Tapioca Express

My husband & I use to go here all the time. Now, we don’t even bother to go here!
1^st Strike:
Their tapioca was undercook. We had to literally throw away more than half of the drink because we couldn’t get passed the texture.
2^nd Strike:
We brought our family from out of town to come here. There was a couple of us with kids & we asked if we can get an extra cup so we can split our drinks for the kiddos. They freaken charged 25 cent for a cup & an extra for a lid. FORREALS!!! You couldn’t spare 2 cups for the amount of stuff we bought!!!
3^rd Strike:
Ran a couple of errands & my husband wanted TapEx. As we were in the car, drinking our boba, we noticed the texture was off and the after taste was not so pleasant. My husband wanted to see what he was chewing, sure enough, it wasn’t tapioca. I told him it might be jackfruit!!! Maybe that’s what they boil the tapioca with? Anyways. We were seriously grossed out because the taste & the texture was horrible.
Like I said, we’ve been going here for a very long time. We hung out here, brought friends & family from out of town & this was our go-​to spot. After this incident, you officially lost 4 costumers!

Had a man take my order and he was tapping his finger on the counter before I even said hello, very unprofessional.
I ordered a vanilla milk tea with tapioca and was served the drink right when I got my card back!
The milk tea was wonderful BUT the tapioca balls were not cooked all the way and we’re still hard inside. Very disappointed

Whatever you folks don’t have anymore you should take it off the menu on this thing. We go in there set on what we wanna order based off of their menu they have posted on here & they didn’t have it. I’m not feelin this place, I won’t be back.

Cool spot to go to if you’re craving quick & easy finger food in a pinch. We usually go here after AJ finishes getting a haircut from Dann the Barber next door at IV Barber Lounge.
The spot is situated on the far end of a pretty dilapidated strip plaza here in Vallejo, and you have to go through quite a few speed bumps to park.
Once inside, the register is right there at the front, there are a few standing (or sitting) tables and more seating areas toward the back. The menu is straightforward, with the drinks at the front and food farther in. You got your standard choices of snows, smoothies, boba or other types of drinks such as coffee drinks. They do have combo deals so be sure to ask what they are then you order, you could end up saving on your meal by buying that way.
The folks there are usually hit or miss. They’re either grinning from ear to ear or they’re RBF. Not that it’s a bad thing, but this is a business and how you attract costumers is to be pleasant and inviting, not the opposite.
Food is great. The finger stuff especially the spicy chicken bites are hot, fresh and made to order so when you eat one, you know it’s hot out of the fryer. Calamari is the same. Their smoothies and drinks are like any other typical Boba spot, but the one thing that got me was that they don’t seal up their snow drinks. They simply put a clear plastic dome on top, which may or may not pop off. Thankfully it hasn’t for us… yet. Not sure why they do it that way but a plastic membrane would probably work better.
Sorry don’t have many pix of this place yet. I’m sure I’ll be back the next time AJ gets faded up so I’ll post more pix then.

The Thai milk tea wth small tapioca always makes me delighted I came here! the «popcorn chicken» is always hot and fresh. Fries could use a tad bit more salt/​flavoring but overall really good.

No complaints from me. I always get a honeydew snow with lychee jelly. Delicious everytime.

I used to come here a lot back in the day. It’s been a while since I’ve came here. Usually I order the taro snowbubble with tapiocoa, but this time I ordered the passion fruit green tea with mango jelly and it only took a minute for my drink to be ready!
Also, the cashier should’ve told me ahead of time that the machine was broken and that they only accept cash before I ordered… But she tried to use my card and apparently the machine wasn’t broken.

I grew up in Vallejo (26-​year resident) and when I moved in 2004, I don’t think this was here yet. Since I have been back, I have visited another bubble tea place in town more frequently due to its location, but I finally made it here on Saturday! I think TapEx has more choices and I look forward to returning.

Boba is decent. No toilet seat covers, toilet papers, paper towels, or soap in the restroom. Hopefully employees have their own soap to wash hands before making drinks!

I’ve been going to TapEx ever since they first opened. But the few times I do go here I rather go to Quickly instead. Their calamari and popcorn chicken are WAY to salty. Their drinks are not consistent sometimes it’s too sweet, the boba is undercooked, that tapioca pearl to drink ratio is way off, or they forget to put tapioca pearls. They use to be the best boba place in Vallejo but they should step up their game.

We really liked this place but have not had any food here, only the drinks. The boba and related drinks are great and they have a huge selection with a lot of options to mix flavours to your own taste. The location is not great, unless one is just picking up a drink to take while driving. It’s a seedy shopping centre in a seedy part of town.

Although it is fairly cheap for an order of milk tea, I must say I was disappointed with the quality of the milk tea. I ordered the regular milk tea because I wanted to try their most basic milk tea as my first time in order to gauge how their flavors were. Unfortunately, I did not taste much tea flavor, the proportion of milk: tea made it difficult to experience the true flavors of the tea, Also, the tapioca pearls were extremely hard, as if they were frozen for a while before it was served.
Unfortunately, this place is the only milk tea area around Vallejo and was not pleased with the quality. On a side note, they do serve other drinks and snacks (popcorn chicken, fries, etc) that I may consider getting if I do come again.

Most horrifiic experience. Would never go back. After I had a fly in my mouth from my drink. Hours later I was throwing up and unable to go to work the next day. Called the Health Services in SOLANO COUNTY, about a week later, the inspector called me back. To let me know when she conducted the inspection. The kitchen had flies, they cook with the back door opened, and the fan that would usually keep the bugs out was unplugged. I would never recommend that anyone eat or drink there. Very nasty!!!

The banana crêpe was drowned in chocolate sauce… Sent it back and told the lady no chocolate just whipped cream… She asked me twice … I said no chocolate just whipped cream. It comes back not only with chocolate drizzled on the top… But inside the rubber tasting crêpe as well!!! Took 2 bites and threw it away!
One star off for the crêpe… One star off for the lady who failed to listen.
Three stars for the drinks!

I don’t like Tapioca Express in WA so I’m not surprised that I don’t like Tapioca Express here in CA.
It’s located in a small run-​down plaza in Vallejo, next to a Guamanian restaurant & a Filipino bakery. The inside has ample seating for the space provided.
You walk in & order, the girl will enter your order into the iPad via Square.
She was nice.
Sat down & waited for our order to be made. We were seated right by the area they announce orders. We got our order pretty fast for how busy it was.
Order Thai Tea with tapioca, it was good. Super sweet! How I like it,
Then my cousins order french fries which looked really good. They were.
Soooooo, the employees. It is 50 cents for an extra sauce or whatever. 30 or 50 cents, I don’t even care to remember because I won’t be back.
I was standing up there & the two guys making the drink were busy & there was this girl, that had a hat on & she was behind the counter so obviously she worked there. She had on a backpack looking like a little teeny-​bopper that’s trying too hard (yup, I said it), so since she had her backpack on, I guess she was clocked out & getting ready to leave. She saw me standing there & just gave me this look. IDC where you work, even if you’re clocked out & you acknowledge that you see a customer standing there, either ask them if there is something you can help with or direct someone to help them. It’s common sense & courtesy which she lacked. She was wearing a backwards hat & was short, she looked quite young but I just thought it was rude & disrespectful.
&&&&&& it further solidifies the reason I don’t like Tapioca Express & why I have avoided it altogether, even across state lines.

There was no customers in line so they were super fast with preparing my order. However, the employees were eating while on the job. They didn’t seem to care when I entered the business, because they didn’t acknowledge me. I suggest they don’t eat behind the counter, or at least as long as it isn’t visible to the customers.
I ordered Thai tea with boba and egg pudding. It was sweet. I’m not sure if they charge extra for doing half and half.

I must say, I’m a big fan now of these drinks. Try the caramel frosti. It was sooo good. Minus one star for running out of tapioca but it was still good.
Also, they dont have Rose Milk but it led me to try other flavors of milk teas

This place has been a go to spot for me and my friend. The place needs some improvement when it comes to design and the area where it is isn’t the best. But this is the only place I go to whenever I want some boba.
They can get pretty crowded at times with only a few tables/​chair to offer. The drinks are pretty good, and their combo is something to get also. The only problem is, if you’re new to having this kind of drinks and have no idea what to get, you’ll never get any help but to figure it out by yourself. It’ll end up being a trial and error for you until you find what’s good for your taste.
Over all, I’ve been going to this place for some boba and will continue to do so. I’ve tried some boba drinks from other places/​restaurants but I always end up telling myself that Tapioca Express drinks are better. The drinks are consistent and the service has improved a lot.

Sadly, this is the only boba place in Vallejo. So on their menu, they list «Oolong green» under their «milk tea» category. So when I go to order they say there’s no such thing as a oolong green milk tea… which is right under their menu. either the lady was trying to tell me there’s «no milk tea available» or it didn’t exist, but their cashier had poor communication skills and was not so polite. I wasn’t trying to hold up the line. Either way, how do you not have «milk tea» available on a busy monday right after school with packed lines and you consider yourself a boba place. I’m always disappointed in their poor quality services.
Their okinawa milk tea is actually really good, but don’t get a hazelnut milk tea it tastes artificial. Their usually only consistent with their snowbubbles.

Ehhhhhhhh. The rest of the bay area is spoiled ROTTEN when it comes to choices in boba places. Namely, places like Tpumps, Quickly, or even small mom and pops places, just to name a few. In Vallejo, there’s only one major player: TapEx next to Starbread.
Don’t get me wrong. The drinks here are pretty decent. Probably the best boba you’ll get in the city. But are the drinks the best I’ve had? Not compared to the places I mentioned on the onset. Drinks are not bad here, but other places seem to do them better. On the upside, they have a ton of different drinks to choose from. Variety is always a good thing and it’s probably one of the saving graces of this place.
Décor and environs in general are actually pretty cool. They actually have a pretty awesome mural in this location. Top notch street art. The place in general is comfortable enough. Plenty of seating. It’s never usually too packed in this joint, even on the hottest of summer days. It’s nice to chill here sometimes if the occasion calls for it. Free wi-​fi as well, that’s always nice.
If you’re craving boba, tea, snow bubble, or whatever, this is pretty much the place to go to if you don’t want to leave town. I hear there’s a Quickly opening up pretty soon in the V. That place will definitely give TapEx a run for it’s money. Maybe they’ll step up up their boba game at that point.