MJ Cafe Express

I went with a group of friends the other day. They don’t have much dressing which was inconvenient. The drinks were good though. They make the drinks pretty quickly unlike half and half. Some of their drinks can bes little bit too sweet for my taste. I had the grapefruit green tea which was really refreshing.

I usually come here right after eating Shufeng Garden next door. I have to say it is a very small and hidden little store. I usually get the Oolong Milk Tea w/​Grass Jelly. I also use the amazing 15% off Unilocal Checkin offer they have.
Overall the tea is good and the order usually comes out pretty quick. My only gripe is that when I order Grass Jelly they literally just dump a can of grass jelly in there. I guess this is Pro too since I get so much grass jelly, but it isn’t broken up into chunks, it is usually one globule mass that just sits in the middle and becomes a hassle to drink and does get gross.
I guess this is just a small negative. It is good for what it is, a quick tea fix if you are in the plaza. I believe at the moment they are renovating, so will eagerly await the day when I can drink or try to ingest a can of grass jelly. I would give this place a 3.5 stars just for drinks.

Stumbled upon another MJ Café. This time in Rowland Heights. It’s kinda hidden in there because it’s way in the back of the complex and people would probably go to Half n Half anywho. I think we all know that their ice teas are great and they will give you boba on your drinks unless you state you don’t want boba so be clear. I just had dinner on a nearby restaurant in the same complex so I just bought the regular milk tea boba and we chilled in there for a bit. The place is small but there are places to sit and it’s pretty cozy.
If you can’t wait in line for Half n Half you can go here for alternative.

***15% OFF DRINKS & SNACKS WITH Unilocal CHECK IN!!!***
This place is the express version of their bigger restaurant in Rowland Heights. It’s smaller but they have just about the same menu minus most of the food.
RECOMMENDATIONS. All their regular iced teas are awesome. My favorite teas are anything black tea. They’re all good! Brown sugar milk tea slush is always my favorite drink to order anywhere. Ask for extra brown sugar here to make it sweeter and better tasting.
DRINKS (from this visit). I had the brown sugar milk tea slush with pudding hoping it would be like my favorite drink from Meow Meow Café. It tasted similar but definitely less sweet and lacked the dimension Meow Meow has in their version. In comparison, MJ’s brown sugar milk tea slush was kind of bland. It wasn’t that sweet, which is what typically makes the drink so good. The pudding the put in it isn’t too sweet, either.
***UPDATE 1/​23/​14***
The brown sugar milk tea I had from here the second time around was awesome! I asked for extra brown sugar to make it sweeter (since it wasn’t sweet enough last time) and it was AMAZING. Soooo much better than the first time I had it. So if you order this, I highly recommend you ask for extra brown sugar to make it better.
Strawberry mango slush vs. strawberry banana slush… order the strawberry banana. The strawberry mango isn’t very good here.
PRICE. Drinks are no more than $ 3.75. Others are less than that, like $ 3.00. Not too bad of a price! With the Unilocal check in as an added discount.
CUP SIZE. The cups are fat. They won’t fit in most car cup holders, I’m guessing… but they fit in mine! No complaints here! :)
ATMOSPHERE. A small, cute little place. There are a few tables and chairs in the place. There’s a TV playing Taiwanese (I’m guessing?) shows. The place is rated B by the county of Los Angeles though. Don’t really know what that’s a about.

really secluded inside the plaza. wouldn’t know that there’s one.
i prefer going to the MJ Café itself.
this one is smaller and no wait, so its all cool. haha! that’s why its called express.

another small café in the same plaza as Little Bean AND they serve your drink in those HUGE boba cups that don’t fit in your car’s cup holder. the cup is definitely larger, i don’t think it’s just the shape
the milk slushies come with boba unless stated, i SHOULD have remembered to ask for NO boba
—brown sugar pudding milk slushie: the pudding was good, as was the slushie but the boba was really mediocre
don’t forget to check in on Unilocal for 15% off your order!
NOTE: CASH ONLY! if you need to use the restroom, there’s one inside the adjacent food court

Things I did not appreciate about my visit:
1) This place’s decision to copy Half & Half’s cups — everyone knows those super fat cups are Half & Half’s trademark
2) Not being told that there was a 15% discount if I checked in on Unilocal — I found out for myself… after I paid…
3) Paying $ 4+, especially with Little Bean and Ten Ren’s in the same plaza
The BOBA GREEN MILK TEA that I ordered was in itself alright. It didn’t quite taste like any other here in Socal, but it did bear a striking resemblance to boba places in New York… places of which I am not the biggest fan; Socal definitely has the better boba.

I prefer the other MJ Café location, even though this one is smaller and has no wait. This location is an «express» location and serves only a limited food menu. There is not much seating inside, maybe two or three tables so it would be a sub-​optimal place to eat.
Although drinks are the same as the other location, because this location is smaller in size and has less foot traffic, they often run out of ingredients. Last time I came here, I browsed the menu, ordered a simple green milk tea with boba, to which they replied with, we don’t have boba today. It was 2pm in the afternoon on a Sunday. No boba?
Have not tried the Hello Kitty pancakes but considering I don’t like Hello Kitty or Pancakes much, I don’t plan to. Maybe a good place to stop in and grab a drink when there is a wait at other places, but located in this same plaza is a great Ten Rens as well as Little Bean so I don’t foresee future visits to MJ Café Express when I look into my 2014 crystal ball…

Great services even though not much business. Was here with friends getting their Sanrio Character Waffles to go. $ 4 for 6 Characters. Taste great when fresh!

I tried the Old Time flavored milk tea AND the winter melon tea WITH AiYu jello. My verdict?! Two thumbs up! I didn’t try the boba this time fearing it might be hard like the last time so I went with the pudding which went great with my milk tea! Also, I GOT 15% off when I checked in! How awesome is that? I’m a happy girl! Till next time MJ! Don’t go anywhere please!

CASH ONLY. B rating, located right next to piyo piyo. They serve their drinks in cups similar to that of half & half. We ordered the old time flavored milk tea and the green milk tea. I have yet to try their hello kitty pancake. The guy who took our order was pretty damn fob but he was nice and he made our drinks with LOVE! LOL jk but I super enjoyed the old time flavored milk tea, its just so simple and delightful. I didn’t even want to share with my boyfriend. I passed over the green milk tea and took over the old time drink LOL. Oops =x, anyways the green milk tea was good but I can live without it. Definitely going to come back and order the old time drink again. Along with my hello kitty pancakes :)

I came here one day for lunch after passing by it so many times just to try it. I got some chicken with rice, forgot exactly what i had gotten but the food wasn’t that good. I felt like the food wasn’t freshly made and had been sitting under a heat lamp or something. The only thing that kept me from giving it 2 or 1 star was the drink.
So don’t come here to eat, buy drinks only.

Get the Old Time Flavored Milk Tea. Best milk tea in the area but it is more on creamier side. Taste like how they make it in Taiwan.

One of the best rose milk tea I’ve tasted around Rowland!
There are actual roses at the bottom of the drink which made it more unique. I would come back here just to try other drinks.

3.5 stars.
Always wanted to try their Taiwanese style sizzling plates, so we finally went in for lunch on Thursday. We ordered the rosemary chicken with black pepper sauce, the select steak with mushroom sauce, and the surf and turf (steak and calamari) with black pepper sauce. Can choose wither rice or spaghetti. the plates come with soup, salad, and garlic bread. The sides were ok, can’t really expect them to 100%be like Taiwan.
The service was pretty quick. The rosemary chicken was lacking flavor, I had to dip it in the sauce a few times, but the portion was pretty big. The steak was cooked about medium rare, which was unusual, but it was a good thing. Other places usually cooked to medium or well done, then it’s too dry. The calamari was really good, not too overdone or underdone. I recommend the calamari.
And definitely ask for more sauce.

I prefer this place over the MJ Café & Teahouse down the street in the Petco plaza. This particular café is a lot smaller (hence express) but they do have about 2 – 3 tables inside and you can order food (although I haven’t eaten here before). The servers are always really nice and friendly. I always order the Old Time Flavor Milk Tea. I don’t even know how to describe what the drink tastes like! To me, I feel like it has a bit of cinnamon in there? But when I asked a server at the teahouse location she told me it was a mix of different herbs? but nonetheless, my go to drink when I come here. They never water down the drinks and they don’t fill up the cup with ice either. Thank you for that — I really appreciate it!
One time, I came in 5 minutes before closing and they had a BOGO deal and I was haven’t a hard time deciding what drinks to by for my boyfriend and his brother, but the girls that were working at the front didn’t rush me and were really patience.
The cups here are similar to the ones at half and half.
PS. Don’t forget to get your stamps! The stamp card at this location is different from the one at the larger MJ Café & Teahouse.

Though I haven’t been to the original MJ Café yet, it’s on my list for my next Socal trip after having the drinks here. As the name implies, this branch is very much on the smaller side and suited primarily for to-​go orders. The staff here are attentive and very helpful with drink recommendations, ultimately leading to my decision to go with a Black Tea Latte. The drink came in a stocky cup of Big Gulp girth and was very good! As far as I could tell, it was sweetened with some honey without being at all excessive and the cream floated on top elevated the presentation nicely.
Additionally, there’s a display stand outlining their most popular drinks in case you’re uncertain about what to get. For hungrier customers, a good variety of Taiwanese dishes is available too.

I gave the bigger counterpart MJ 3 stars, so I’ll give this express spot 3 stars too.
If you thought the regular MJ menu is hard to decipher, you’ll have a blast here. The menu is literally a tiny miniscule booklet; like the instruction manual that comes with your graphing calculators. (I know you guys know what I’m talking about.)
For the most part, food and drink tastes about the same as the options at the main store. Restaurant space is a LOT smaller though; so if you’re looking for sitting space for more than 4 people, you’re out of luck.
No restrooms!

This is a quick togo spot for MJ Café Teahouse
Same good quality drink with fat fat cup… modern décor. very cute place to hang out
Have to try their club sandwich and brown sugar slushee with pudding

Opened right next to Piyo piyo funhouse inside Pacific Plaza (Little Green Bean, Young Dong Tofu, Newport Seafood, Takashima)
Bench along one side of the wall and two tables on the other side.
Ordered the brown sugar pudding milk slushee ($ 3.50)
It tasted pretty good. It wasnt overwhelmingly sweet, just sweet enough. Pudding was a little bit too soft for my liking, but better than it being too firm!
This will be an alternative to Little Green Bean and vice versa.