Argo Tea

Update:
Closed now, moved to Tribune towers

I don’t have to want to be on the constant lookout for my purse and wallet and belongings and apparently Argo Tea locations have become prime setting for thieves. Two of my friends had their wallet stolen here and I had mine stolen at the Randolph St location. And the team here said they don’t have to address it.
I’m all for local entrepreneurs and feel good that a Chicago start-​up has now grown this big, but I can’t go in stressed and scared about being robbed.

Tried the hot tea and the hot chai with my GF… excellent selection of teas and coffees. A great alternative to the Starbucks norm.
What a pleasure, especially in windy Chicago weather!

Clean.
Pastries looked dry and old.
Armenian Mint Tea: no complaints here. I liked it.
I would return for the beverages.

Clean store, very nice staff, delicious teas. I loved their Charitea so much I bought some to bring home with me. Yum!

GUYS, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!
I’ve already rated one ARGO with 2 stars a few months ago and I though — probably, it was just THAT location. But no… you are always like this — lazy, slow and not paying attention to what your customers are saying.
I started my order with the words: «Iced medium…»
First — I waited for my order for 5 minutes. All the other customer, who were AFTER me, received their teas. I asked, what was wrong (it was cherrytea — quite a popular order, I guess), the barista told me they need 4 more minutes to make it. I asked, why they hadn’t told me that BEFORE I payed for it (I could always buy an iced tea in a glass bottle). He apologized (that’s why I rate them 2 stars, not 1).
Second — he finally gave me my tea. It was HOT and SMALL. I said — I wanted it cold. They were like… «what is wrong now»… I was fine before I came to your place. I just wanted some tea and I wanted to have it in 2 minutes, not 10!
Third — when they finally remade it for me, it tasted different. I don’t know, what was the reason — probably, the fact that they made it from hot to cold… Next time I’ll ask to give my money back.

Standard Argo Tea.
I needed to get some reading done and was in the River North area, so I stopped in.
I ordered one of my usuals (Large Mate Latte) and began to work. Wi-​Fi is provided for free for two (2) hours with purchase using the Webeams service. Keep this in mind if you’re planning on doing an all-​day thing here.
The drinks are good like any other Argo. Location is pretty convenient. No real problems when coming here.

A lot of fancy tea selection and dessert /​food. Any freshly brewed 12oz tea of any selection is only 2.45

We drive 3 hours to get the bubble tea!!! Awesome with ant of the flavors! We like coconut. Ask the staff for suggestions, they give good advice!

Stopped by again a week later. Yay. One thing I noticed that was an ever so slight disappointment was that against the wall there is loose tea that you can buy. In so many different flavors and different flavors infused with the traditional. I don’t want to buy a huge container without trying. If they had the tea available by the cup I would try and if I loved would buy the loose tea to bring home.
Regardless, still good sevice and still will stop by for a cup of tea when I’m out on my walk.

Its a standard place for a good cup of tea. Its a great people watching spot too… always hopping :) There is a fair amount of seating also.

No surprise, I love the tasty beverages here. I do wish they had more flavors of vegan muffins. Though any vegan muffins are good.

First time at argo tea even though I’ve seen it everywhere. Met up with a friend at this specific location because it was close to her and it was the only place open til 11.
I got the red velvet tea which came hot. The cashier was very very friendly and gave me the option of what kind of milk I wanted.
The place is clean and had enough seating. Saw people on their laptops doing work.
Love this concept of a «coffee» type place. It’s refreshing not to have to go to a coffee shop to meet up and just drink coffee. I prefer tea much more.
They also offer a variety of teas from hot milk tea (aka red velvet and choclate mint) to bubble tea to sangria tea to smoothie type of tea.
They also offer food from bakery items to sandwiches.

A tea place with great coffee, at least better than Starbucks and Lavazza nearby? Yes. Not to mention their incredible herbal teas– Charitea and Fruit Sangria.
Finally, love their Espresso shortbread cookies!

Similar atmosphere, but a much better selection of tea than Starbucks. Free wi-​fi, but only for two hours after your purchase.
I had the pumpkin chai tea because I wanted to avoid caffeine. It was hot and good, but very sweet.

Very large selection of teas! Their menu was huge! Actually the menu was a little hard to read as they made the font very small. I could imagine that for people with bad eyesight this would be a problem.
The service was very quick and curteous and the coffee was good despite the fact that this is mainly a tea place.
I loved the artwork they had displayed on the walls and the merchandise they had in the shop was cool.
Good tea! Bought some loose tea for the road and it was really good. right across from our hotel so it was a great place to chill.

Yum tea. Nice selection of munchies. Prices are a smidge high, but not for the neighborhood. Chick pea salad + yogurt parfait + large red tea = my lunch. Frequently.
Special shout out to the nice folks behind the counter that never scoff or act put out when I pull out 3 cards (wilcard=10% off + argo card + check card).

I was excited to see the free wi-​fi sign and the presence of many laptoppers at Argo. Plus, Argo Tea is open late and has a wide variety of specialty tea drinks, including bubble tea, tea sangria, mate late, chai, teappuchino, red velvet, chocolate mint, etc. They also serve coffee drinks made with organic, fair trade beans.
The food looks good too. They bake on site, so the place smells like fresh baked goods. Choose from muffins, parfaits, salads, quiche, brownie, Teanie Paninis (tiny finger sandwiches on mini baguettes), scones, muffins, croissants, etc. They sell tea accessories as well.
It’s open everyday and late too — many people use it as a study spot. The interior is new, polished and contemporary looking with attractive signs, almost like a Starbucks but with a little more character. A purchase entitles you to two hours of free, strong wi-​fi, plenty of comfy seats to choose from, bathroom, and many power outlets.
* Salmon Teanie Panini ($ 3.45) — it’s the cutest thing, so tiny. They heat it for you. It’s really overpriced — mostly bread (a decent mini baguette) with a tiny bit of teriyaki salmon and spinach, decent flavor.
* Tea latte (medium, $ 3.55) — it wasn’t too sweet but the black tea flavor, with a touch of vanilla, was very weak — feels really expensive for such a watery drink
Attractive place but overpriced; since the tea is weak, I don’t have high hopes for their coffee.

Nearly choked on the ginger green tea. My friend couldn’t wait to find a trashcan and spit it out on the sidewalk. Maybe it’s just this drink Argo got wrong (or just this branch), but there was way too much ginger (both in the taste and in the mass of ginger bits that form a half inch layer at the bottom) that completely overwhelmed whatever tea flavor there was. Don’t get me wrong, the concept sounds nice (green tea with a splash of ginger), except the reality was more like ginger syrup with maybe a drop of green tea. Venue’s nice enough, servers are friendly, and Argo still has a massively long list of drinks I have yet to try, but they either need to fix their recipe or just take this one off the menu.

Note: My ratings are in regards to comparing each Argo Tea location. My goal is to visit them all!
I would like to thank my fellow Argo Tea addicted friend, study buddy, and fro-​yo afficionado for introducing me to this location.
First thoughts when I saw the storefront of this place: 1) It’s nice that it’s off of the Magnificent Mile (behind the Gap) 2) Is that… a huge table I see?
Yes, a large, brown wooden table, lit by three overhead lamps that look like the clear glass tea pots that Argo uses. I’m afraid now that I’ve told you about it someone will always sit there. But it’s the biggest table I’ve seen at an Argo location that is open late (I’ve also seen it at 140 S Dearborn St).
So why am I so enthused about a table? It means I found a nice spot to study for several hours with my friend, sprawling books all over the place. And I think that’s the point of it, this location attracts several students from the nearby schools so it’s relatively quiet. Of course though, more hours at Argo means… more money lost to my weakness for tea.
I would have given this location another star, but I nearly boycotted this location because the cashier came up with some bum excuse that she had processed my order too quickly to notice that I had an Argo points card. … … … Oh no you didn’t! As much as I love you Argo there’s no way I’m losing out on amassing points! Fortunately for her, her coworker showed her how to cancel out my transaction and ring me up again. Whew.