Oh Two Five

I don’t know why this place is called Oh Two Five. I do really like the rock, scissors, and paper design, though the Maki from two years ago probably would have asked for a lizard and Spock to be included in the mix. This, along with the chairs in the shape of hands and the graffiti art on the wall, creates the cutest atmosphere. There are few seats and tables, but it’s almost never as crowded as Vivi, the neighboring bubble tea joint, so it doesn’t seem like too much of a problem. Unless you’re scarfing down one of the food deals offered here, you can always drink and walk around Chinatown.
Unfortunately, the cuteness stops at the décor. They actually didn’t have tapioca on my recent visit. Um… excuse me? How can you serve bubble tea without the bubbles?! My sister was visiting and I was excited to introduce her to Chinatown bubble tea, but we had to substitute jelly or pudding for our tapioca and we were slightly peeved. Her hot matcha green tea with jelly was powdery sweet and was only bearable because of the generous addition of green tea jelly. My hot taro tea with pudding was pretty good, but I had a difficult time drawing up the pudding. I mixed and crushed with my straw and still couldn’t draw it up, until I opened my Styrofoam cup and noticed that it didn’t even have any pudding inside! I only had two more sips of tea left before I noticed, so I wasn’t about to be the fool that complained for the incorrect, insufficient order thirty minutes too late. Cry.
Likelihood of another visit:
Hmm. The drink specials here are so wonderful. I may be back, but only on a day when tapioca is available!

I’d say this is on par with Coco Fresh– better than Kung Fu or Chatime. I think they got the milk part right– whatever they’re using, it tastes like stuff from Taiwan. The pearls are a little smaller than normal, but I’m not complaining. Wish it was closer, but if I want pmt next time I know where I’m going!
I got the pmt with grass jelly– they have the kind that has the pudding consistency, not the jelly consistency, if anyone knows what I’m talking about. Grassjelly yum yum yum.
The counter people are nice, the space is cute, but small– they have a few stools. I haven’t tried their food, but if you just want Asian snack food with pmt, seems like they have a couple good deals posted on the wall.

I came here today and was really disappointed in their service primarily.
I’m a huge bubble tea fan and the tea here is fine. It’s not the best, but they always have food deals along with the bubble tea ($ 2 for a bubble tea & hot dog). They also play C-​pop, have cool decorations, and is usually not crazy crowded.
However, I went in today and there was a pervasive cigarette smell inside the building. There were also people smoking right outside the doorway as well and no one told them to go away? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to order bubble tea when I have to walk through a cloud of smoke, only to be greeted by more cigarette smoke INSIDE the building (probably the wind blew it inside). But, I ventured in anyways.
I went inside and the guy taking the order sees me, but instead of asking what I would like to order… decides to shout out a food menu to his friends sitting at the bench nearby. «What do you want? We have curry fishballs… No? Hot dog? No? What else we have??» I’m like WTF?
No one else came over to ask what I wanted to order. I stood around for a little bit… I know it’s just bubble tea, but ain’t nobody got time for that.
So — I just walked out and went to another bubble tea shop down the block. Seriously, no cigarette smoke, no rude counter person, and now I’m drinking bubble tea stress free.

We were walking through Chinatown and hammering for a drink on a hot day. Thankfully, we spotted On Two Five. There wasn’t a line and there were promotional sale signs outdoor that drew our attention.
We got the 2 4 $ 2 deal. We ordered a passion fruit drink and a green apple. We liked both of them.
This place is tiny and has a trendy, modern feel, usually reserved for fro-​yo places. I liked the giant hand chairs.
This made a good pit stop on our Chinatown food stroll. It was mind-​blowing good, but their special promotional prices are good (which according to their other Unilocal reviews, they always offer different deals).

There are just too many bubble tea houses in Chinatown. We have tried many. Somehow, my three daughters like this one the most. I always get them whatever on promotion ($ 1@). They are all good so far. When the kids are happy, the mom is happy. :-)

Cheap drinks in ChinaTown!
We got the 2 4 $ 2 deal; 1 passion fruit & 1 green apple both were tasty and washed down our pork buns a treat :)
This place is super modern and trendy and a good stop on a ChinaTown tour.

Spontaneously going during a break from work, I finally walked into oh two five. It’s a small little bubble tea place but has super cute furniture and décor.
I got the mango lychee aloe white tea with less sugar. Honestly… nothing special. The mango is there, the lychee is there. But… that’s it.

i came here with a friend for the 2 for $ 2 milk tea. it came in this tiniest ass cup and it was so watered down and tasted like cold milk tea! it didn’t even taste like bubble tea.
i won’t be coming back when ten ren is right around the corner. quickly’s even taste better than this and quickly’s isn’t even all that good to begin with since it’s all made with powder…

Trendy place with an attitude.
We came here last week for their one-​year anniversary special, 2 for $ 2. Our selection for the cheap drinks was slim, but my mom and I went with bubble tea and peach green tea. These drinks are a little on the small side, with the cup size being significantly smaller than other places on the block.
The drinks themselves were okay. My bubble tea had a really nice tea flavor to it, but I wished it were a little stronger. My mom’s green tea was actually really good, having a strong green tea flavor with a hint of peach, without being too bitter. I preferred hers over mine, especially since it was so hot outside.
The drinks were okay and I enjoyed paying the $ 1 for them, but their regular prices are just too much for the size and quality. The next time I’ll be back is probably for their 2 year anniversary.

I finally decided to give this place a try the other day… I walked in with a huge craving for pudding milk tea and I left with pure disappointment. It didn’t taste like milk or much like tea and don’t even get my started on the pudding. Maybe it really depends on what you get here, but if you can’t get milk tea right, it says so much already! I thought that the décor was really cute and the service was great, but I didn’t see anything else. Maybe I’ll just stay away from their drinks next time. Well, they have snacks!

For my 205^th review, its only befitting that I review 0– 2– 5 right? hehe
Well, this is the first place in NYC that I’ve been to that has SNO!!! Sno is basically like creamy shaved ice. So instead of ice, they shave a flavored creamier version of ice and you can have various fruit or dry toppings. Not as good as what I’ve had in LA but close enough.
They also have really good bogo free deals!

Pleasantly surprised. I didn’t plan to go in but the $ 2 Tuesday deal got my attention.
I ordered the coffee milk tea and asked for it to be made less sweet, cuz let’s face it, these bubble tea places are trying to kill children with sugar. The lady was kind enough to let me taste it first which has never happened at any other location. She also made recommendations on jellies that would go well with my drink without being too pushy. Oh, and they have the soft shaved ice dessert you see in Taiwan and Hawaii. It’s like $ 4.50 and you get 2 toppings. I’ll have to stop by and make that my lunch one day.

Although I am a loyal fan of Vivi for years, I decided to give Oh Two Five a try and… I just might switch sides!
I can only speak for their coffee bubble tea, but I compared the two side by side.
The pluses:
–Very friendly and welcoming staff speaks perfect English and assured us that they use non-​dairy creamer (I’m lactose intolerant so this is a good thing). This is the main reason I want to keep going back.
–When compared side by side with Vivi, their coffee tea has a more natural flavor, which I appreciate.
–No wait!
The negative:
–They have not perfected their balls yet (lol) The tapioca balls are inconsistent and slightly chewy as opposed to Vivi’s which are just right. If it were not for this one minor detail I would absolutely give a 5 star rating.

As many times as I’ve been to Vivi, which is a few doors down, I’ve NEVER noticed Oh Two Five. I decided to give it a try. The place is small but has an awesome atmosphere (good date spot). I tried a bubble milk black tea (my personal favorite at every other place I go to). It tasted good, but the only complaint I have is the tapioca pearls were too hard. Not chewy, still kind of raw. If the «bubbles» are softer next time I go, I’ll gladly give them 5*‘s.
Oh Two Five has a deal on rainy or snowy days: Buy one get one free on bubble teas. Also they have a VIP card.

Walked by and was drawn in by the «sno» that they were advertising. It’s actually more like shaved ice. The boyfriend and I split a green tea shaved ice with mochi and green tea jelly. I was really unimpressed. The shaved ice didn’t really have any green tea flavor. For around $ 5, I really felt like it wasn’t worth it.
I also stopped by during their lemon ice tea deal and I couldn’t taste any real tea flavor. It tasted more like powdered ice tea that you buy in the supermarket.
I haven’t had their bubble tea, but with Bubbly Tea just down the same block, I probably won’t step back here anytime soon.

When this store opened, I was full of excitement because nobody has yet to bring the milky shaved ice to Manhattan.
My husband bought the green tea milk shaved ice with red bean and mochi toppings. It is less than $ 4. The portion is good for two people after a meal. We were pretty happy with the quality and quantity.
The only reason it got 3 star is while we were eating, we saw a cockroach crawling by!!!

OH cute décor.
TWO refreshing drinks ordered.
FIVE dollars or less paid.

After a massive amount of Bubble joints opened on Bayard, my coworker decided to give this place a chance. The exterior was so modern and hip. I mean, skateboards as benches — that’s pretty neat. With the competition from the other 2 Bubble places on the block, OTF pushed their slush drinks to $ 1.99 so that was what we tried.
I had the Lychee Slush. Total disappointment. Where’s my fresh pieces of lychee in the slush? The slush had two different colors, the blended crush ice was on top while the already melted lychee ice was on the bottom. So, every time I sip I would get just the watery lychee juice. And it taste exactly like lychee syrup from the cans you can get in the supermarket. Utterly disappointed, I didn’t want to finish my drink. Assuming their Milk Tea would be better, I’m still hesitant to go back because I read from another Unilocaler that they make their drinks from powder and syrups. No bueno!

To be completely frank… I hate this place.
Why I hate this place is because it’s somehow connected to my shitty ex-​girlfriend– but as much as I despise her (which to be honest isn’t that much anyways) I still can’t deny that this is an extremely good bubble tea place. There are three bubble tea spots on the same block and out of all three this is where you should go. I imagine the only reason the other two are surviving is because the cashiers are incredibly cute and even though the girls serving me and my friends bubble tea at Oh Two Five are also incredibly cute, they don’t have to be to keep this business running.
I don’t actually hate the place; I just thought it was funny starting off that way.
I named my toilet after my ex-​girlfriend.

After dinner I was yearning for Bubbly Tea on Bayard, where their tea is freshly brewed.
Instead I ran into a chalkboard on the street in front of yet ANOTHER NEW BUBBLE TEA JOINT!
Chalkboard is written in Chinese but doesn’t take long for me to get…
BLAH BLAH 12 ounce BLAH BLAH 75¢ BLAH BLAH.
I put two and two together… Chalkboard is announcing the 12-​ounce milk tea grand opening special for 75¢
WOOOOOO WHOOOOOOOO
Oh Two Five, Inc. tea drinks here are made from syrups and powders. I had Jasmine milk tea. The pretty counter girl assured me the drink is made from non-​dairy creamer since I am lactose intolerant. Not sure if that is a plus or minus though. Is powder milk teas. good or bad? Everyone has their own taste when it comes to that issue… yes, bubble tea issues.
Poster of the shaved ices look good… and it is only 100 calories!
Funny thing. I didn’t get this whole bubble tea thing just a couple of months ago… now I am hooked. I like freshly brewed tea with no sugar, no milk and with tapioca pearls on the bottom… in other words… BOBA with unsweetened iced tea… IN THAT ORDER!