and actually rises above and beyond Go For Tea.

First, the decor is similar to GFT except in a lighter tone of colors. The high ceiling walls feature the same incandescent lights you've come to know and love. It has a very clean and white feeling to it. Like all of Destiny's locations, there's a section where its raised above the rest, just like GFT. Except this one features a very cool hanging center piece from top to bottom.

Once you enter through the really big doors at the front, there is a receptionist booth right in the center. I feel sorry for her as the main doors allows the cold winter wind to enter and hits directly the booth. Behind her is the main bar, around it are more seats and tables for couples and mid-sized parties.


On your left once you enter, is the section of the restaurant clearly for big and large groups. On your right, is the section aimed for couples and small parties. The right side has one elongated table with seats across from each other, probably for couples with light colored flower pots in the center. Chairs are not hard wood like GFT but comfortable cushions chairs.

The left side features the same, except the seating on the inside are plush cushions with throw pillows while the seats on the outside aisle are white leather cushions on wood, again, wayy more comfortable than GFT's all wooden seats.

The lighting is a lot brighter, not dimmed and dark like GFT where you require a tea light candle at your table. One of the girls with my party joked that, "wow you can see everyone clearly in here , maybe there's a reason why Go For Tea has dark lighting. Maybe its best not to see everyone clearly at all." =P

The prices and drinks are your standard Destiny fanfare, same likewise with the food. Tonight I ordered the Seafood Udon to go with my Green Mango Slush with small green mango bits. The Udon was great, wasn't spicy and had a minor sour taste to it - kind of like Tom Yum soup. Service was great, features the same kind of Chinese girls who are tall in stature, but speak proper English with no accents. But there were a few who weren't so tall... lol

Looks wise for the girls, GFT is better, but not significantly.

Destiny has always been cheaper for drinks, ranging from $3.99 for your black tea up to $6.99 for the more exotic juice drinks with real fruit inside it in a big mug that looks to be like 1L or more. They have two washrooms - one on each side so you don't have to run to one centralized washroom like you do at GFT.

I came with a party of 8 and we all agreed that this will be our new hang out place from now on for all of our bbt needs on a Friday evening.

Lookout GFT cuz you have some serious competition across the street. A place built upon a separate building all on its own, unlike GFT which is attached to many separate other businesses.

Did I mention that there is a secluded VIP upstairs area where you can't even see the patrons? The stairs leading up to it are behind the bar. I can faintly hear music coming from up there, maybe a live band or a DJ perhaps... I don't know, I did not go up...nor do I know what one must do to allow entry.

Overall, we were pleased and would definitely go back again. Service was prompt, and omg, the waitresses actually showed emotion and smiled during our ordering!!

We came around 12:30am so we have no idea if there would be a long line up like you would run into GFT on a weekend.

[GateGuardian]

I tried this place last time. The drink and food were expected, but they forgot the utensils for our food TWICE and it was really hard to flag down a waitress. Unless the Midland & Steeles location, they take your order instead of writing it by yourself. The menu is also a bit different. I find the Scarborough one has more items to choose from.

They also have AC adapters underneath the booths so you can bring your laptop if needed.

I don't think I'll be going back for a while because the Scarborough location is like 2min away from me.

[CSAgent]

I tried this place last time. The drink and food were expected, but they forgot the utensils for our food TWICE and it was really hard to flag down a waitress. Unless the Midland & Steeles location, they take your order instead of writing it by yourself. The menu is also a bit different. I find the Scarborough one has more items to choose from.

They also have AC adapters underneath the booths so you can bring your laptop if needed.

I don't think I'll be going back for a while because the Scarborough location is like 2min away from me.

My group didn't have to write our own orders? The waitress did...

We all got our utensils 5 minutes before our food came out. My friend got his food 10 minutes after all of ours came out, waitress even apologized for the wait since his was a little bit more harder to make. Something about frying the beef separately first, then the noodles of his dish.

[tinlunlau]

ain't destiny owned by the same taiwanese guy who owns Go For Tea?

[toki]

the drinks at Destiny's are just too small compared to Go For Tea's.
and the food section at the new Destiny's is lacking compared to the old one. however, they do have a lot more drinks. lots of new, unique flavours which i'm too scared to try.

[CSAgent]

ain't destiny owned by the same taiwanese guy who owns Go For Tea?

Not sure, I'll ask next time I go to either place.

[ironchefff]

Tried it and didn't like it. The place has a nice atmosphere but there are some serious problems with the seating. The fabric couches are somewhat awkward to sit on and forces everyone on the couch to get up if anyone needs to go to a washroom. The booths seem nicer but they're relatively small and only hold 2 people. As for the tea, similar to the other destiny's I've been to but you get a lot less than at GFT. I guess the biggest thing that turned me away was the smell... it has this old furniture salesman smell... probably because its so new but it was bothersome. Maybe I'll give it another try someday...

[rdtx2002]

is that the one near Chako?

[revelation]

is that the one near Chako?

no, thats the old one at midland and finch. unless they happened to open a chako beside another destiny tea house

[thecharlie]

Yeah, there's a Chako right beside the new Destiny on East Beaver Creek. I find their service quite good. From the time I ordered my drink to the time I received it was approximately 3 minutes. The service is decent.

[h2o-]

Yeah, there's a Chako right beside the new Destiny on East Beaver Creek. I find their service quite good. From the time I ordered my drink to the time I received it was approximately 3 minutes. The service is decent.

Same boss for Chako & Destiny... (you knew that if you had been to the ones on Silver Star)

[ShadowVlican]

lol i just heard about this new location today

guess i'll be trying it sometime

[aw3s0me]

I tried this place last time. The drink and food were expected, but they forgot the utensils for our food TWICE and it was really hard to flag down a waitress. Unless the Midland & Steeles location, they take your order instead of writing it by yourself. The menu is also a bit different. I find the Scarborough one has more items to choose from.

They also have AC adapters underneath the booths so you can bring your laptop if needed.

I don't think I'll be going back for a while because the Scarborough location is like 2min away from me.

you know if they have wifi ?

[MoonDoggy]

we tried it a few weeks back and it's alright. nothing great compare to other Go For Tea type places. The food and drinks are pretty standard and same with the prices. I wish it would offer something more compare to other places since there are so many of these places around the same area. It seems like this place is just another Go For Tea place that offers more parking spots

BTW, the time that we went, the staff were pretty much out of wack. Waitress keeps forgetting orders, and the managers didn't do much to help since they keep asking us to wait while they tell the busy waitress to come back to our table to answer our questions.

[calcuu]

Must check it out since I saw it last time. The place looks big just like Go For Tea so it's a nice place to hangout.