BAMBU

I always stop by this place when I’m in this part of town. I’ve ordered the #6 and #10 cups before and they’re really good and refreshing. They’re a little pricey (almost $ 5 a cup), but I don’t see this kind of dessert/​refreshment sold much elsewhere, so I’m willing to pay. The only thing I would say is that the coconut milk they put in these cups could be a little sweeter because it gets diluted by the ice, but overall it’s still pretty good.

If you’re into eating and drinking healthy, will this place is for you. From dessert drinks to juices to smoothies.

We all know I love bubble tea, and if there’s a bubble tea place, well, then I’ve got to try it. Especially if I’m in this area, because I’m so rarely in this area.
Enter Bambu. I ordered the black milk tea with pearls, which is my standard. The tea itself was good — not too sweet, but not with a strong tea flavor, either. Pretty standard as far as black milk tea goes. The pearls, on the other hand, were not my favorite. Mine were on the softer side and had a slimy texture. I prefer mine to be a bit more firm and chewy. I still ate every last pearl and drank my bubble tea in record time, so no real complaints other than a personal preference.
The space itself is beautiful — it’s very open and modern and I love the bats on the wall. The restaurant was also very clean, which was nice. I didn’t see a single dirty table, so kudos to them for that. The menu has an array of options, including a lot of things I’ll have to eventually Google and maybe one day be brave enough to try.
Bambu wasn’t my favorite bubble tea, but I could see myself going back if I was in this area. It certainly wasn’t bad, just wasn’t my personal favorite. Give it a try and see what you think.

Wow, what happened here? It’s like 180-​degrees from my first visit when they opened in Austin. It’s still big and spacious with a great interior design, but the Bambu goodness has been ravaged by angry pandas.
The menu’s been streamlined, the drinks are still colorful, but everything we had seemed either way too sweet or pretty tasteless. Granted I can’t tell great Chè from bad, but a gummy worm by any other name is still goofy. The waffles we shared had the same interesting texture as waterlogged toilet tissue. And I just didn’t see the difference between my black milk tea or a random cup of sugar water diluted with white cream — buh buh buh buh buh Bad to the Boba.
I guess I could use the «Maybe I came on a bad day» logic, but during my first visit here it was three teenagers in corporate polos working the counter, with four others in the back. Today there was only one very nice person in normal clothes, pretty much doing everything. That’s gotta be a workout. If you’re eating at the MT complex, there are just too many other dessert choices around here or even up the street. I always see Unilocal friends in other cities merrily checking-​in to their Bambu, I’m mildly curious what they would think of ours.

Based on other reviews, I clearly missed out by not ordering the pandan waffle. I’m usually somewhat of a fan of dessert drinks, but the bambu special (fresh coconut juice with longan, basil seed, coconut meat and pandan jelly) was a bit much for me. There were too many different textures going on in that cup. Flavor was ok, but not good enough for the price tag. I think if I ordered a different (simpler) drink, it would have been more to my liking. The location itself is clean and a decent size, and I’m definitely willing to give it another shot. It seems like a great business, just that particular drink is not for me.

So, I am not a huge fan of their dessert drinks, but if you have not had the pandan waffles here, you are so missing out. Literally when I come here, we order 4 and eat 2 on the way home and save the other 2 for the next day. They are sooooooo good. Don’t get any of the other waffle flavors, just try the pandan, and you will seriously thank me. How have I not discovered this until now.

One of my favorite places to come to in Austin. Everything I’ve ordered has been great. You must try the Pandan waffle though! Seriously one of my favorite snacks.
I usually always order the almond milk tea with tapioca, but again, everything I’ve tried I’ve really liked.
This place has also become one of my favorite study spots. Unlike other cafes, the windows and open floor plan make it a nice place to get some work done. I come here so often that one of the girls here knows my order by memory. It’s always so nice to feel like I’ve made a friend!

I only come here for the pandan waffle seriously.
I’m Vietnamese and I don’t really care for the desserts or drinks but I’ll spend money on like 5 pandan waffles at once because it’s that good.
Let the pandan waffle cool down before eating it and the flavor really comes out.

Bumping up my star rating from 2 to 4.
Why?
–Because I finally figured out what to order… so I would hate for this place to close b/​c it’s the only place that serves these things in all of Austin.
–Always plenty of seating and big bright windows
1) Peanut Butter Mochi Waffles — Uh-​mazing. Pretty much the only reason I found for coming back until I got the right drinks (continue reading). They’re the perfect balance of crispy & chewy. If you’ve ever had a mochi donut before, you know what I mean. Anyways, you really can’t go wrong with this. I forgot what other flavors they have (taro was meh), but it doesn’t matter because peanut butter is the best one (That says a lot because I don’t even really like peanut butter that much).
2) Get the colorful scary looking drinks– I like anything with pandan jelly (it’s the green superchewy jelly) and red tapioca (reminds me of water chestnut even though I hate water chestnut in my food… I guess I ike it in my drinks?).
My favorite drinks so far:
Number 6: Fruit Che with— coconut milk, assorted asian fruits like longan and jackfruit, coconut meat, pandan jelly, red tapioca.
Number 10: coconut milk with pandan jelly, grass jelly, red tapioca
What not to order?
Tapioca teas… mehhhhhh.

Pretty empty on Wednesday afternoon but it was just like any other Bambu I’ve visited. Tasty Viet desserts and drinks. A good place to pick something sweet when you get the hankering. Or something to go with a catch up chat with friends. There seems to be a dearth of tables for the amount of space they have. Almost as if they expect low traffic? Just an observation.

I enjoy coming here and getting my Vietnamese dessert cravings. I can’t cook my own so this is a great alternative. Their drinks and desserts are well made and the ingredients appears of good quality. The restaurant is clean and the staff is friendly.

Can we please have one of these awesome stores in NYC??? Come up to NY! I had the #10 and my bf had the classic #3 (we call it the rainbow drink but it’s a staple in Viet desserts). This place is as authentic as you can get to Viet desserts. Way better than boba tea because they use natural ingredients like pandan leaves for Pandan jelly.
It’s tough to find real Pandan leaf juice or a good dessert willing to add in lots of pandan. The juice from Pandan leaves are difficult to strain out for a concentrate. Good news — Bambu does not skimp out on Pandan! When I got my drink, I was able to catch a whiff of the yummy pandan aroma mixed in with the coconut milk. All their jellies were chewy enough with the right texture but not too firm.
After my own drink, I was craving more. Really wish they expanded to nyc… someone please open a Bambu up here!

«PANDAN WAFFLE!» No better words have ever been yelled as my mid-​afternoon Sunday snack was ready to be picked up at the counter.
Not gonna lie here… I had no idea what a pandan waffle was until I bit into it. I mainly ordered it because other people were and I thought maybe just maybe it something to do with pandas. No pandas here, but those green waffles are good. I can’t even really describe the taste more than «good.»
The drinks here are also delicious. BAMBU is another one of those family run stores that I wish had the means to expand with a couple more locations.

I usually stop by here for some tapioca after finishing eating at some other restaurant nearby. The décor here is really cool, has a calm, yet somewhat sophisticated look to it.
The bubble milk tea is really sweet and creamy, a little too sweet sometimes.
I wouldn’t come out of my way to go here, but it’s not bad. Prices are average.

Bambu is the go-​to spot for Chè in Austin. Plenty of options with friendly service. The cashier is always willing to help you decide on which drink to choose from if you’re stuck between 2… or 3. The prices are very reasonable and location is convenient.

I was first introduced to Bambu in San Francisco. Loved it because I loved che (Vietnamese dessert). When Dallas opened up 2 Bambu locations I was ecstatic — -that’s until every drink I ordered was made tasteless, with old ingredients, and just tasted plain nasty. I lost hope in the Bambu chain until we stopped by this location in Austin. I ordered their fruit tea (with chunks of mango, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries). Refreshing!
My husband ordered his usual (#24 with pandan jelly and red tapioca). Ingredients were plentiful. The one thing I didn’t like was they charged extra for his pandan jelly and red tapioca. His pandan jelly was all clumped together too. I thought Bambu doesn’t charge for add-​ons? We also got the pandan waffle (made to order, nicely toasted and flavorful, not soggy like most places). It was a nice dessert after our dinner. This particular location is roomy with plenty of seating too! Bambu, I might just have a little hope left in you.

I really love their pandan jelly. So chewy and delicious! I always get the #3 chè because it comes with everything I like: big sweet mung beans, taro, and the pandan jelly. I do wish they could put less ice and more coconut milk because I really just like drinking it. All the yummies can fit through the fat straws plus it’s less messy!
My friends have gotten other drinks off the menu before and they weren’t very good. Tapioca’s not great either so I would only recommend the chè’s.

I usually go to other places around the area for boba but a lot of people have recommended BAMBU and their desserts to me so I thought I’d give it a shot. I love Avocado smoothies so whenever I visit a new place that’s the first thing I try. Honestly, the «Avocado smoothie» here wasn’t very good in my opinion. It didn’t have very much flavor, tasted artificial, and I think it needed a bit more sugar. A lot of people talk about the desserts and snacks here so I thought I’d try out the «pandan waffle». It was pretty good. It was sweet, warm, and crispy. I would definitely get it again.
Overall, really clean place and a good setting to hang out with friends or get some work done. There’s a lot of desserts and snacks to try out. I think next time I’m going to try out their specialty drinks because I wasn’t very impressed with the smoothie I got.

I was craving boba and decided to stop by this place because we were in the neighborhood shopping at MT supermarket. I wasn’t feeling super adventurous so I ordered a green milk tea with grass jelly. I loved the grass jelly but it was a bit difficult to slurp it all up through the straw. The milk tea was creamy and just the right amount of sweetness.
I really want to go back and try some of the specialty drinks they have here. Maybe it is worth the extra cash, who knows! Check them out for some pretty solid/​standard boba drinks.

If i was still in school, this would be my GO TO study place!
Clean, modern, and lots of seating for group projects.
I really enjoyed the friendly service, and appreciated that they were accommodating to my tastes (I asked to add orange syrup to my chocolate milk tea — so good! So perfect for November!)
The location is great, too, especially if you want to pick up dinner afterwards at one of the MANY delicious places in the same complex (First Chinese, Phở Saigon, Baguette House, etc etc).
Excited to go back!