Tapioca Express

It’s CLOSED down. Sad day, we loved going here.
This restaurant is no longer open for business. It’s cleaned out.

When I go to the Kroger next door, I like to stop in here for a lemon green tea with tapioca. It is always delicious. The tapioca, however, is slightly hard and a bit cold. Teahouse tapioca is soft and warm, which I think is better. So this place loses a star for the tapioca quality. But the tea always tastes great.
What I do like about this place is that I can order some sushi here. I have only tried the avocado roll, and it is very tasty and fresh. This is a much better option than getting old refrigerated overpriced sushi from the aforementioned Kroger. They also have other food options that I haven’t tried.
This is a cute little place. They have several tables and board games. It’s usually quiet and empty when I come here. The guy that works here is always very friendly.

Didn’t this place used to be a branch of Tapioca House?
I asked the manager-​looking guy that as I was waiting for my chicken nugget combo and he just quietly muttered «Yes.» Maybe the reason he was disappointed was because Tapioca House used to supply this place with actual food.
The combos are 6.99 and reminded me of the ones you get at the actual Tap House (chicken nuggets, with bean sprouts, green beans, hardboiled egg, rice, and a milk tea). Pretty sweet deal right?
Nope. Here’s what was in the combo:
Milk tea with tapioca — Not terrible, the boba wasn’t as hard as other reviewers claim. However, half of the drink was ice.
Chicken nuggets — Stale and obviously pre-​cooked. How hard is it to drop some chicken in a deep-​fryer?
Curry sauce — Came in a plastic condiment cup, except the curry sauce was hot so you could see the plastic top starting to melt. Mmm. carcinogens.
Corn — Seriously? Canned corn? I can get that next door at Kroger for like 50 cents. Where’s my damn bean sprouts?
Rice — Fantastic! Light, fluffy, fresh, and potentially a perfect complement to some fresh chicken nuggets and vegetables! I would come back here just for the steamed rice!
Just kidding. Avoid this place and stick to tapioca in Chinatown.

The service was great, the location rather convenient next to Kroger, and the atmosphere and cleanliness was top notch.
The problem? The tapioca and bubble tea was disgusting. It was like drinking Satan’s milk, because whatever I drank wasn’t meant for human consumption. I feel bad having to say that, considering that again the guy who made it was beyond friendly and seemed to have a lot of pride in his work asking me to come back whenever I wanted, even if it was just to study– but with drinks that yucky, I couldn’t imagine going back voluntarily. I figure if the drinks are gross, so must be the food. You have been warned.

No wifi and the women’s rest room is always out of order. Other than the convenient location and decent drinks this place seems to be going down fast. I use to frequent this place during my undergrad years, 10+ years ago but since then it’s gradually gotten worst. Food here is not great and tends to take a while. They no longer but basil in the crispy chicken which I miss so much! And their new banh mi is all bread and little meat, needs lots of improvement. Staff is nice and the place is always clean, so that’s a plus. If you’re in the area and craving bubble tea then this is probably your best bet, otherwise go somewhere else.

This place is convenient being next to Kroger and it’s nice that they have a lot of board games to play, but the last time I was there I saw a couple cockroaches :(the boba isn’t good enough for me to choose them over Teahouse on shepherd, so I probably won’t be coming back. The boba isn’t soft and the food looks like it’s kinda old. Hopefully is gets better, but right now, the only thing going for them is being next to Kroger

The worst place I’ve ever been to.
Never again. don’t waist time and money here!
No idea how this place is still open

Oh my goodness (deep sigh)… Words can not describe how horrible this place is. Location is whatever, I don’t live over there. I went in to this place with my fiancé thinking I was going to give her a treat. This, however, was not the case. We had 2 Vietnamese café with Tapioca and the first order was messed up. No condensed milk in the first one and only condensed milk in the second. So we had the guy fix it, no screaming, mistakes happen. But the second time I wasn’t very happy. Still just wanted to get out of there after being the only customer and being in the shop for 25 minutes. The café was still bad and the tapioca was hard.
Anyway, avoid this place at all cost. Absolutely horrible!

This place is horrible. Very slow service and not to mention, inconsistent.
We came here and ordered 2 iced Vietnamese coffees, one small and one medium.
The small had all coffee and no ice. And no condensed milk. The medium had all milk … Literally.
See pictures… One is brown and one is completely white. Um. Common sense peeps– it’s the same drink but different size!
We walked out and after trying both I decided to go back and complain. The lady is remaking the drinks… Hopefully they turn out correct. I encourage you to see the picture of our drinks though.

Terrible !
Ordered the water melon ice tea (my usual at other teahouses)
It was disgusting and tasted like expired juice. Threw it in trash before I got Starbucks.

Pros: Fair amount of seating and plugs, they have sushi and other snack/​dinner options, everything is pretty cheap (~$ 7 meals ~$ 4 drinks), there are games and magazines…
BUT
Cons: The little tapioca they actually give in your drink is stale and borderline frozen into ice chunks, the drinks themselves are pretty tasteless (compared to Teahouse standards), wait time is fairly long, and there’s NO WIFI :(
Probably a good place to spend some time relaxing with friends, but I wouldn’t come here for dinner or to study.

It’s alright here. Almost the same menu as tapioca house in Chinatown but not the same quality. Drinks are average but bland and tapioca is hard and tastes old. Chicken nuggets have no taste at all. They serve sushi here but not really sure how fresh that would be. Staff is nice enough I guess. Right next to krogers. Wifi, a lot of seating, and board games.

i’m so surprised at all the sub-​par reviews! i didn’t have that big of a problem here, my drink was made in a timely manner, it was pretty good overall & the service was usual.
just taking off 1 star because it was a little poorly stocked with utensils. plus, i haven’t tried the food so i can’t really comment on that.
SIDENOTE: this place is GREAT to get work done at! super quiet, not too many disruptions, & outlets are available. much better than the starbucks across the street that is ALWAYS packed.

Drinks: they’re okay, on the average-​high side of pricing. Avoid any of the smoothies/​shakes because they’re sickeningly sweet and taste of fake sugar. I usually stick with something simple like a Jasmine or original milk tea and ask for half sugar.
Food: I ordered a «lunch special» that sounded way more promising on the menu than it was in real life. The meal was mostly white rice, with 6 tiny previously frozen fish balls laid on top and a side of canned corn and «tomato sauce» (sweet ketchup?!). It was so bizarre and completely not worth the 7 bucks I paid for it. I’ve had their crispy chicken before too and it was pretty gross too — not crispy at all, tiny pieces of chicken, and super tough.
I really only come here because it’s convenient and not too loud during the day so I can study here for a few hours before doing some grocery shopping across the street. There’s free wifi and board games around, too.

Meh.
So I came across this joint one late lunch. I always crave something sweet after lunch. It looked like this place has been around for a while (places like these mostly makes the best ones right? If its like kinda been around for a long time) and I love boba! So I decided to give them a try.
As I entered this little joint, they were not busy at all which was good, in a way. I was greeted by as I think was a manager, which was very nice. I was looking over the menu and I absolutely did not know what to get. Whenever I get boba I always get Avocado but I have always been too scared to try other places other than Teahouse. So I copied this lady who was in front of me getting a Coconut milk tea. It sounded appealing so why not?
First sip, pretty good… till I chewed on the tapioca. Urghk! Not so good. I did not like it at all. Though the coconut milk tea… ill give props!
I went back 2 weeks later to try their Avocado smoothie for teahouse is too long of a drive for me that day (it was only 10 minutes really, I was just being lazy) Anyways, it was awful! The blend was way too sweet as it tasted like they put half a cup of sugar on that drink and don’t forget the tapioca which was terrible as always.
Overall: They are so-​so. I haven’t tried most of their drinks and I don’t think I ever will, but the coconut milk tea I can vouch for. (don’t get it with tapioca though)

This is a nice little tapioca place not too far from Rice village. I got the thai tea here, and it was delicious! It’s seriously addicting. Sweet and creamy — just the way I like it. They’ve also got an assortment of food as well, so it’s not just tapioca. That’s a nice plus, though I haven’t actually tried their food here.

My first time here and I LOVED it! The staff was so friendly, the ingredients are fresh, and reasonable prices :-) I’m definitely coming back!

I always feel terrible for giving any place one star, but unfortunately, this place is a complete disappointment. Even more so if you cannot make a simple strawberry-​banana drink.
The strawberry-​banana smoothie was cloyingly sweet and artificial. I don’t think they used any fresh fruits — well, maybe the banana. But the strawberry/​sugar syrup and all the ice just made the smoothie hard to enjoy. The blend was more of an icy than a smoothie, not what I wanted nor expected. Next, the spicy chicken nuggets were so small that it was mostly batter and barely any chicken. Not worth the $ 4.
I paid $ 10 for a smoothie, flavorless chicken nuggets, and a small container of rice — overpriced. I just decided to go to Krogers next door to get some real food.
Strawberry-​banana smoothie: ¹⁄₅
Crispy chicken nuggets: ²⁄₅
This tapioca joint fails in comparison to its more successful competitor, Tapioca House, on Bellaire where the spicy chicken nuggets and smoothies are legit.

HECK NO.
I went here after work, really needing something sweet to calm me down after a hard day at the office. But what I got was a credit card slap in the face. They have a $ 5 minimum, which makes carrying around a lot of change a lot of hassle. There’s no wonder that Teahouse does so well.
The kiwi slushi w/​boba that I received was foul. I cannot believe how brown my drink came, and when I tried it, it was like drinking liquid sugar straight out of a diabetic’s veins. The boba was crusty and tasted like some strange sort of gelatin water. Absolutely no flavor or love put into the boba here.
I was also pushed by the cashier to eat some of their food. If «Tapioca Express’ tapioca was that nasty, I would dare you to try their food… and let me know if you came out alive.
No. Never, never, never again. I’ll brave 30 minutes of traffic just to get some good ol’ reliable boba from Teahouse (which I did).

I came here on a weeknight evening for dessert. And by «dessert» I mean bubble tea. It is a small, clean space. Their menu, like most bubble tea places, overwhelms me. There are many liquids and many extra condiments to add to your drink, not just tapioca. I went with the passion fruit with small tapioca balls. It really hit the spot on a warm early summer night. Adequate quality boba drinks if you can’t get out to Chinatown, but don’t frequent these places too much because I’m sure the sugar and liquid calories will add up. Had to throw that in there because one of the reviews notes that these drinks are «healthy.» Doubtful.
They have a menu of food items that I did not try and seem to have a nice coffee shop atmosphere where people can sit and study for long periods of time. They do accept credit cards and haven’t instituted a minimum (yet) which was awesome because I never have cash and the charge was less than $ 5. Perhaps I have ruined that now, along with some people’s ideas that boba is good for you…