Tapioca Express

Do I really have to put a star for this? What can I say, this place is HORRIBLE! The lady was rude, she didn’t understand a word I said, she didn’t even talk. I don’t know, I just got a weird vibe from her. Like she really hates her job and isn’t welcoming at all. I know Asians don’t have great customer service and all, but this was pretty bad.
The menu was pretty with lots of color and foods and drinks that looked appetizing. Boy was I wrong. My daughter was wanting a regular strawberry smoothie with boba, and a small shaved ice with fruits. The smoothie was watery and bland, the boba tasted old and stale. The worst part was, the shaved ice came out to be half watery and barely any ice in it, too much flavored syrup that ended up coming out brown because she mixed all the colors together, no fruits at all on it, and it came out on a little paper boat that people normally sell french fries in. For both the smoothie and the shaved ice, it came out to almost $ 8! So not worth it! I asked her for a refund and left in disappointment. NEVER going back…

–the drinks here are consistently bland… especially the boba milk tea and bubble green tea (once the ice melts the drinks taste no different from water). so either say no ice or less ice.
–the service is ok, it kinda depends on who’s working that day. the young guy is always on the phone when i’m trying to order :(
ps, i used to come here just to hear the chubby guy repeat orders like «haneedooo slashieee» & «potstickaaaas» (you know, the friendly one who looks exactly like mashimaro’s chubby friend)…but they recently switched owners/​workers so he’s not even there anymore :(((

This place just gets sadder and sadder. It’s changed ownership and staff quite a few times and in the last years have tried gimicks like adding brightly coloured tables and chairs, video game machines and reading material. Sadly, none of the machines work, smokers often stand outside at night and obstruct the airflow and the books are all old Chinese lady reading material.
The service is also shot. I gave it a last ditch try because my brother wanted Mickey D in the same plaza and I wanted a boba and lunch. Waiting 5 mins because the server was in the back, he finally came out… With a cell phone connected to his ear. Distracted, he kept looking up things on his laptop while trying to take my simple order. I ordered a popcorn chicken with rice… He put down popcorn chicken snack. After correcting him, he told me they had no rice today. Fine, I ordered a milktea and popcorn chicken, tempura combo. Total came to 7.40. After a few attempts at typing in the amount I paid him into the cash register, he could not make change from a $ 20 because he couldn’t figure out how much money to give me back. I finally told him how much change I needed.
My drink was okay. They had only mini boba which tasted fine, but the milk tea was pre-​made and a little stale. For $ 1 it would be okay, but not for $ 2.20. He then forgot what I ordered for food and had to ask me. I was the only person at the place the whole time.
Popcorn chicken and tempura came out hot, seasoned but not very mind blowing. The colouring was dark and the tempura a bit floppy and soggy. Tasting it, I wondered when was the last time they changed their fryer’s oil…
If this place were dirt cheap, i would hold it to a different standard. But as of now, you’re better off driving 2 mins further down Colima and eating at any other boba or snack place. Good luck.

This place is pretty good. The service could be better. I came here once on a Friday night and they ran out of boba, whuuuut!
I came here today on a Tuesday night and the boba was pretty good. I give it a 4/​5, it was pretty tasty and the boba was not all hard. Given that the prices here are not that cheap and it is not much of a hang out place unlike places like Tea Bar, this place is decent.

Great hangout, regulars are all good kids. Food and drinks consistently impress and portions are very generous. Owners are very service oriented and friendly.

I find the lady who works here kind of creepy… she’s nice, but creepy.
The boba milk tea didn’t really taste good… kinda watery…

I have no idea what’s happened to this place but I remember it being a fairly decent chain boba establishment 2 – 3 years ago.
SO WHAT HAPPENED?
A change in management is what I think happened. I had gotten an almond milk tea some time ago and it was kind of warm though I wanted it cold. No big deal I thought — at first. Then a friend and I visited a few weeks later and he got some popcorn chicken while I got some Thai ice tea. The Thai ice tea tasted like crap (I hate to sound uncivil but there really isn’t any other way to describe it as I couldn’t even finish it — and I HATE wasting food). And after sampling my friend’s popcorn chicken (which was bland with the fried exterior tasting a bit powdery), we promptly left.
I guess what REALLY ANNOYED me that night was that it took the lady so long to get our food ready and she was kind of impatient in the way she did things. She even held the tip jar to our faces after we paid for the food, as if we HAD to provide tip after such lackluster service! A WTF moment indeed.
On a side note, the room was humid felt like a swamp. Tapioca Express is usually a good chain (I really enjoy visiting their two stores in Irvine), but this one really puts the franchise name to utter shame.

i come here only for the honeydew snow & popcorn chicken.
i love me some honeydew snow. i like it here. it’s mm mm good!!!
popcorn chicken is popcorn chicken.
what more can i say?

Came here for a quick lunch after work. I ordered the chicken curry, which I would think is pretty standard, but it was disgusting. A lot of fatty pieces of chicken and the curry didn’t taste like curry. Also ordered the green tea, but it wasn’t good at all… pretty flavorless.
I’ve been to other Tapioca Express places before and they were okay, but this one is terrible! I will not be back.

Service SUCKS here! I came here here once and 6 months ago. There was an lady in her 50’s or 60’s working here and I told her I needed a sugar free drink. Unfortunatley, I told her just was she put the sugar into the cup with the flavoring, and she showed me that she already put the sugar in the cup. Again, I explained to her that the drink was for someone diabetic, and asked her to please remake the drink. However, she still proceeded to make the drink WITH the sugar in it and then claimed that she remade it without sugar… which is totally uncool.
I realize that should’ve said sugar free before I said the name of drink I wanted. However, I felt that the service lady (whom may also be the shop owner) could’ve sacraficed 2 teaspoons of powdered flavoring for a diabetic person. I paid $ 5 for the drink, and I usually get this same drink from Lollicup in Rowland Heights for $ 1. Come on Tapioca Express, apply my extra $ 4 to the 2 teaspoons of flavoring. On top of that, it really isn’t cool to tell me the drink is sugar free when it’s not.

I used to come here a lot my junior year when I had SAT prep @ Elite, which was one unit down from this location.
Being a boba fanatic, I would just always get their boba milk tea. I remember the one thing I didn’t like about it was how sweet the milk tea was. It gave me headaches for some reason, and that obviously didn’t help while I took my practice SAT tests Friday afternoons.
I got the iced green tea a few times, nothing special. I waited a long ass time once too because the worker was lagging it with 2 drinks these girls in front of me had ordered. But I mean, there was only one employee, so I guess I could cut him some slack.
Either way, I probably won’t come here anymore mainly because I no longer attend Elite nor do I live in the area (although I am somewhat close, it’s not worth the drive. The place isn’t holy or anything. Lol). Also, there are so many boba places around now, a highlight being the Quickly by Yoshinoya in the Korean plaza, which sells boba for only 98 cents

I used to live near this place, and I used to stop by to grab a boba drink whenever I go shopping at the Albertsons in the same plaza.
I decided to grab lunch from here today, and I was really disappointed. The food is terrible now, and the watermelon juice I got was nothing but pink water with sugar. It’s definitely not worth going anymore, even if I’m in the same plaza. This is just too bad.

Cliff notes: Drop by for a quick drink /​snack /​meal. Not AS good as Tea Station, but then again, not as expensive either. You get your drink/​food much faster also.
The drinks are still good. they don’t have the 99 cent green/​black tea deal anymore though. It’s at about $ 1.60 now but it’s still a good price compared to green teas elsewhere. However, the green tea tastes better on some days than others.
Atmosphere/​space:
As Bobby said, this place used to be a good hangout/​loiter spot.
— They still have their chairs /​tables outside so you can chill/​smoke whatnot.
— inside is relatively small, like 3 tables for 4.
But since they changed owners, the customers changed.
The owner now is a young guy in his 20s.
He’s tried to change the store around to attract more people
— Free WiFi, added a flat screen tv, ps2, arcade machines w/​games like street fighter for 25 cents lol)
If you are a regular there, he may hook you up time to time.
Why I gave it 3 stars:
— It’s a boba place. Service is fast, thats a plus. It’s cheaper than most boba places. The drinks aren’t AMAZING, but they aren’t bad at all.
Final Verdict: If you want to grab a quick drink /​food during lunch break or something, I’d grab it here. Or you can study here. Otherwise, it’s quiet, feels slightly awkward inside sometimes.
One thing I should mention. There is usually only 1 person working the counter. Service is fast because there usually isn’t a line.
your mileage may vary

This use to be the hangout spot for a lot of young groups, however now that the Pinkberry opened across the street they’re losing business. Occasionally you’ll see groups just chilling outside but I hardly see anyone go to the place anymore.
Back in the day they use to serve 99¢ regular sized green/​black tea but they raised the price since then. I noticed recently that they have a new owner/​manager and now they advertise they offer yogurt though I never tried it.
The drinks are mediocre and the food is nothing special. It just had a good location for the younger groups because there is a prep school a few stores down and a church less than a block away.
I would have rated it a 3 or maybe 4 star back in the day, but times have changed and now all I see is a business slowly going to disappear (just like the Blockbuster in the same plaza).