Big Bear Cottage

*This review is for takoyaki only. Need to go back and try the bubble tea (excited that they do theThai tea flavor not many places do).
Anyway also thrilled to find takoyaki in the neighborhood! Been obsessed with it ever since Smorgasburg. This was really good!!! Will definitely be going back. I’ve had it badly done in Manhattan (for shame) and elsewhere and nothing annoys me more. So I was very skeptical and expecting it to be just ok. But this was nicely cooked through and browned just enough on the outside and had the perfect amount of sauce and toppings. And actual squid not tiny mystery bits of seafood like some places do. You can even see their poor little tentacles. So good. Happy tummy !
Tiny place so not ideal for eating in on weekends. But very nice and helpful staff.
Two thumbs up.

I came here multiple times, each bringing one of my good friends. This place is affordable, but pretty small. Three small tables, with two chairs here. The lady who took our order was really friendly, and this place can get pretty busy in the afternoons. Personally, for me the evening is the perfect time to come here, especially after a filling dinner (you can always have room for dessert: D).
I ordered the takoyaki the first time I came here and it was really good. I took a bite of my friend’s karage and tried the big bear bubble tea and it was decent. The karage was a bit dry, and the bubble tea was not too sweet. The total was about $ 10 -$ 15.
The other time I came here I shared an order of strawberry, banana, Nutella crepes and it was delicious. The crêpe had the perfect crisp with a balance of bit of softness where the strawberry meets the crêpe. The crêpe cost about $ 4– $ 5.
Cost: not expensive at all ($ 3– $ 10)
Atmosphere: very mellow and cute, small area (not ideal for large groups)
Service: great, friendly and the wait is about 10 minutes
If you are in the Elmhurst area and in the mood of crepes, I would highly recommend this place.

This place makes amazing soft shell crepes. If you prefer crunchy, this is not the place for you. I ordered the banana chocolate crêpe with Vanilla Ice Cream and it was perfect. We asked the beautiful girl to cut it in half as I shared it with my friend and voila, she did it like a «piece of cake»…get it? :-)
The seating is slightly crammed and the Air Conditioning must have been defective on the day of but that didn’t stop me from the best crêpe experience I’ve had in years. Will be going back when the weather is cool again.

Thank god they got crepes in NYC for the lowest price. Their chocolate strawberry crêpe tastes deeeelllliiiiccccciiiiiooooouuussss!!!

There could be potential here if the crepes actually tasted good. There are not much dessert places around the area so this would be a great place. Sadly, their crepes were one of the worse I’ve tasted, given the price tag as well.
My boyfriend and I got the naughty monkey which had bananas, crushed oreos and tons of whipped cream. We added a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which was $ 2 extra. That is steep for 1 scoop of ice cream. The total of the crêpe was $ 8 something.
The crêpe came out looking very thick due to a huge filling of whipped cream. The whole thing was on a paper plate, which made it less appetizing. The tables weren’t cleaned well, and that actually made me not want to eat it. I took my first bite and an artificial flavor hit me. I don’t what it was. Might’ve been some syrup they added on top. Even the whipped cream tasted gross. It tasted like fake whipped cream, the ones that Chinese bakeries use for their cakes. So far the only Chinese bakery with the best cream is Yeh’s Bakery in Flushing. That was the cream I was hoping for in my crêpe filling. Instead I got plastic tasting cream. Also, there was lint in my crêpe and the crêpe was soggy and hard to cut through. There were barely any crushed oreos. All there was was this pepper looking powder on top of the crêpe, which reminded me of fine sand at the beach that gets stuck between your toes. At $ 8+ for a crêpe, this was totally not worth it.
I wanted to like this place, but cannot due to the awful flavor and presentation of the somewhat pricey crepes.

Crêpe was pretty good. I got the naughty monkey crêpe. There is a lot of crème inside which I don’t mind but wish it was a little sweeter. Other than that I liked it. It’s a small cute place too.

Got a matcha bubble tea and tasted horrible! The bubbles were over cooked. They were too soft and they forgot to add sugar! I threw it away.

Finally got to try this place out today. I was in the mood for salty food so I didn’t get the crêpe but I will definitely come back and try the crepes. We got a taro bubble tea, big bear bubble tea, takoyaki, kara age, and Fried taro sticks. Takoyaki was done very well, with the right amount of sauce and it tasted great, the chicken was so over fried, but the taste was not bad, fried taro was very bland. I honestly did not like the taro milk tea because it had a very strong chemical after taste, also the bubbles were over cooked. I hope the crepes will be better.

Very affordable tiny little crêpe place, the place is tiny, the crêpe is nicely portioned.
Ordered the matcha cold crêpe. Came out stuffed with this matcha flavored whipped cream. Not too sweet which is my preference and complements the sweet red bean quite well. $ 5. And this is the more expensive ones from the dozen or so crêpe options they have.
The sesame milk tea was good also.
It’s a tiny place, probably can fit max 10 snuggly. I think they plan on doing renovation. The owners were meeting with the decorator/​contractor when we ate there.

Such a cute and small place!
I have to admit, the crepes are very weird. I tried many crepes and these are the worse. I’m not saying it’s bad but I tasted better.
I asked for soft crepes and they gave me this crêpe where I couldn’t even cut it with my knife. It was so hard and crunchy. I don’t blame the store because all the reviews are good so I assume maybe the girl in the back just had a rough morning. So I’m giving them 4 stars instead of 3 or 2 stars. I’ll come back in the future so they could redeem themselves.
BUT. The drinks are very good! I never knew the diet drinks will be so good. It taste better than the normal drinks. Don’t get me started on their tapioca :’). Their tapioca are so chewy and soft! Even though it’s diet tapioca, it taste way better than the original. The drinks are very satisfying! I’m definitely coming back for their drinks!
The workers are very nice and welcoming. Inspires me to apply. I make homemade crepes myself and I would really love to make crepes here. But I don’t speak Japanese so I feel like my chances are very low.
I do recommend this place, even though their crepes are very odd.

All I ever wanted was accessible takoyaki without going to the city! It’s quite good too, with the dried squid flakes waving every which way. I wasn’t sure if they could make all their teas hot but I tried ordering a hot green tea with milk and somehow got a tremendously sweet matcha latte. I realized the second time that I needed to order Jasmine green tea with milk and ask for as little sugar as possible. It was perfect. They have separate stamp cards for crepes, takoyaki, and tea. Kind of excessive but kind of awesome.
I have yet to try their crepes but they’re all sweet and I’m hoping they’ll make savory ones one day too.

We had a big bear milk tea, no sugar, no ice, and little milk and it was delicious. Loved how they let you really customize your drink to your likings.
This location has enough room to fit about 10 people sitting and a line to order.
My friend ordered the crêpe and they look good. I’ll try one next time.

Kind of pricey for just one crêpe, but I’ll give them credit or specializing in Japanese crepes and offering a variety of toppings. I got the Japanese style crêpe with strawberry, Nutella, and caramel. It originally came with almonds, but they let me sub for Nutella. The crêpe was somewhat harder than I expected, but still good. The caramel was also a little strong and it kind of tasted like coffee. They did add in good amount of whipped cream and strawberries though, so at least they weren’t stingy with the toppings.
I am giving them an extra star because customer service was great. The girls behind the counter seem like they work very hard; they answered all my questions effectively, prepared my order quickly, and were in general, just pleasant to deal with. Keep it up, guys!

So I finally came to get this Thai bubble tea spot & I gotta say I was very pleased with how the bubble tea tasted. I bought a big bear milk tea w/​bubbles & it was so delicious. Refreshing & not too sweet. I also got the naughty monkey crêpe. It was sooo good! The whipped cream was delicious & the bananas in it hit the spot. I loved it. Only reason I gave it a 4 star was because the place was very tiny & the tables are broken. It was uncomfortable to eat because i kept thinking my food was gonna fall. They should fix them.

I love this place!
The green tea and azuki crêpe is the only thing that I would order though because everything else on the menu is something I could easily make at home.
They really STUFF the crêpe. My crêpe was HUGE and fully filled up.
It was super tasty too. The matcha really stood out, and the beans were perfectly matched.
The only downside I could say about this place is that I wish they would invest in some actual plates rather than give customers paper plates… The paper plates move around as you try to cut the crêpe, so it’s a bit annoying.
The bubble tea is good too. I will definitely come back here. :)

Not sure what I like more– things that have cute animal mascots or things that involve bears. I really like the name of this place Big Bear because their logo features a chubby funny looking bear drinking a bubble tea. my elmhurst friend told me about this place and we just wanted somewhere to catch up and sit for awhile. She suggested big bear and once the words came out of her mouth I was totally interested.
came in here and already overwhelmed about what kind of toppings and crêpe I wanted to get. Their crepes come in two catagories– japanese and rice flour. The japanese crêpe is supposedly softer and features whipped cream as one of the toppings. The cream can be vanilla, green tea or you can substitute low fat yogurt. The rice flour crêpe is a little crispier and is served warm and cannot be ordered with cream because the cream may melt. Most of the crepes here are sweet crepes and they only have one savory crêpe– the volcano crêpe which I was told was very spicy. The sweet crepes have toppings like sliced almonds, crushed oreo, nutella, caramel, chocolate sauce and mango, bananas or strawberries. I tried the featured crêpe which was called the Naughty Monkey and it came with crushed oreos, cream, bananas, almonds and chocolate sauce. The crêpe can be served in a cone shaped sleeve or folded into a plastic take out container. We ate in the store and it was served on a single paper plate nothing fancy as long as it didnt break under the usage of my knife and fork. None of these are gourmet ingredients and the crepes are not overwhelmingly large just big enough for a snack or a sugar fix.
There is also a bunch of bubble tea drinks mostly green, milk and black teas and matcha, caramel, thai, taro, mango and passion fruit flavor as well. I ordered a passion fruit green tea and my Unilocal check in scored me a topping of fruit jelly. They also have regular tapioca boba, passion fruit popping boba, coffee jelly, matcha pudding and they even have grass jelly even though its not on the menu. I asked what the big bear tea was and was told it was traditional black milk tea.
there is only seating for about 8 people in here at all times since it is mostly café chairs and café tables and a long bench. At the time I came only a demure looking little lady was staffing the store. She takes the orders and makes the crepes/​drinks so be prepared to wait. Overall a nice little addition to the elmhurst area for crepes and bubble tea.

Came back and tried the TARO MILK TEA W GREEN TEA PUDDING.
Is it just me or does the taro tea taste a lot like TEN REN’S taro? It’s definitely THICKER in consistency. It tasted a bit ARTIFICIAL and POWDER-​Y. The green tea PUDDING BARELY TASTED like tea. It had more of a PANDAN flavor and was also too thick in consistency as well.
FYI FREE TOPPING w Unilocal check-​in

Looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of Roosevelt Ave, I found this place on Unilocal and decided to check it out. I’m glad I did. The place is tiny (only 4 tables) and there’s only one employee, so you might have to wait a minute to order or get your good, but when you do… ooooh weeee is it good! I had a strawberry banana nutella crêpe w/​green tea whipped cream & a taro bubble tea. Yummm! I’m actually here eating it now and I decided to pause and write this review in order to make it last longer! If you’re in the area and want a delicious treat, definitely check it out. Don’t forget to check in to get your free topping :)

Came back and saw that they had changed the labeling for the crepes. So like I said, I’ll get crêpe once I see the changes.
We got the J5 Banana Strawberry Nutella $ 5.25 — it’s just ok. I like the crêpe itself (really soft) and the Nutella. The strawberry that day was hard and sour … The level of tannin of the banana was really high. It was a weird mixture so I have to take all the strawberries and banana out in order to enjoy the crêpe.
I also tried #17 Green Tea, passion fruit flavor– it was definitely on a tangy side, just don’t let it sit for too long because it doesn’t have a pleasant taste once it starts to dilute.
The bubbles however are still soft and chewy.

The best experience. Been here twice and I never been disappointed.
Here is what I like
— First day visit and I felt really welcomed. By a friend person. He was very informative about the products. It was kind of small but who cares the tea is lovely. Plus it is soooo and mean soooo many options.
My favorite was the mango slush with mango poppings. Also try the taro with leche poppings. Talk about yummy. It is sooo lovely.
What I like
— customer services is an A
— milk tea is sweet and delicious
I would really recommend coming here if you are a big bubble tea fan like myself.
Kudos to big bear bubble tea on Woodside. Who this place stays open.