DunoBaby Tapioca Cafe

I used to go here frequently years ago, and always liked the jelly slushies, so I decided to go again. I don’t know if they’re under new management or if they’re trying to cut back on the cost of supplies, but the drink I got was awful.
I ordered a strawberry slushie with jelly, and the jelly was really hard, like it was stale. Not enjoyable at all, and for $ 4-​$ 5 for a drink, I’d expect something that doesn’t have old stale jelly in it. Also, the strawberry flavor is made from a powder.

This is by far my favorite tea place, it has become even better under the new management. The woman that runs the counter always remembers my drink order as well as my mother’s. I’ve had a couple different teas and smoothies, as well as a few different entrees and each one has been wonderful. My favorite drink is the strawberry jasmine green tea and they have awesome crispy tofu. Service is always quick and correct and their menu has a good variety of foods, drinks, and ice cream treats.
The inside of the café is very clean and cozy, I’ve never seen it messy in all the times I’ve been there. There’s a loft area and tons of seats and tables and cushions, it’s a good place to come and hang out, but also quiet enough to go and study or read a book. They have board games and a couple tvs. The counter has a ton of cute things you can buy, earrings and little snacks and other small items. The atmosphere overall is very relaxed.
Most of the old, bad reviews were done during the time that the old owners ran the place, but the new ones I have never noticed any issues with.
My mother and I always try to stop here after going to dinner together and we will continue to do so as long as we’re in the area.

I like coming here every so often to study. It’s not in an extremely busy area, so it’s quiet enough to stay for a few hours and get some work done but the downside is that they’re closed on Sundays. The inside is clean and cozy and they have a nice little loft upstairs for a few people to get away from the noise of the TV and other customers downstairs. They have a wide variety of food and drinks and I have yet to order anything that I didn’t enjoy, however I think the food might be a tad bit overpriced. Another plus is that the employees are always very polite!
All in all, a pleasant place to go, but still not my favorite place to get my tapioca fix. The drinks just aren’t as good as the other places my girlfriend and I frequent.

The drinks here were really bad, tasted totally weird and nasty. I couldn’t even finish my cup neither my friend.

I rarely give 1 star. But this place was wrong on many levels. The décor is cute. There are board games. Those are the only positives.
My favorite drink at the original Duno Baby is green mango smoothie with basil seed. This place didn’t have it. I asked whether it’s affiliated with the Duno at the Hong Kong Mall, and she said no. This, btw, is in Chinese because she didn’t understand what I was asking.
So I ordered an almond milk tea and milk tea. She was out of pudding so I got just tapioca (boba). Bad news already — what kind of tea house runs out of boba?
Instead of making the teas in front of me, she went into the kitchen. I called her three times to tell her to half the sugar but either she ignored me or didn’t hear me and came out with a sealed cup. Fine, whatever. But the next part, not cool.
A) the boba was old. Had a tinge of sourness even, but it hadn’t gone bad so I didn’t even mention that to the lady owner/​manager. But,
B) it didn’t taste like almond milk tea at all. Plus, it was so watered down. I told her that it’s not almond and tastes like hazelnut.
She said she knows it’s almond. And I told her it doesn’t taste like it. By this time, my friend had come in after having gotten off the phone with her boyfriend and asked to get a milk tea with boba. So I asked the lady whether she could take the almond milk tea back and make me the milk tea instead.
Instead of answering me or asking to hold on, she walked off into the kitchen and brought out the bottle of syrup. It did say almond syrup. I told her I believed her but that I just don’t like it. And she said But it is almond syrup. And made my friend’s milk tea but said neither yes nor no to my request.
If you already charged me $ 4.20 for water and a shot of syrup that doesn’t even taste like what it should be, would you be set back that much to make me a milk tea that doesn’t taste like hazelnut in its stead, especially after I’ve said that I don’t like it? (For the record, I hate hazelnut.) At least have the decency to respond to a request, even if the answer is Sorry, I can’t do that.
It’s partially my fault for trying a place outside Chinatown — but aside from being the worst watered down «almond» «milk» tea I’ve ever had, which I threw away, this is the worst case of shortsightedness for pennies I’ve seen. Keep your $ 4.20 and «almond» syrup.

I was happy to find a tapioca place nearby, since I am somewhat of a milk-​tea-​tapioca fiend. Unfortunately, the milk tea isn’t exactly my favorite — way too sweet. It tastes like they used sweet tea as the base, then added a splash of milk before topping it all off with an additional hefty scoop of sugar. Yikes. I came back again for a Vietnamese coffee, and though that was more palatable, it was still a bit too sweet for my liking.
But on the plus side, the place itself is really adorable. There are also some board games available for people to play, though I admittedly have never seen anyone partaking in that both times I’ve been. The ladies behind the counter are super nice as well — one of them even gave me a fun-​size Snickers bar the last time I went, ha! So even though I’m not too fond of the drinks I’ve tried so far, I have a feeling I’ll keep going and sampling different things off the menu until I find something I –do– like…

One star because the food is pretty decent (but a little over priced).
The second star is that it’s a good place to study (especially upstairs).
I order «Japanese Green Tea Latte» and it was HORRIBLE! I had to throw it away. All I tasted was green tea powder :(…if you ever decide to go here, stick to something that cannot be messed up (tea & smoothie).

Although I used to give this place glowing reviews, it’s time to face the music: Dunobaby’s gone downhill. I’m too embarrassed to even read my previous posts anymore and was even contemplating deleting them. Just to wipe the slate clean.
As a long-​time supporter of Dunobaby, I want to start by saying the new owners, two older Chinese ladies, mean well. They’ve done what they can to build on the business (adding fro-​yo to the menu, setting up a small merchandise case w/​keychains and other trinkets, etc.), but there are a lot of things that have suffered since they’ve taken over.
Namely…
* THE FOOD. A lot of dishes I used to enjoy are no longer as… enjoyable. The Green Mussel Pasta with cream sauce, for example, used to be a MUST for me. But now, the overwhelming smell of burned, singed mussels is so off-​putting that you don’t want it even before it hits the table. The Ebi Tempura is now served with this weird, dark, sweet gelatin-​like sauce… idk, IS it tempura sauce? yeah, I *really* don’t recommend ordering anything seafood-​related plates here. Other dishes, like the dumplings, crispy Taiwanese chicken, and fried tofu are incredibly lack-​luster but still palatable. I’ve sampled their new fro-​yo, and it’s nothing special at all… just soft-​serve vanilla «fro-​yo.» Luckily, I’m a regular so I got that ish fo’ free.
* THE SERVICE? I can’t say much since they recognize me and they’re always friendly, but there isn’t as much warmth as the previous owners. Especially that older lady. I can get a smile and broken Engrish convo with the younger lady, but the older one just lumbers in and out of the kitchen looking angry and confused as to what she’s doing there.
* THE TV. All I ever see playing on the TV now are old reruns of HIMYM, That 70’s Show, and other sitcoms. They used to play movies all the time.
Aside from that, everything else is holding its own. They still have a plethora of board games. Drinks are still okay in my book. I only order the Mango Yogurt Freeze and it’s still amazingly good. Or maybe I’m too nervous to try anything else now. Despite everything, chances are you’ll still find me here because of one thing: it’s quiet. In the end, that’s all I really want from these types of places — whether I’m catching up with a friend or trying to get shit done — I just want a place to sit, sip on a drink, and not be bothered by anyone. I think Dunobaby will always have THAT going for them, at least… hey, especially with all these negative reviews!
*They also do tonssss of Unilocal/​Groupon deals so you’ll always get your money’s worth on cheap, bland food.
* They DO take card, but your total has to be over $ 3 – 5 — something like that.

Okay, this is my first ever 1-​star review so I am not here to give bad credibility. This is solely based on my first (and only) visit to this place.
My girlfriend and I decided to go out and grab something to eat and we were in the mood to eat some snacks and tapioca drinks rather than getting a real meal. Because we were dining on the cheap, I went through Groupon & Unilocal for some offers and this place came up with an offer. We both wanted to try a new place and maybe make this place a new favorites.
We came in and it was a small but somewhat cozy with weird placement of furniture. We walked to the front counter and greeted the two asian ladies and told them it was our first time here. She helped us and pointed the menu. We finally ordered «Taiwanese Crispy Tofu», «Taiwanese Crispy Chicken», a fried rice deluxe with fried chicken cutlet, a milk tea with pudding, and an avocado smoothie.
When we actually got our foods and had a taste, all we could think was «what the hell. «.
My avocado smoothie tasted funny and I can taste a lot of ice was used. My girlfriend said avocado tasted «off and slightly rotten».
The milk tea was overly sweet, enough sugar to put you in a diabetic coma. (Maybe the pudding contributed to additional sweetness) The pudding was mushy, slimy, and oddly grainy when it passed through the straw. On top of that, the tapioca balls were too overdone and did not help the texture of the pudding-​milk tea drink. Not done talking about that milk tea yet btw. The actual milk tea itself, was very strong. Unpleasant! I couldn’t drink it. It was waay to concentrated and the aroma was very odd. I’ve had plenty of milk tea around but this one was far from what I’m used to.
On to the food: Taiwanese Crispy Chicken, was alright. Fried Tofu, bland and flavorless. And the fried rice. oh man. The fried chicken cutlet that we got on top wasn’t even real chicken. I’m sure it was like a processed chicken patty similar to cafeteria and frozen food sorts, but even so, this particular cutlet was so low tier and truly disappointing. The fried rice had bits of pork sausage, veggies, shrimp, and maybe more things that I forgot. But the thing to me that stood out the most was the seasoning. There was maybe some oregano/​sage in there. I know it was some Italian seasoning. Anyways, it contributed to the overall bizarre taste. Unique fried rice. Wouldn’t have it again though.
Being poor and modest college students, my girlfriend and I tried to make the most from our meal and drinks. After we finished, we stood up and thanked the owner with a gentle smile, then shuffled outside.
Sad to say, we won’t be back anytime in the near future. I can’t see this place lasting for long because there are many other teahouse shops nearby that have much better quality drinks AND food.

I used to come here to study and drink milk tea and occasionally order the actual food. I’ll tell you why this place deserves ONE star coming from a ex-​regular customer.
Every time I came to this place, I always ordered something. But this one time, where I wanted to study before I ordered a drink, I was scolded by the owner to order a drink. It was the first time I actually got yelled at. Extremely unprofessional. I don’t even like getting yelled at by my own family, so this one takes the cake.
Another time when I wanted to study before I ordered my drink, they cut off the internet intentionally. What am I, some sort of wi-​fi stealer? No matter how many times I come here, they think i’m some sort of bum who will not purchase anything.
Anyway, if you still decide you want to try this place out, I recommend you to go EXTRA EASY on the ice. They tend to fill that bad boy up with ice so you actually get ¼ of actual milk tea. And most of the drinks are not up to par with the real good milk tea that i’ve had at other places.

This review is for the tapioca drinks, I didn’t get to try any of their food!
Before you walk in, you see a small space in the Whole Foods shopping center for Dunobaby and think to yourself «How could it be so small?». You open the doors, and are transported to what looks like someone’s home. A huge tv in the corner with a couch right in front of it, board games on the shelves for your delight, small tables and chairs everywhere, but here’s the kicker, a staircase. You are allowed to go up the stairs to a very small semi-​private area to enjoy your drinks away from the ladies. Pretty cool…
My boyfriend ordered the Caramel Milk Tea and I order Vietnamese Iced Coffee, both of us choosing Tapioca for our sinkers. Both drinks were way to sweet. Vietnamese Coffee is suppose to be sweet in the beginning but with a chicory flavor and then bites you in the end. They must’ve added a syrup to mine, me no likey. They overcooked the tapioca balls because they’re too squishy, not firm, and the outer layer is all… it’s disconbobulated. It’s not smooth.
I’m sorry Dunobaby, you ladies are so sweet & nice but your drinks aren’t for me.
Maybe I’ll come back for the food one day!

**ACCEPTS CREDIT CARDS**
When I’m on a budget, don’t have cash and only my card on me I go to Dunobaby as a last resort for banh mi. (vietnamese sand which)
My god, the menu is so overwhelming to look at. Its like House of bowls mix with Tap House food, along with crepes and banh mi. I was afraid to order something out of the ordinary like seafood pasta. Ever since I watched Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant Impossible I’m terrified that I’m going to eat something bad because the place looks so dead. I had the basil chicken nuggets lunch meal. not bad… taste like from any other boba joints. As for the drinks, I only had jasmine green tea. College Students that lives in Alief or Westchase area, this would be a good place to study. not sure how late they’re open.
I had the vegggie banh mi:
Being the only customer there, it took about 8 – 10 min to get my sand which
There was Fried tofu and dried wood ear mushrooms (the mushrooms in Vietnamese egg rolls) topped with xiu-​mai sauce. My banh mi was soggy from the xiu-​mai sauce and the bread was so stale. There was no texture except mushiness.
If you’re in the westchase area and want some banh mi check out Phở One, it’s a little pricier but more authentic.
DO NOT GO TO KIM’s TEAHOUSE for banh mi… YOU WILL BARF

I stepped inside, perused the menu, and tried to order my tried and true, a simple jasmine green tea, hot, with boba. The lady told me I was crazy.
Boba doesn’t go with hot drinks! She said.
I beg to differ. This is what I order once a week in my neighborhood where I live! Because its cold and I need the warm tea!
Whatever. I settled for a cold jasmine green tea with multicolored jellies. Delicious. This had nothing to do with the quality of this place. I could have made this drink at home with these same ingredients. My friend got an almond coffee with boba. She was quite disappointed in the texture of the boba but the coffee was good and strong just like it should be, and flavorful.
This does not bode well in my book because boba is all about the texture and flavor. Forget the drink flavors, these are reproduced in similar fashion at several other places! I dare you to try all of them before you settle.
They also have a weird selection of gifts. Flash drives in the shapes of cute things (hello kitty), towels that look like cakes (I was fooled).

I used to go here frequently during my lunch break for a few weeks. I don’t really like this place as much as before. Their Banh Mi’s are ok. Their drinks and entrees are decent, but won’t blow your mind away. They have crepes and other desserts there, but I haven’t gotten a chance to try them. I think it’s quite expensive here for a tapioca place. I would rather go to Tapioca House on Bellaire, where it’s cheaper and tastes better.
I have tried their chicken steak lunch combo. It was good at first, but then I noticed that the chicken wasn’t fresh. It’s probably frozen chicken steak. Their milk tea isn’t good contrary to what I have read on Unilocal.What I do like is their Hong Kong Lemon Tea, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get a drink from here.
One time, I didn’t feel like getting a drink there so I asked for water. The owner told me that she can’t give me water, because it’s a Tapioca place or something along that line. Rude much. It wasn’t like I didn’t order anything. She knows that I come here often and yet can’t fulfill one simple request. Well, you just lost a frequent customer.
Quick Tip (s): HK Lemon Tea

I used to like this place. Back when it had different owners.
My mom and I used to come here every now and then for a snack and to watch whatever movie they had on. Their eggrolls were bomb-​diggity, no lie. Their crepes were mouth watering, and the service was excellent. We always felt welcomed. They always brought us whatever it was we ordered, with all smiles, and great warmth.
However, every single thing has changed. And I’m sad to say it’s not for the better. Even my mom doesn’t like it anymore. Hence why we stopped coming.
–Not only does the wifi suck, the workers don’t try to help one bit.
–The food is pretty mediocre. Dumplings are cheap, but don’t taste that great. And if you do order something, they call your order out once, and if you don’t happen to hear (like if you’re studying on the second floor), they’ll practically scream your order out in a very angry way. And if you somehow don’t happen to hear this (or choose to ignore it), they might stomp around to bring it to you.
–The drinks taste over sugared, like it’s all sweetener/​syrup and no fruit or anything. I’ve tried plenty of drinks and was never really satisfied.
–I went a few weeks ago and ordered their ‘banh mi special’, which is supposed to end to 5.40 $, but the lady charged me 54.40 $. I’m like, «Uh. excuse me. You charged me 54.40 $ instead of 5.40 $.» She looked at it like it misprinted, like she couldn’t have made a mistake. Then she looks at me, looks at the credit card machine, then back at me, and says, «I’m sorry, I don’t know how to work this. I don’t know how to refund.» LOL!?@!!! I take a look at the machine and realize it’s the same kind I work with at my job, so at least I knew how to do a refund. I had to show her. Never again will I pay credit card there. Do not put someone on the register if they don’t know how to use it.
Good things about new management:
–Still quiet.
–Still play movies.
–Still have that soy sauce that tastes better than any soy sauce anywhere around.
Greatly disappointed, but I’ll probably find myself here studying with friends because it’s convenient.

I first decided to try this place because a groupon deal that they had. I love the atmosphere and they also have a good movie playing. This is the catch up place for me and my friends or family. Their dumplings are awesome but I’m not a big fan of seafood fried rice or the Hawaiian fried rice because the both times that I have tried it, it was dry. The milk tea is great and the crêpe that I’ve tried was good too (my friend had ordered it so I don’t remember exactly what it’s called.) the crêpe had banana, nutella, and powdered sugar.
It’s a nice quiet place tucked in the center so I never have to deal with crowds and I like it being nice and quiet. Definitely one of Houston’s best kept secrets

I was craving bubble tea and wasn’t in the mood to pay $ 5 for one at Tea Bar so I Unilocaled around for a new place and found DunoBaby.
The plain milk tea was good but a little watery and the strawberry milk tea tasted too syrupy but overall no major complaints for the price. The Unilocal check-​in deal for 10% off was great and I saw some signs on the door for other promotions so yay!

I can’t believe I have not review this place even though I have been eating /​drinking /​chilling here since the old owners first opened this place. The current owners does not have family ties with original Bellaire DunoBaby owner, only that they bought out this location from the original owner’s daughter who used to run the place. There were some changes such as crepes are pretty much gone, replaced by banh mi, new type of food selections, and lots of interactions on Facebook for specials.
For $ 6, you can get combo A through H, varies from fried tofu with rice to meatball in sauce with rice. All meal combo box comes with 1 dumpling and cold vegetables (sliced cucumbers and bean sprout). It’s your average meal here but when you get off from work and don’t feel like cooking, I might as well give my money to this awesome establishment and at the same time, I am supporting local business. Other good food they have is the Taiwanese style popcorn chicken and tofu, both are a bit spicy and if you don’t like basil, forget about it. Every now and then they will run promotions for buy 1 get 1 free, so be on a look out for that.
The seating is pretty well laid out as it has a variety of tables and chairs for different party sizes. There’s also an upstairs seating area for larger crowd. Then they also have a TV and a fake fireplace in the corner with a log-​like shape love seats placed in front of the TV. Usually they would play family friendly movies. Then they also now have a magazine racks with latest Entertainment Weekly, GQ, etc. for you to read while waiting for your food or drink. At the same time, they have added more board games to play and even a Texas Hold’em poker chip set for you to use.
As for drink wise, it’s your above average tapioca drink place, nothing fancy and it’s worth the right price. Knowing that I keep giving them business means they can keep opening the store another day, I will definitely come back and back some more.

DunoBaby would be a perfect example for the book «The Paradox of Choice.» Their menu is so extensive that it’s actually more of a bad thing than good. It’s just exhausting. Pick a drink– smoothie, fruit tea, hot tea, milk tea, flavored tea, slush… then pick a sinker. Think you’re done? Now try picking your food.
After 15 minutes of staring at the menu that’s posted in segments on three different boards, we finally agreed on:
Hot and sour soup– regular was a huge cup. Flavor wasn’t too hot or sour– pretty bland.
Seafood crêpe– bigger than it looks. Liked the shrimp and crab stick, but not too big a fan of the canned tuna. The top is covered in sauce and seafood, the middle is mostly lettuce, and the bottom is drenched in sauce. The crêpe is thinner and crispier than the traditional crêpe.
Taiwanese popcorn chicken combo box– fried chicken pieces with fried basil on a bed of rice, comes with one potsticker and marinated vegetables. Good portion for a light lunch.
Almond milk tea– so good that we didn’t even need sinkers. The almond flavor wasn’t too sweet and tasted like almond pudding.
Chai milk tea– really good as well. Lighter and milkier chai flavor. Around the same prices and sizes as Teahouse. The egg pudding is super nasty– it had no sweetness and tasted like nothing.
The food was fine, but the real winners here are the drinks. The atmosphere is super relaxed. They have games, magazines, TV, and free wifi.

Since I was dining alone today, I decided to come here and try out their specials. So I tried the Taiwanese popcorn chicken with rice. Came with one fried dumpling, then some sprouts, cucumbers, and mushrooms on the side. Popcorn chicken was ok. I think it’s still a lot better at Tapioca House. The meal came with a drink so I just got the plain Tapioca Milk Tea. Not the best. It’s a different taste… not the cream kind you see nowadays. Then you get to choose one goodie from the basket they have on the counter… which consists of chips or different sorts of crackers. $ 5.50 for the meal, but I chose to put skim milk in my drink so they charged an extra fifty cents.
The place is rarely busy… but I guess that’s good for me because I enjoy just sitting there watching tv… it’s like a home away from home.