Star Snow Ice

This is a smaller version of the Star Snow in the Dun Huang Plaza. This restaurant only offers shaved ice and drinks, but the workers here are extremely efficient. Literally in under 5 minutes, your drink is done! So come here if you just want a drink. Also, Star Snow is extremely cheap and the tapioca is good quality! There are tables inside but parking in this plaza may be difficult during peak times!

Best lemon green tea in town! I’ve been going to this spot since it opened in 1997 and they always get my drinks right! Service is great, the two ladies are always so polite and very fast. Start snow ice — don’t ever close!!!

This place is awful. We were out walking around and wanted a nice tea. The drinks here are a bit cheaper than other places for a reason. The drinks were all made using premade commercial concentrates and quite awful. I’ll never go here again. My wife and I both threw our drinks away after a few drinks.

I have been going to this place for a very long time, the ladies are always fast and polite. But, last night the male server was very rude and haughty. The customer in front of me left the cash register to get something for a long time, he was just standing there, not doing anything for several minutes. II asked him to take my money since my 3 drinks are made and ready, but he refused and his attitude was extremely nasty. The lady boss was always nice and asked about my family every time she saw me me because I gave them tons of business over the last 10 years. But this male server tonight helps them to lose a long time, loyal customer like me; he apparently is not fit to work at the counter.

Horrible disgusting worst boba I have ever experienced. Got the taro milk shake and it was full of solid white chalky chunks. I complained and asked them to please make me something else and they refused. Will never be returning. There are much better places to get boba in that shopping center.

So my boyfriend and I decided to try out this place since we were on the bellaire area and we were starving out of this world. When we walked in «star snow ice» it seemed pretty chaotic. They didn’t have a small menu that you could hold in your hand. Okay so my boyfriend and I decided to go head and order. He ordered the teriyaki chicken with white rice and a almond tapioca; I ordered the grilled chicken with rice and a melon tapioca. They gave us a small «appetizer» which is a salad with dressing that wasn’t ranch. We go have a seat near a window on a table for two. It had been roughly 10 – 15 minutes on the waiting for our food and finally my boyfriend gets his meal. I tried the tapioca and I was absolutely disgusted, so like a good customer I got up and decided to let them know I didn’t like it and asked nicely if I could switch it out for something else. The male cashier said no. I told him «how am I suppose to drink something I don’t like?» He responds with an attitude «you picked it not my fault» so I said okay thank you for your service and went back to my seat. Take consideration my food is still not done, not only did this make me feel angry, but it made me think a lot about their business. How do you expect to keep your customers happy if you can’t even switch out a cup of tapioca? It made me feel very upset with the customer service. I’m at my seat and it has been maybe 20 – 25 minutes since I have ordered my meal and still nothing. When my meal finally arrives it looked odd. I didn’t judge it, I tried it. The rice was white rice so it has no flavor, the chicken was on another plate that they use to «grill» it and it also came with vegetables. The quality of the chicken didn’t seem very good, then I gave the vegetables a try and they didn’t taste fresh; they tasted as if they’re out of the bag. So I pretty much ate only the rice with the sauce. My boyfriend didn’t like his meal either. Everything was very low quality. Over all very bad place to eat or drink a tapioca during those hot days. I would strongly recommend to have better customer service.

I come here almost everyday for my milk tea tapioca! The ladies there are so sweet, they get my drink ready as soon as they see my car pull up! I don’t even have to order! Best milk tea in town! And they are so fast & efficient, even when lines are long!

I love this place so much. My favorite dishes are Fried Rive Pork Chop and Fruit Shaved Ice. Yummmyyyyyy

Praise $ 2.75 boba!
It’s not the best boba in the city but Star Snow Ice doesn’t try to be. Instead, the dessert joint serves no-​BS, homemade-​esque boba tea that is actually pretty decent and isn’t too far off from the more expensive options elsewhere. Aside from its value, the boba tea also doesn’t leave me thirsty afterwards — an unfortunately symptom that many competitors’ boba tea have because of heavy use of creamer.
As the name suggests, there are also many shaved ice desserts too! This branch is also not as crowded as the main branch at Dunhuang Plaza, although not as clean either. Still nonetheless, unless you are looking for top notch tea, come by to pick up Houston’s cheapest (and still delicious) boba tea!

This is it for the boba fix.
The fruit slushies are my favorites here. The tapioca always taste nice and fresh to me and the staff is friendly. Parking is super convenient since there is a giant parking lot right next to it.
Also, it’s not usually too crowded, I can get in and out without a wait pretty much every time.

Less crowded then the other location, so come here if you’re just picking up a quick drink!
I like the smoothies more than the milk tea here, but if you want to try something even healthier and delicious, try the mix vegetable juice. After 8 – 12 hours, it also helps me feel significantly lighter.
Also try their more traditional shaved ice, which is less fruity — toppings I enjoy include red bean, green bean, almond jelly/​pudding?, egg pudding, peanuts, grass jelly, & taro! You can also get it to go for a snack later on.
Cash only!

Visit Houston with my friends from Houston recommend me here, I think the red bean smoothie is nice and the boba is ok. Price is reasonable, but the tofu deserts are not good at all compared to other places I have tried in Vancouver Canada.

My sister got me hooked on bubble tea (some call it boba tea) more than fifteen years ago and I started going to Star Snow Ice when they were originally located across the street on the other side of Ranchester. In recent years they moved to the DIHO Center which I like much better. Given the other location was bigger and had more tables to seat at this location has condensed their ordering area and tidier and cleaner than before.
I always, always get the «milk tea» flavor bubble tea and when I’m feeling adventurous I’ll ask for an extra scoop of the tapioca balls. The balls have the right consistency of chewiness and softness to them where I do not find anywhere else. I have tried other bubble tea places but have never found one that I like as much as Start Snow Ice. They have a wide selection of drinks and teas to choose from as well as made to order desserts that include shaved ice and very reasonably priced.

Love this place. So original, been going here since forever. The ladies that work here are really nice. Drink price ranges are up to $ 3-​$ 3.50. The place is really small but is really fun. Nothing can make my day, but a nice strawberry shake with boba! :)

This is technically the «original» Star Snow, but it’s still a moved location. However the drinks are still awesome and the shaved ice still good. They have fresh juices with no added sugar (I hope) and smoothies — boba or not. The fruit is always good and sweet. They could have more shaved ice toppings but whatever, it’s cheap.

Stopped in this past Saturday after getting my hair styled. It was really hot outside and decided to cool down with one of their delicious drinks. The lady asked me, what will you have? I want strawberries with milk blended. Then she asks me, «With tapioca?» Sure I said, sounds good. Then, she asks, «With sugar?» I told her no sugar. Guess what? It tastes great!
Tip: Construction is still going on. Park away from the business for a quicker exit.

Been a fan since a child. Affordable and nearly consistent! The ladies know I go here way to much if they recognize my face… especially an asian face in china town.
One of my top places for milk tea tapioca if not the top place for me. their avacado, watermelon, strawberry … heck their fruit drinks are yummy.
As for their food big fan here… but I feel ashamed and sad how i let myself go and devour all the cheap eats here!

Great place to go if your paying for a lot of people or if your on a budget. The drinks are a cheap but still good to drink. There are two locations in Bellaire /​Beltway area.
The service is OK, but you pay extra for additional condensed milk (so ask for more before you take it).
The shave ice is pretty good too.

I will always love this place for their milk tea with tapioca & egg pudding. They have increased their prices up ($ 0.25), but no complaints here.
The last time I went here, I was fiending tofu pudding, so I ordered it. I was disappointed at the bland taste and it seemed like it was in the slow cooker wayyy too long. I’d give it another shot maybe when I’m sure there’s a fresh batch… in the meantime I’ll stick with my milk teas and avocado smoothies.

Hits the spot after a hard workout.
This is not your typical boba place. Not at all. In fact when you first walk in it looks more like the set up of a cross between a shaved-​ice place and a Jamba Juice; they’ve got an array of fresh fruits and other sweet derivatives (taro paste, anyone?) up front and a row of blenders in the back.
I paid 3.25 (including tax; so much cheaper and so much better than the Teahouse I usually frequent on S. Shepherd! But I guess I pay for the seating space/​studying experience there) for a REAL taro drink with boba, which was the perfect amount of ratio of sweetness, substantially creamy taro texture (to let me pretend this is more than just a drink), and tender boba balls. They blended the taro paste right before my eyes, which was so gratifying. I’m sure that they do the same with their fruit-​flavored drinks; none of that powdered/​syrupy Tapioca Express crap!
I left the shop thoroughly satisfied and finished my drink ENTIRELY too quickly for my own good. But honestly, that drink= instant satiation. I went from starving to a Chinatown-​inspired lull of lazy contentment (which could only be upset by the frustration in braving the traffic around there on a Saturday afternoon!)
Next time I will try another flavor!

I usually come in here to get my regular mango drink with some mango pudding. No, I don’t actually drink the tea or tapioca.
I come in, I order, I get out. I never stick around. If I wanted to sit down and hang out with friends, I usually go to the other location next to Juice Box or Tapioca House in the Welcome center.
They never screwed up on my order (but seriously, how bad do you have to be to screw up a simple drink order?) so I’ll give them a three. Why not?

Never really liked the tapioca places at this location, so I didn’t think to come try out Star Snow Ice when they opened up (even though I’ve tried them at their old sites)
Thankfully, my cousin brought me a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been back ever since! I’ve even bought myself a watermelon and strawberries to mimic their fresh fruit mix… but without boba… it’s just not the same =(
Whole family came last night and got a smörgåsbord of drinks. All were great. We mostly got fresh juice mixes with tapioca. You can ask them to not put additional sugar syrup in, and it’s still yummy.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE their Milk Tea. 99% of the time I always get the Milk Tea with boba and/​or mango pudding. Every now and then I would get the grass jelly or egg pudding.
I really like how I can taste more of the tea than milk. Other places make it too milky, powdery, and/​or sweet. They have another location in the Café 101 shopping center, but I preferred this new location in the Tan Tan area. Sometimes when I get it from the other location, I feel like my Milk Tea is watered down. NO BUENO!
I recently ventured out and tried their Fresh Fruit Tea. It was a bit pricey, but I think it was worth it nonetheless. It’s comparable to the one at Juicebox, maybe even better! (depending on my taste buds haha) The mango in the fruit tea is really delicious and sweet! Kiwi, pineapple, and strawberry are also included in the tea.
Quick Tip (s): Try their Milk Tea and Fresh Fruit Tea!

This place will always be my favorite tapioca place! I have been going to the Star Snow Ice in the Welcome shopping center for YEARS and last year I moved to California so I have been deprived. A few months ago, my dad told me that they closed down and I was very sad! Now that I am back in Houston for Christmas, I drove around the area and saw that it relocated to this shopping center! I was REALLY happy to see that they had the same staff and did some facelifting to the place. It really needed some modernizing since lots of new tapioca places are opening up, and I’m glad that they moved to a location that was easier to see from Bellaire!
They make their fruit smoothies with REAL fresh fruits and every time I order my strawberry shake with tapioca. it ALWAYS tastes the same… fresh, sweet, and satisfying! LOVE it and I’m so happy that they are still around!
One more thing: They still only accept cash!

Yay! I absolutely bummed when the original location by the Welcome grocery store closed for relocation, but three months later, here it is!
This spot is easy to get to and is in the shopping complex by Jusgo grocery. The new location’s interior is certainly updated compared to the old café, but features the the same drink menu we all love. While they still do not serve hot food (which you can easily enjoy at their sister location by Dun Huang Supermarket & KTV), you can still count on them for refreshingly delicious tapioca and milk tea.
Even though there’s no nostalgia associated with this location, its nice to see that the same staff that we’ve come to know over the years are also a part of this Star Snow café.
While I feel that my regular drink was made to perfection, the shaved snowflake ice was apparently not as amazing as the SSI#1 or the SSI&T by the Beltway. Maybe the beautifully fluffy ice wasn’t as flavorful, or perhaps, it was the accompanying diced fruit that wasn’t as plentiful or sweet, but given that it’s still a brand new business, there’s bound to be a few kinks to be worked out. We’ll still probably go to both locations, but this one is surely an easier spot to get in and out of when you don’t want to bother with the usually hectic intersection and parking lot by the SSI&T location.