Tapioca Express

Milktea is very watery. Has almost no flavor. The «fresh» avocado smoothy is not fresh, witnessed them using powder instead of «fresh» real avodcado. I prefer the tap ex in milpitas

Okay so I only came here because tea era was closed. I was already hesitant to come here but I still bought a taro milk tea. When I drank it I had to pull hair out of my mouth after taking a sip! I am never coming here again!

The service is really fast and the tea is quite nice. I’ve been to this place primarily because they’re one of the only places open late, but I’ve yet to be disappointed by their tea :)

Like all Tapioca Express, it was average. Came here and it was empty. The door was locked which was strange and had to wait for an employee to unlock the door.
Got my usual, mango green tea with boba. Nothing special about it — like I said, it was an average experience.

I used to love this place. Now it’s only ok. A couple things changed.
1. Bitter non-​milk teas.
I became dairy intolerant. This doesn’t seem like something they should worry about but I’m Asian (a population among whom this is common) and so are many people who come here, and choice of milks is really helpful. They offer one milk: milk. I can’t drink it. Therefore I’m left with non-​milk drinks. This would be fine except that their non milk teas aren’t very good. I like tea drinks, which they sell. However, they brew their tea bases to be so strong they’re bitter. I suspect they do this so they have a chance of standing up to all the sugar and milk that go in. So if you can’t have milk and you don’t want diabetes, you’re left with bitter tea.
There’s one tea on their menu that isn’t as bitter: oolong. So that’s what I usually get: oolong tea, unsweetened or quarter sweet, with or without pearls. Sometimes honey. Or else their ginger tea is really good at quarter sweet.
2. Reduced outdoor seating.
The boss decided he didn’t want to pay for as much outdoor seating. Apparently in mountain view you have to pay for sidewalk space proportionate to how much you occupy. So he went from three tables to two. Then recently one table broke so he went down to one. No sign yet of replacement. I’d like to say to the boss: the inside of your restaurant is so depressing and dirty and run down that I will never sit inside. Therefore if there isn’t space outside then I’m not a paying customer. I’ll give you one star back if you increase your outdoor seating.
3. Indoor awfulness.
As I’ve already said, the indoor is awful. Dark, depressing, run down. And the restrooms have always always been appalling. I’d be surprised if they weren’t violating any health codes here. I’m trying to remember one instance when there’s actually been either toilet paper or paper towels, let alone both. Thankfully they’ve gotten a little better about soap.
4. Friendly staff? My last review gave them stars for how friendly everyone was. Sadly those people seem to have all left and now the employees are all indifferent drones. Sad! I miss my friendly people.
5. They get all their stars for the fried snacks, basically. My favorite is popcorn fish. Delish. I also love the beef bowl rice lunch box.

Workers here are lazy. My Thai tea snow bubble had chunks of ice in it, and the worker forgot to put the boba in before pouring my drink into the cup. Instead of re-​pouring it into the cup she just put the boba on top, who puts boba on top?! And when I told her it blended/​constructed improperly she was just like… whatever.
More competent/​friendly staff is needed.

This is one of the best places for boba. It’s always fresh and soft, not hard and half frozen or over/​undercooked like some other places. They have a huge menu and if you don’t know what you want, it may take a while to look over. That would be a good thing, because there’s other places near downtown that have a limited amount of drinks they make (6 – 10). The other thing I love about this T.E. is that they make cantaloupe and honeydew drinks which are my favorite. Most places don’t offer cantaloupe, and I’d say a big chunk don’t do honeydew either. Even the few times I’ve gone during rushes, the drinks come out pretty quickly.

Highly recommend the iced hibiscus flower tea with pearls. Yummy but very sweet (like candy). I asked for very light ice and they delivered. :)

They have ‘creamer’, which is non-​dairy creamer, but they will not use it in their espresso drinks. No soy milk offered either.
They do have coffee jelly which is good. Not all places have coffee jelly.
Shaved ice is good.

I want to love this place because it is so close to work, and I love my local Tapioca Express at home. However, The whole place seems dirty, and I felt kind of sick afterward. It’s stiff competition in MV with other businesses like Tea Era and Jazen Tea located within close proximity.

I stopped for a hibiscus icy for the second time in a month. This time the thing didn’t taste the same, indication that the quality is inconsistent. My girlfriend had the same opinion.
While I was waiting, one of the ladies opened a stack of cups, separated them and in the process stuck her fingers on the inside of the cups which she obviously should never touch. I immediately questioned myself on the hygiene of the place. I used to be an occasional customer. I doubt I will stop again. It’s amazing how I went from 5 stars to 1 stars in 2 weeks.

I used to go here a lot when I was a kid like 15 years ago… now I moved back to the area and am so happy to find my old «spot». They are sooooo good!!! The people who work there are the best. They aren’t fake or overly nice, but they are good friendly people which I appreciate in the Bay area these days!
The spicy chicken is the best too! just be careful because they sure do mean spicy!
Since I moved back last summer, I swear I’ve gone here like 20 times… they are addictive!

When I entered the store, I wasn’t greeted with a «welcome» or «can I help you.» This was pretty surprising since most cashiers usually say this. Instead, I was stared at while deciding what to order. The employees were on their phones — as mentioned by another Unilocaler — while one person worked on the order. Surprisingly, my order finished quick so I didn’t have to wait so long.
I ordered peppered chicken and strawberry milk tea. The strawberry milk tea didn’t hint any taste of tea at all — so I’m going to conclude that their milk teas are powdered. Thankfully, I didn’t notice the powder though; it seems to be mixed very well. The peppered chicken is boneless (Taiwanese popcorn chicken) and comes with basil. It was really yummy! You can either have it spicy or non-​spicy.
Overall, the milk tea was so-​so. I’m not sure if I’ll buy milk tea from here again but I will definitely come back for the chicken!

I came in after lunch hour and there was a short line of five or so people ahead of me. Thank goodness because the menu is HUGE. It extended to the middle of the wall on the right. My cashier was really friendly and helpful. The person making my drink has probably seen better days – he was slamming things left and right, and just making a general ruckus in the otherwise quiet place. I left with a mango snow and strawberry yogurt drink. Both were delicious, a bit too sweet (personally I love this), and refreshing. I’ll have to come back and try the food… and hopefully not run into the rude staff some Unilocalers had to interact with.

I was quite unenthused with this experience. The only reason they get two stars is because they have more room to sit than Verde Tea Café, and they have yummy snacks.
I was extremely put off by the attitude of the cashiers. I was trying to ask about fresh fruit juice and they brushed me off like I was dumb. Just very grumpy, unhelpful attitudes. Instead of answering me, all I got were one word statements and repeating drink descriptions without answering my question. I just decided to forfeit and order a watermelon milk tea straight off the menu. It was obviously powder, and the wrong consistency. Too sweet, and a little gritty too.
The boba beads themselves were perfect, so that’s good. I just can’t get past the lackluster service and meh taste of the drink itself. I don’t like going into a place and just settling for things I don’t want because the employees are unwilling to at least try to help me.

So gross.
I got a passionfruit black tea with boba here and I asked the cashier to make it less sweet.
When I sat down to drink it, it was definitely not pleasant tasting and it was wayyyy too sweet. I asked them to pour out some tea and poor in unsweetened black tea in there to try to save the drink.
The cashier and the boba guy looked annoyed at my request, like WTH? It was wayyy too sweet, I ain’t tryna get diabetes…
The guy did it for me but I tried it again and it was still too sweet and gross. I didn’t want to bother them because they looked so annoyed the first time. Mind I say I was the only customer there too, it wasn’t like they were super busy. I ended up tossing away my drink and walked out of the store.
I would rather walk over to verde to get a drink than come here again.

Employees aren’t too nice and it isn’t the most clean establishment but it’s open late has milk tea and popcorn chicken so…
Haha anyways the Hong Kong milk tea is tasty, super sweet though. I saw the employee put like three pumps of the sweetener in it and I realized I should’ve asked for less. Didn’t get pearls so I can’t vouch for those!
I love the popcorn chicken + boba dealio so I got some medium spicy and they were pretty darn spicy, my lips hurt :(if I’m in MV I prefer tea era so won’t be coming back here unless I’m desperate

We were thirsty and Tapioca Express seemed to fit the bill. We ordered a coconut boba tea with boba and it was ready in a jiffy. Parking can be a pain in the downtown area so I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to this location. Note, only cash and debt (.45cent charge) are accepted here… No Credit Cards!

What in the world happened here? I used to love coming to this place in downtown Mountain View before there was Verde and Tea Era. But my recent visit was a huge disappointment.
The place doesn’t look particularly clean. It has been like this since it’s beginnings. I usually don’t mind as long as the drinks are good. But with competition down the street, they should’ve done something to keep up with the standards.
Drinks-​ordered my usually, Almond Milk Tea, and it tasted like sugared with watered down tea. Seriously, I got this to go and couldn’t take more than a sip. Had to take it home so I can dilute it with some water. But guess what, I ended up with what tasted like sugar water because there wasn’t much tea taste to begin with. End up dumping the thing.
Workers don’t seem particularly happy working. I saw a sign that said sample out new aloe jelly. I asked for a sample and they restated my question and stuck the sample in front of me with a little attitude.
Drinks are super sweet, very little tea in taste, kind of not clean and uncomfortable encounter with staff. Looks like I won’t be coming back anytime soon. At least there’s a large selection of snacks.

Saw a «NEW!» on the menu next to the honey green oolong tea, so what else could I get???
The tea was actually very good, with just the right amount of sweetness without overpowering the pure tea taste. I’ve also tried the milk tea in the past, which is also good. The only downside is that sometimes the staff there don’t look too happy, and sometimes they gave me the wrong order. Overall though, the place is pretty chill – I almost always see customers sitting there with friends or surfing the internet, and there’s a lot of tables in the place so there’s never a lack of seats. Would be a nice place to drop by if you’re looking to sit and hang out!

Je viens ici uniquement pour le bubble tea. Favorite ones: litchi ou pomme verte.
Sont également vendus des fritures et donc l’endroit sent un peu le graillon! Cependant il y’a quelques tables dehors pour déguster en paix son bubble tea :)
C’est bien sucré, chimique mais frais… Plus léger qu’une glacé… Bref une gourmandise parfaite quand il fait chaud, ou juste pour se faire plaisir un peu et faire le plein en calories gratuites :)
L’endroit est un peu biscornu.
Vers 16h, il est bondé de jeunes adolescents bien sages…