Yaya Tea Garden

I like this place quite a bit. I had a plain cold osmanthus and it was delicious. I imagine the addition of honey would make it a real treat. Osmanthus is also a nice addition to most of the teas. I’ve also had their white and green teas as a base for some of the fruit infusions (like mango and kiwi) and both serve as a great base.

The drinks here are amazing. They’re not overly sweet and hey have 100+ choices for drinks. They have toppings that other bubble tea shops don’t have. My favorite is mango star and aloe ! The Rice balls are amazing ! Japanese rice ball is my favorite I highly recommend that. Customer service here is awesome. I do not recommend the yaki soba. It was dry and nasty. But the drinks and the rice balls are good !

Overall, the place was cute for kids and teens to hang out. I love the crab meat riceball, it’s still going to be my favorite one out of the rest. I tried the takoyoki and seaweed salad today it was okay, but I wouldn’t order them again. There wasn’t much seaweed salad it was really little for $ 3.00.

I love this place and I was so excited when I found out they opened up one in Brooklyn. It makes getting riceballs and bubble teas more convenient. Love getting their Japanese riceballs and Takoyakis.

Zero stars for the service. The service was horrible. Two stars for the undercooked tempura. The male cashier who over contours his nose and wear grey contacts is just rude. I see the customer base is mostly kids that are rude and unappreciative, but he doesn’t have to project his saltiness to other customers. I wanted to purchase a water then decided I’d take my money elsewhere. I hope I never have to encounter him in the future.

Been here 5 times and have been disappointed each time. Fruit drinks are all syrupy and too sweet. Iced milk teas are bland which were mostly likely brewed when we ordered it and they dumped a ton of ice. I never tried their food. This review is only for their drinks.

Alright, so I’ve only checked in once here on Unilocal,but I’ve been here at least 25 times, and about 10 times to the one in Manhattan.
First, Yaya’s has some really great drinks (I really like Lychee Tree and Boyfriend) and a large variety of jellies. The prices are decent – $ 2.50 for 16 oz drink and $ 3.50 for 24 oz drink, and they have freshly prepared foods like onigiri (I ALWAYS get the regular chicken one) and takoyaki. There’s also a card for buy 10 drinks, get 1 free. However, the snacks they have on the shelves are overpriced and have been there for a longggg time.
Now, to get to specifics. The quality of the plastic isn’t too great, and once while trying to pop the top of drink, the side of the cup punctured and everything spilled. :(go figure.
Also, there’s an option for Less Sugar or Ice. Most other drink places (ChaCha and Coco) have options for Half/​Little Sugar or Ice too, which is best for me on a diet but still want to taste something.
What I’ve realized is… these people are kinda lazy. Even when there are no customers behind me and I ask for Less Sugar, Less Ice, sometimes I get NO sugar or NO ice. Hardly ever made perfectly in this aspect.
~~~
To be even MORE specific, I’ve always looked forward to those cute little advice tags at the bottom of the cup, but all I found today was a freaking advertisement. :((
P. S. Yaya’s cashiers are known for being very SoCal, aka Asians who have many piercings or dyed hair or tattoos. I don’t mind it much, but I thought I’d mention it.

Came back again with friends and this time, I got a drink~ Blue blood was very very delightful and not too sweet. They have a variety of toppings for your drink and the staffs are super friendly! I tried out different onigiris this time and all of them were tasty! The packaging for the drinks and food are adorable and I would definitely come back for more!

After trying this place, I can’t go back to other places for cold iced tea or bubble tea. This place seems to have it all!
Yaya’s Tea offers different white teas, black teas, green teas, herbal teas, and flower teas. These teas can be served hot or cold. The teas are offered at very good prices and a large is only $ 3.50 (tax included). My personal favorite is the First Love tea (which has Peach and Mango White Tea) served cold with Mango Stars. It is very refreshing and doesn’t taste sugary and artificial. This is because they use tea leaves in their products. Also, the drinks have little messages on the bottom which are often cute or just flat out funny.
Unlike other places, Yaya’s Tea offers an array of jellies to put in your drink including Mango stars, yogurt pops, green tea jelly, pop lychee, and etc. This gives you options besides the standard tapioca bubbles.
Yaya’s Tea also has a collection of imported goodies that may be harder to find in other grocery stores. To name a few, they have Green Tea Kit Kats, an array of different Japanese Sodas, Hi-​Chews, Pocky, Imported Flavors of Lays and Doritos, and Shrimp Chips.
They also offer different appetizers and rice balls, which you won’t really see in other bubble tea shops.
Overall, I would recommend trying this place for their teas and imported goodies! I would recommend taking your stuff to go though, because it can get crowded there.

Good service, good drinks, good meals, good onigiris. Very good price. Very filling. I usually order a boyfriend with mango stars. It tastes sweet and refreshing. I love the texture of the mango stars too. I usually get the spam, chicken and tempura riceballs, but they all are good!
Just thinking about it, I want it now!

I have the occasional onigiri craving and I’m so glad Yaya opened in Brooklyn. If you want onigiri, this is the place. They have a good amount of choices for onigiri so there has to be at least one that you want, given that you eat rice. You can order small or large for the onigiri so you can feel a little less guilty when you eat more of the small ones, am I right? My favorites are the Yaya shrimp, Yaya chicken and the Japanese. They also offer other kinds of snacks, but I like to save my stomach space for the onigiri. Service is fast and pretty friendly which is always nice.
They have a nice selection of tea drinks (fruity flavors based) and you can’t go wrong ordering from the best sellers list. You would think that with drink names like «Better Life» or «Clean Clothes,» it’s all kinda gimmicky. However, these drinks are good combinations of flavors and they’re decently priced. They also stick quotes on the bottom of the cup, cute! A plus for me is that they offer popping boba here in different flavors. This might be the hangout spot for local high schoolers, so there hasn’t been seating the last couple of times I’ve been here; more a grab and go kind of place. Overall, a great option for a quick snack, lunch or dinner.

My boyfriend and I came here to grab a quick bite after our afternoon jog. Their rice balls are just delicious and well flavored. We got 2 large Japanese rice balls and it tasted so good. Damn! should’ve order more but oh well we will be back next time.

After raving about the rice balls at a Manhattan staple, Café Zaiya, for years it was finally brought to my attention that this neighborhood spot existed in Bensonhurst. My source told me that the rice balls were wayyyyy better here than anywhere else, so I had to do one thing — come here fast and check out the hype for myself!
I swung by on a random Sunday afternoon and the shop was rather empty and pretty inconspicuous. There was nothing flashy about its appearance and, in fact, it looked more like a snack shop than a place that served ridiculously awesome rice balls and bubble tea. There was a huge variety of asian snacks on the left wall and a few tables and chairs on the right side. The menu hung right above the cashier and it consisted of drinks (hot/​cold bubble tea), appetizers and, the ONLY thing I came here for, onigiri/​rice balls.
There was a huge selection of rice balls to choose from, about 19 from my count! Yes, 19! In addition, they served them in Small and Large sizes with some flavors costing more than others. I was told that the Japanese rice ball was one of their best so I had no choice but to go with a large version of it. In my head, for $ 4, it better have been LARGE and insanely good! It took about a few minutes for them to prep it.
When I received it, it was very warm and smelled real fresh. It had the typical rice ball wrapping around it, which I ALWAYS screwed up when opening. It’s like a puzzle for me. However, I was able to successfully get this one to open perfectly. I bit into the rice ball and the rice was SO SO soft and warm. The rice was very flavorful and I hadn’t even gotten to the filling yet! There was tons of crab meat, seaweed and some egg inside. Everything was excellent about it! And best of all, it was filling for $ 4! Honestly, I couldn’t eaten 2 because it was so good, but I was feeling the effects of how large it was.
For $ 4, it was well worth it and it definitely trumped Café Zaiya’s rice ball by a mile! Dare I say its the best rice ball I have ever had? Yes I do!

Overall, this is quite the cute one stop place for tea, food, snacks and potential gifts! If you’re a fan of tea tea like drinks (not the typical boba flavors) I recommend making a stop here. There is an extensive menu on the tea drinks alone and quite a broad selection for onigiri, small rice plates and appetizers.
For the tea, I ordered the Aries which was a blend of jasmine with chrysanthemum with honey tea as a base. Absolutely refreshing and fragrant. The honey tea lends a bit of sweetness to the drink while the aroma of jasmine and chrysanthemum fills your senses up.
For the onigiri, tried the spam, spicy crawfish and the takoyaki. If you order this, do make sure to read the instructions on the package on how to unravel it! The takoyaki was my least favorite since it lacked any real takoyaki taste to it. As for the crawfish, it was a little heavy on the mayo like sauce but it tasted decent. The spam onigiri was surprisingly the most yummy. The rice was flavored with some kind of broth and the spam wasn’t too salty.
Finally, the rice dish with Japanese curry, baked potato and shrimp tempura. Simple hearty meal that is definitely filling and good :)
After your meal, I recommend checking out the store for various Asian snacks and teas. If you’re looking for gift ideas, this place sells tea bottles, hoodies and other misc items.

Ive been here quite alot of times. Great variety of food and drinks. I usually come after school and just grab a seat and eat away.
The food taste great. I usually get the crab meat onigri. (Basically rice and crab meat wrapped with seaweed) $ 2.50 for small, $ 3.50 for large. Drinks, i would usually get the boyfriend or clean clothes. Unique names ahah and it adds a great laugh to it. Although the food may taste great, the prices are okay. It could be improved though.
The seating areas has 3 tables with long benches. One side of the wall is covered with all kinds of snacks and other stuff. It should have more tables since everytime i go there, its basically packed; mostly around 3−4pm.

Huuuuge drink menu and everything on it is delicious. They also have a bunch of different drink add ins. I love the popping lychee and the popping yogurt (sounds a little weird, but it’s really good!)
Their rice balls are also really good. The vegetable one was surprisingly flavorful. I’ve also had the span, chicken, and plum ones and they’re all good too.
Their prices are really reasonable. And while you wait for your food and drinks you can look at all of the snacks they have for sale! Lots of Japanese snacks and teas are always in stock there. Some of the snacks are a little pricey, but it’s hard to find them anywhere else so it’s worth it as a treat sometimes :)

This review is based solely on the Takoyaki
Stopped in for a snack and ordered the Takoyaki ($ 4 i think?). Not good at all. The exterior was squishy and not fully cooked, barely any octopus in takoyaki. Also whatever sauce they used on it, it had a vingery sour taste… Not a fan of the takoyaki. I’ll come back next time to try the other food item snacks.
I do think this is a great place to buy small gifts for friends though! They have lots of international asian snacks

Nice spot to chill with friends. Their rice balls are pretty good and filling. $ 2.50 for a small and $ 4 for a large. Their drinks and toppings are unique with many flavors and its accompanied with a quote which can make your day. It’ll either be something sweet, cute or funny but it’s definitely a mood lifter. They have a lot of snacks there which I think is overpriced. They still have one of my favorite Japanese candy though which you can’t really find anywhere else! The brand name is Chelsea and yogurt scotch flavor. It is my favorite! I definitely recommend. That’s what I usually get with my rice balls and drinks. Minimum $ 10 in order to use card so I would suggest bringing cash if you only order one or two thing like I always do.

Glad there’s a bubble tea spot that’s opened just around the corner from my block and very convenient too. I’ve been here twice so far and quite frankly, the experience has been alright.
First, the atmosphere doesn’t feel like a real bubble tea/​coffee shop because they do have shelves of random Asian snacks, bottles, and etc. I think it would be more neat if they sold a variety of tea bags or leaves since it is a tea shop. There also isn’t a lot of sitting area.
The customer service is good and the waiting time is a little long. I also feel the structure is a little unorganized here. There’s quite a lot of drinks to choose from, but nothing too special in my opinion.
Yaya Tea Garden is definitely in a prime and good location, but I think they need to be better about their organization and speed. Their drinks aren’t that special to me, but I would come here just for convenience if I wanted a bubble tea.

Huge selection of tea drinks and snacks on the side wall. From Green tea Pocky to Siracha lays.
–delicious drinks
–onigri is to die for