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Argo Tea
Rating Details »
Categories: Coffee & Tea, Bakeries [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Near North Side, River East550 St. Clair St
(between Grand Ave & Ohio St)
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 546-4790
- Nearest Transit:
-
Grand (Red)
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 6:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sat. 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun. 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Free
17 reviews for Argo Tea
I love Argo pretty much universally. You wanna meet at Argo? I'm there. Seriously, this is one of my favorite places in the city.
My preferred Argo is the one at Armitage and Sheffield, but this is a close second. Still conveniently located in the River North/Streeterville area, it's much less crowded than the Rush St. location. There's also a quiet bar along the back of the counter for quiet conversations out of the way or prying eyes or ears.
Service here has always been good, and they have tiny cheese or nutella crepes, which I haven't seen at most locations.
I don't really do coffee, I do tea. And there are two teas that I usually LOVE from Argo - some mojito tea concoction and some dixieish sweet tea - but I rarely get them anymore, because I realized that they cost about twice the cost of a Starbucks ice tea, and who the fuck wants to be paying twice the cost of a Starbucks anything for anything? Not me. But the drinks are usually good and I thought I would treat myself, sooo....
I got the southerny sweet tea and it was: CLUMPY?!?! Pretty alarming since this is not a drink that is supposed to have milk in it or anything and I hadn't written this review yet, so a poisoning attempt would have been premature.
I pointed out the obvious cloudiness and curds and whey and shit all up in the glass to the cashier and at first she told me she didn't see what I was talking about (don't you HATE that? it wasn't like a single piece of something, it was damn near like a cup of Carolina gravy) A second person came and looked and acknowledged what I was talking about and explained it like this:
"Sometimes it gets cloudy like that when it's from the bottom of the bottle. I'll make you a new one." and then "I made one with the new bottle, hope you like this one better. Sorry!"
Um, the "bottle"? Hmm...Bottle of what? I just paid almost $4 for a size medium iced tea that came out of a jug? $4 for basically a cup of flavored ice water doesn't involve like brewing or something? So basically this is a quadruple upcharge on that sweetened Lipton shit from the Walgreen's.
And the second cup was just about as bitter as I feel about it now.
Good service, friendly staff, decent coffee.
If you want a wifi access code, ask before your purchase.
Don't go expecting to find a variety of unflavored teas.
Veggie wrap was microwaved and inedible.
I am obsessed with their iced tea sangria with chunks of chopped up fruit. We ran across the street to Volare and asked for a separate shot of vodka to complete the night...poured it into my plastic cup of Argo iced tea sangria with its gigantic pink straw and mixed.
Aaahhhh...refreshing! (Oh and there's sample-lots of samples!!!! Ask for them all!!!!!)
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.
Sorry Starbucks, Argo kinda gets right everything you get wrong.
A+ Pastries. Apple Rasberry turnover, lemon tart, croissant, muffins. They are remarkably bakery fresh tasting. Maybe they are from a real bakery and not a muffin factory?
A The Brownie. Get them to warm it up for you. Quite a treat.
A Coffee. solid coffee, much better than caribou on par with starbucks
A+ WiFi. Just buy something and you get 2 hours. no fuss no muss. Its good wifi too; doesn't crash out and doesn't filter every last thing.
I'm not a tea person and that kept me away for awhile. Just ignore the tea; Argo is a solid chain-like place for a strong cup of coffee and a free table to work or read.
Found this place trying to get to the Dunkin Donuts around the corner. Quick and friendly service, quiet store, good prices and DELICIOUS TEA.
I'm not a big coffee or hot tea drinker, but the White Tea Acai Squeeze tea was SO good.
I realised I had a problem when I actually got re-dressed after a bath and walked down the road in the rain just to get a cup of tea.
I can't help it. I love it. The chocolate mint and red velvet teas are like dessert (and I checked the calorie count - they actually are!), the earl grey vanilla thing is my favourite for breakfast and don't get me started on their brownies. The staff here are always really friendly, last visit one even gave me a heads up about brownies about to come out of the oven, making them twice as good as usual.
It is vastly expensive (for tea), and I do wish they had all their syrups in sugar-free versions, but for now, my addiction shows no sign of abating so an extra 10 minutes on the treadmill it is.
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.
I live right down the street and I'm sitting in Argo as I write this review. This is my first time here and I'm pleasantly surprised. I had a blueberry muffin and was amazingly fresh.
I actually like that you have to buy something in order to get wi-fi access. There are a lot of outlets so you can pretty much plug in at every table.
Not the kind of coffee shop I'm used to, i.e., one where you can settle in and spend a few hours in a comfy, quiet environment. This is more like a stop-and-go: get in and get out. I find it annoying that you have to buy a drink to get Wi-Fi (even though I always buy a drink anyway) and that it lasts for only two hours. But then again, that's about and hour and fifty-five minutes more than you'll want to spend here. Only redeeming value = grilled veggie flatbread. It's too good tasting to actually be good for you, but I'm fine pretending it is.
I absolutely love Argo tea. I tried it for the first time when this location opened, not too long ago. The location is very convenient and the drinks are awesome. I find myself constantly thinking about them, although I try to limit myself to a reasonable amount. Some of my favorite drinks include the hibiscus steamer, mint chocolate, chocolate tea latte and white frost tea. I have only tried one thing that I have not been fond of, that being the earl grey vanilla creme. Everything else has been great. Seating can be a bit difficult to find at this location on weekends and weeknights. Although, weekday mornings there are plenty of seats available. Everyone that works here is super friendly. The only bad thing is that sometimes it takes a while to get your drink, but they seem to be working that out, as it has been getting quicker lately.
And sign up for the club card (free)! Every $50 you spend, you get $5 free! Let me tell you, it adds up fast.
I really like Argo Tea in general (Randolph one mostly) and was really excited to see a new one open up in my hood!
This place is designed well, just as all of them are, although I miss an upstairs to work without the machine noise!
The staff is friendly and try hard to be helpful.
I generally love their stuff, but mixing "any" tea with a "latte" isn't a very good choice - obvious to me now but not when I ordered and they recommended it!
I love Argo and have been going to the one on Randolph for a long time. I was delighted when one opened up in my neighborhood.
The people who work there have all been very nice. On guy in particular I have to thank has been extremely nice.
After my over a year regularly going to Argo, he asked if I was a student because they gave student discounts!
No one for over a year told me they gave student discounts! Argo you loose a star for having me spend more money than I could have been.
I almost boycotted you, but that one nice guy was enough to make me come back.
Too bad he transferred to another location.
WOoo hoo! I love Argo Tea and now I don't have to go into the hospital to get my fix!
This place is a bit loud. Louder then the one on rush. But I think since its near the Ave its bound to have traffic....
I would say nay to studying at this location.... But maybe it was loud cause it was a Sunday??
all and all same consistent yummyness as usual.
For years this street corner has been home to several panhandlers. Somehow Argo Tea chose to target a different demographic when it opened a few months ago.
If you're willing to dig a pit, cover it with leaves, and collect the wallets of the CEO's that you've trapped... you can afford a pretty great tea latte.
Other than that this place is fairly useless in a recession.
Sometimes they give out free samples on the corner. I have never seen the homeless men take one, but I like to imagine them approaching the employee, lifting a hot cup of Oolong Formosa high and dumping it on their head. Then they breathe deep, winge, and lean in close to the Argo employee.
"This cologne smells like bunny piss," they would whisper. Then the vagrant would lift the oversized tea dispenser off the table and onto the curb, remove the lid, and lower the tip of their penis into the steaming vat of white tea.
"My name is Bunny. The circle is complete."
They would say.
this might be the best cup of tea i've ever had.
i had the argo original no. 6 chocolate mint which was made with steamed cocoa, mint & black tea. it had a really smooth flavor that was really light and not too sweet. two words.. SUPER YUM. plus it was the perfect temperature during this cold night.
It was close to closing time so it wasn't too crowded or noisy. There was plenty of loose tea for sale as well as cute little teapots and teacups. Probably a little more expensive then I'm used to, plus the fact that anything I purchased I'd have to lug around in my suitcase stopped me from buying anything.
love love love argo tea.. too bad there aren't any in California :(
