Tapioca Heaven

I’ve been going to this place regularly for about two years now, and my first impressions were great, but not so much anymore.
Customer service is average to below average. While the owners are very polite and understanding, some of the their employees aren’t. I’m not a person to usually get upset over poor customer service, but as a frequent customer, the employees that I see (again, other than the owners) rarely greet customers with a positive attitude. Also, whenever I’ve said thank you, they wouldn’t reply, acknowledge what I said, and in some cases, the employees would glare at me. Again, I usually don’t fuss about poor customer service from shops or restaurants, but as a regular customer who frequently visits, it’s come to the point where I feel uncomfortable ordering from this place.
Food also takes a while to come out sometimes, which can be frustrating sometimes. My friends and I usually get an order of popcorn chicken or cream cheese wontons to share. It usually takes about 10 – 15 min, which is a little bit of a wait, but it’s not too much of a hassle if we don’t plan to be somewhere afterwards. However, there was one visit where we ordered the popcorn chicken again, and it took 30 minutes (and yes, I looked at the time from my receipt) to come out, and it wasn’t even busy at that time. My friend asked one of the employees if it was ready about 20 minutes after we ordered, however, the employee glared at her and said «yeah, it’s coming just wait», which isn’t the most positive way to deal with a customer that’s been waiting 20 minutes for such a small amount of food. and when we finally received our food, a few of the pieces were raw, not slightly, but the chicken was literally pink all the way through and the breading still moist and crumbling off, so we had to toss it. Most likely not going to order the popcorn chicken from now on.
Other than that, I still love their drinks, I still love the variety of boba and extras that you can add into the drinks. My friends and I are just disappointed with their service and food quality.
*edit*
I’m changing my rating from two stars to one star.
So I went again, with my little brother and dad around 4:30ish, so it was a bit busy. My dad was about to pay with a card, and apparently they only accept debit or credit, which is fine, but the cashier gave him a really hostile look and asked a coworker to help. Her coworker, which has been working there for a long time (I’ve seen him working there more than a few times) wasn’t friendly (as usual). My dad asked if there was an ATM nearby so he could take out cash, since my brother really wanted a drink. However, the employee looked at my dad as if he was dumb and said, «Can’t you see the Wells Fargo over there?» My dad is pretty polite and understanding, but I don’t think he or other customers should be treated that way. I’m no longer going to Tapioca Heaven. Yeah I like the drinks, but I don’t want to deal with rude and immature employees.

Definitely must try their flavored boba! My girlfriend had the green tea boba and it was amazing! Not too overpowering and not too sweet. Definitely will come back to check out their other varieties.

I thougt I wrote a review for this place already. Guess not.
I’ve been to this place a couple times and I normally don’t have a problem when I go. But yesterday I went in right before work and one of the younger girls working there was a little rude. Kind of just slammed my Cream Cheese Wontons on the counter, yelled out what they were and walked away. I doubt she was in that much of a hurry since there was only one other guy in there and there was another lady that was assisting that guy. So one star off for that. The other lady was very polite and had excellent guest service skills.
Their Honeydew Smoothie with Strawberry Boba is my favorite. Not a fan of their Popcorn Chicken. Then again, I’m not a fan of it from anywhere. Their Cream Cheese Wontons were just okay. I still like Panda Expresses’s more.

Easily the best boba milk tea place I’ve tried in San Diego! The boba isn’t too chewy and the teas are sweetened to perfection

From 1 star to 4 stars!
I’m giving this place 4 stars because of their Strawberry Boba. I usually don’t like boba in my drinks because I hate the fact I have to chew so much. I feel like it’s not even a drink at that point so I stopped getting boba with my drinks.
Came here with my bf and he ordered the Almond Milk Tea Smoothie with Strawberry Boba. It was sooo good! So damn good I didn’t even like what I ordered. We ended up coming back here and I ordered the same drink.
For me to like boba is a big deal. I even asked the gal to add «light Strawberry boba» in my drink and it wasn’t enough. I don’t know what it is about this type of boba, but it has me feeling some type of way.
I have to say I don’t like the menu setup at all. They have their BEST sellers on the wall (I’m assuming) with pictures (I do like the pics) but then when you get up to the cash register they have a tiny print out of their entire menu. When it’s your turn to get up to the register you need to know what to order. not reading the menu and holding up the line trying to decide what to get. I feel like they should blow up that menu and place it on the wall so people can see exactly how much they have to offer, It’s a pretty big menu.
You have a better chance deciding what you want through Unilocal reviews and pictures then reading their menu.
Anyway. I’m coming back here for their strawberry boba lol. I have a long list of things I want to try. Strawberry Mango slush, Kiwi Strawberry slush, Chamango, Jolly Green Apple slush, ALL the SLUSHES apparently.

Nothing but love to this place. Best taro milk tea I’ve ever had and their popcorn chicken is yummmmm. No matter how full I still am, I always stop by to this place to get my milk tea whenever I’m in the area.

I think I’m falling back in love with Tapioca Heaven! So conveniently located in Mira Mesa, they serve up flavored boba and I die for the strawberry and green tea boba.
Favs:
+ jasmine milk tea with green tea boba
+ strawberry milk tea with strawberry boba
+ Thai tea smoothie with honey boba
It seems like their prices fluctuate often but it’s understandable as a small business. Love when the owners are working because they make the drinks the best!

I always love coming here for the «Jolly green apple», which is a green apple slush with green apple jelly and strawberry boba, and their «jasmine milk tea» with lychee jelly and green tea boba. The jasmine milk tea is always my go to. I usually get the jolly green tea if I’m in the mood for something sour and sweet! It’s a bummer how the prices went up, but that’s okay because I’m still willing to pay for them! lol.
The only thing I don’t like about this place, is their loyalty rewards program. I have about 6 cards that have one stamp each, and they told me that they could not combine them. Which totally sucks because I place these cards everywhere, and they usually end up being in my purses at home. I wish they would join into the «five stars» program!

I go here pretty often because it’s close to my house, and I’d say it’s one of my favorite boba places to go to.
They have a lot of varieties for food and snacks, but not so much on their drinks and boba.

Brought my pup here to eat lunch with me! There’s a couple chairs in the front and a few tables inside.
— Fried Oreo ice cream: ¹⁄₁₀ it came out in 2 minutes. It’s just vanilla ice cream with cornflakes and Oreo crumbs sprinkled on it. Pretty sure it wasn’t fried? Or can someone tell me what was fried? Lol
— Smores hot chocolate: unfortunately after I paid and what not I was informed there wasn’t anymore. So I had to get regular hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was dark chocolate that I wasn’t fond of
— Cheese wontons: ⁶⁄₁₀ was good but the wrapper was way too thick
— Spicy popcorn chicken: ⁸⁄₁₀ yummy and very crispy. Small portion so I wouldn’t share mine

No… just no. The drinks taste so bad and artificial! The boba doesn’t taste fresh.
Service? Nothing memorable… employees pretty much take your order and make it.

This is my favorite neighborhood boba shop. I come here on warm days to get my Jasmine
Milk tea. I love when the owner makes my drink. It never fails. But when the younger kids make it, it’s watered down. I’m okay with it though because it still tastes good and refreshing. Their prices have recently gone up but what doesn’t go up? Everyone’s got to make a living.
For the constructive criticism: they need to improve their popcorn chicken. Something about it is not right-​maybe the batter. It’s not gross, but it doesn’t compare to its competitor boba shops.
As for Drinks, their sole purpose, they have a wide variety of slushes, milk teas, smoothies, coffee, and other fun concoctions. Their chamangos aren’t bad either!
Bottom line: stop in when you’re in need of good boba!

Smaller-​than-​average Bubble Tea dive that’s actually a treasure in a La Mesa area whose selection is lacking compared to an area like Clairemont, but this tiny café is small and does the job just as good as most.
It has that Asian café flair that essential to being cute enough to be notable, but they’re currently going through some renovation related to the removal of their frozen yogurt offering that is hard to ignore in a space that small; the seating is limited regardless on top of the far ‘yogurt wall’ that’s slated for refurbishment.
The Bubble Tea selection is by-​the-​numbers. None of the flavors stand out and all the standards are there; it’s hard to mess up Bubble Tea and they do not. Something like Tapioca Express has a much larger offering and other real tea options, but Tapioca Heaven is closer to Mira Mesa locals.
They also offer food, but I’ve never hit a Boba spot with the intent of also getting fried chicken, and you likely won’t either. As a hang-​out spot with your friends, it’s a bit lacking due to its size and small venue. Parking is easy enough and the place is pretty clean in spite of the transition.

Haven’t been here for awhile, it’s still really good!!! I got the taro smoothie with lychee jelly and my friend got a green tea with green tea boba. Reasonable prices

My favorite boba place in my neighborhood!
They have a great selection of smoothies and slushes, with some cool combinations and flavors. They also have a variety of items to put in your drinks from jellies and bobas. They even have different flavored bobas. Their teas are mediocre, and there are plenty of better tea places in San Diego, but when if come to their fruity cold drinks, this place definitely fill the spot.
They also have a variety of hot snacks and desserts, which are all decent, but unfortunately nothing stands out.
The prices are pretty average ranging from 3 – 5 dollar per item. The only downside I can think of this place is the establishment is quite small, but other than that perfect when you want to stop buy for a quick and cool drink!

Meh I’ve had better.
Pros: Variety in boba flavors. This is definitely different and interesting! They have 4 boba choices available: strawberry, green tea, honey, and baby honey (same as honey but smaller boba balls)
–Strawberry: The sweet strawberry flavor is quite subtle. Initially you may not taste the strawberry but there is a pleasant strawberry flavor after taste. If you’re going to try one, I recommend this.
–Green tea: I didn’t have a chance to try this but I was told by the cashier this is a more «neutral» taste. Not too sweet, not too strong in the green tea flavor.
–Honey: I’ve had better honey boba. It was not sweet at all. It was bland, just like a regular boba. I was not a fan.
Cons: The actual teas (well milk teas in my case) were all very… meh.
–Honey milk tea: This was okay. A bit on the watered down side, but the better choice out of the two I tried. The sweetness from the honey made a big difference.
–Jasmine milk tea: This was just bad. It tasted like water with a hint of a milky maybeeee jasmine flavor. Not even the slightest bit of sweetness. Just not good.
Overall, yeah… I wouldn’t come back unless I’m with friends and they really want to come try the strawberry boba. Seating is also limited so it’s just not the best place to hit up if you’re in the mood for boba

My go to place when I can’t go to Convoy.
Honey Milk Tea, Rose Milk Tea, (a new fav) Salted Caramel Sweet Tea, and any of the Fusion Tea’s are good. And I like that they offer different flavored boba.
Crispy Chicken Snack — Spicy Chicken — when you ask for it to be spiced up or spiced down, it either goes your way or not but still a good thing to munch on when you get a drink!

It smelled funky in here when we walked in… Was not pleasant at all.
Ordered 2 drinks, one shaved ice & popcorn chicken. My sister didn’t like her drink so she gave it away. The shaved ice was okay, but there was way too many sour pieces of fruits. Didn’t really enjoy it… Lastly, my popcorn chicken was not fully cooked. When I first bit into the chicken, I noticed pink undercooked flesh… Never serve your customers uncooked chicken, that can seriously get someone sick. The cashier checked the chicken piece & offered to cook it again for us.
I didn’t really enjoy my experience here at all…

Easy to get in and out of and they serve delicious drinks!
My favorite is a Mango Slush or Chimango!
Just love their AC and empty yogurt machines… Plus their prices are always being raised as noticed on their chips! Lol look at me pic…
The patio furniture is old and needs to be replaced… The tables don’t even maintain their sturdiness. Be warned! Don’t place items on the tables outside. You’re welcome.

We stopped by today after lunch at QT Pot next door. Sis has been a fan of this little tapioca boba shop for quite some time now. We both fondly remembered how the original owners had the most adorable dog named Bandit. Those were good times.
It had been a while since we revisited so it was kinda sad to see this shop again. It looks a bit old and they no longer serve frozen yogurt. The froyo wall is still there but it’s covered up.
Sis thinks the girl that took her order and made her milk tea was the same girl all those years ago (the owner perhaps?). There were two girls working today and both seemed forlorn to be there. I just felt bad as this shop had so much life some time ago and the energy today just felt sad.
The milk tea cost $ 3.25 (no boba) and it was a smaller portion. Sis said milk tea was ok but barely tasted like tea. The drink to her tasted more like milk & sugar than tea.
They do seem to have a comfortable front patio. It was dark inside but we saw customers drinking stuff and hanging out so I was happy for that. I’d return if we were in the area and maybe try something else on the menu. They have brownies (I think the girl said they bake them fresh) and it’s only priced at $ 1.09 for a large piece. You can make it a la mode for $ 2.99 so perhaps we’ll have the next time around.