The Tea Garden

They have so many beverage options. They make my favorite royal tea with boba (bubbles).
Clean location.
Good light & ambience.

Two stars for our two drinks. No customer service, walked up with my mom and they completely ignored us. Go here if you don’t care about service.

Tea garden is always good. Sometimes it’s here and there depending on who makes the drink. But for the most part it’s good. They recently changed their name to sencha now which has a more contemporary look to it. Their Thai tea is always good, along with the hot jasmine tea with honey. Came this time and they seemed really short staffed and busy. The wait and our drink took forever.

Fantastic teas and wonderful staff. They always help me find the right combination. Very inexpensive and great sizes for the price.

I absolutely love this place! I rush over here every time i go to the mall of america. I usually get black tea with passion fruit and mango flavor with tri-​color jelly. The service is always good and recommend it to all of my friends.

I don’t have the most experience trying tea places or searching for «authenticity» so I came to them with an open mind and knowing what I like my drinks to taste like (super sweet, tart, or flavorful). I love the variety and could get a new drink or flavor combination everyday of my life. I often take suggestions from friends, so when I’m not getting an iced green tea with raspberry and some random other flavor, I’m trying out their suggestions (Almond Vanilla Chai Shake). I do get some weird vibes from the employees on occasion (like disinterest or sarcasm), but I think it’s coming from the repetitive tasks of their job more than anything.

I did not have high hopes or expectations for the bubble tea at a place in the Mall of America that had zero Asians working at it, so this review has nothing to do with the tea itself.
This review is for the customer service, or complete lack thereof. I get that this is the Mall of America (having recently moved to the Twin Cities I felt it necessary to see what this place was all about) and they are not aiming for repeat business, but that is NEVER an excuse to be disrespectful, argumentative, and unpleasant.
I ordered one of my favorite drinks (that I would often get throughout the Bay Area of CA, and am very familiar with how it should/​typically tastes) — Wintermelon Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearls. What I got tasted like plain black tea with milk (and the pearls). When I went back to tell them that the drink was missing the wintermelon flavor, the girl (manager I found out through the «discussion») began arguing with me. She said that she made it correctly (2.5 pumps of flavoring) and that they only remake drinks if they had mixed it incorrectly. When I told her that, regardless of their recipe, the drink did not taste like it should she responded that «they expect their customers to know what they are getting when they order and that she will not remake the drink and had nothing else she could tell me. She made it according to the recipe.»
The problem with their «strategy» of treating customers like throw-​away business is that I now have ZERO plans to go to any of the other Steepery or Tea Garden locations (one of which is close to my house and, had I had a better experience I would have likely frequented).
In the end, not only did I get a mediocre, at best, drink, but I also had an experience that made me so mad I was seething for days! I cannot say enough negative things about this location and that manager.

I’ve gotten bubble tea for years this was by far my worst experience. The tapioca pearls I normally love were actually soggy even after I asked for my drink to be remade. I could not believe how rude and inattentive they were. I’ll be sticking with the U of M location if I ever go back.

Unpleasant experience with the newest manager of The Tea Garden at the Mall of America location. I brought up that I worked at the mall and was wondering if I could get a discount, she gently said no and I understood. I asked if the previous manager was still there (before I found out the person I was speaking with was the new manager). She huffed at me, and started giving me some ridiculous attitude just because I asked if Macy still worked there. I’m not sure what Macy had done previously for her to give such a reaction, but I wonder if she forgot to portray me as a customer when I brought Macy up. The fact that she’s the manager there; if she gives me attitude for something so little, I could only imagine how much she can handle for her position. Other than that, I reccomend getting your drink done by Adon. («Ah-​Don», sorry for spelling mistake error, Adon.) He was taught by Albert who was probably one of the best bubble tea maker at Tea Garden coming from a long-​term consumer’s perspective.
P. S. They actually have a profound hate for customers at the Mall («It’s the mall») so cut them some slack and treat them with a smile. ;)

This place is Awful! They wouldn’t even make a new drink even thou I hated my drink. You lost a customer for life!!!

great bubble tea the best is royal with tapioca pearls great customer service best place to be for great times

Coming from Chicago where Joy Yee makes boba with fresh fruit, I’m a little spoiled. However, The Tea Garden satisfied my craving just fine. I got the peach lychee — very good!

Great service and great tea! Servers give great advice on product choices and the combinations are effectively limitless. DO — get lychee in anything and everything! DO NOT — get cantaloupe pomegranate…

Mango, banana with lychee jellies and tapioca pearls! I always stop here when I am at the MOA.
Great customer service, too!
Enjoy!

I believe they were here before Chatime so there was no choice before. However, now I would choose Chatime since it is more authentic. The bubbles are done better and there are more unique flavors at Chatime. Tea Garden isn’t a bad chain. I just get tired of their powdered drinks pretty easy. Since it is in a mall location though I feel like the majority of coffee and tea places are more for convenience than ambiance so it does the job.

I had the Thai tea with tapioca pearls and it was delicious! A little pricey when compared to other tea places but it was good!

K.I.S.S. it!
Not the best bubble tea ever, not the worst. This place offers:
Thumbs up:
Variety
Consistency
Good price range
Thumbs down:
Taste isn’t the
, but it will do
Not many convenient locations
Curbs my bubbling cravings!

I’ve been to two of the other tea gardens in MN and had great experiences at both, so I was really dissapointed with thus location.
Long story short terrible flavoring. I’m not sure how they managed it but my avocado bubble tea had no real flavor and a weird after taste. I’ve had the same shake at the u of m location and loved it. Same thing with my moms watermelon shake. Additionally, I saw one of the staff members making and giving free bubble tea to his friends even though there’s a huge line.
Seems like there needs to be a new manager and some of the staff needs to be let go. Big fan of the tea garden but will go to chatime at the MOA in the future.

One star for service. Got 3 boba teas 1-​banana strawberry, 1-​mango and 1-​banana strawberry. All 3 were sugar water with artificial flavor with ice chips. Drinks had no flavors. Wish I could take my tip back. I’ve had better one from Joy Lee’s in Chicago for same price. Don’t recommend it. And won’t be going back. Kids ended up throwing away their boba teas. If I could give 0 stars I would.
Those that give this place more than 1 star need to your taste buds checked or taste some real boba tea.
I usually am pretty good with food and drinks and this place has by far the worst boba tea. Please note that I’m basing my review on 3 different boba tea. This review does not pertain to the other drinks they offer.

Was feeling a little under the weather today with a cold. I asked the staff for their recommendation and they recommended an amazing hot tea. It was –Yerba Mate, Lhasa, with Vanilla and extra honey. — it was pretty good. Glad I got it! Thanks again.
I also liked the fact that they had iPad Mini with square and a iPad that can check your points for discounts. Pretty cool.
Great service and great staff working today on Jan. 14 2013 5pm