Tapioca Express

good place still open takes the card. just a small fee don’t freak out

This place is absolutely terrible and is the worst drink/​snack store I have ever been to.
We ordered 4 drinks and an order of popcorn chicken.
First off, they RAN OUT of boba. What kind of Tapioca Express has no boba? We were offered complementary jelly instead.
I had a milk tea with mixed jelly and it was absolutely disgusting. I don’t know what kind of mixed jelly they used but it was a mix of chewy, hard, and overly sweet.
The tea itself had a sour taste to it.
They took about 10 minutes just to finish making 4 drinks which is absurd. At any other drink location, it would be ready in a couple of minutes.
The popcorn chicken took about 30 minutes to make and was hella salty.
I do not recommend visiting this establishment under any circumstances.

This is not the chain Tapioca Express even though hey have a picture of the chain logo on Unilocal.Not even close. It is some other restaurant/​drink place. False advertising.
After walking in I searched all over for the menu. I finally found the drink menu on the far side of the restaurant. I got a peach icy which was overly sweet. Had to get jelly inside because THEY WERE OUT OF TAPIOCA!!!
WTF! It’s in the name of your business! Will never be back.

I hate to say this but this is the worse TapEx ever. The one problem I always have with TapEx is the slow staff. So my bf and I stopped by for some boba drinks before our foot massages at Happy Day Spa. When we first walked in there was a person in line ordering. I don’t know what the problem was but we were waiting in line for like 5 minutes just to order. I ordered a Milk Thai Tea w/​Boba with no problem at all. My bf who was trying to customized his drink… he asked for pudding in his drink but they ran out. He asked for something else but I cannot recall but they ran out of that too. I can understand if it was later in the day but this was at 1 in the afternoon. How could you be running out of stuff already???
Next time I’ll walk my ass across the street to Huong Lan. Way better boba drinks and their boba is cooked just right.

One word: Soap
For some reason, the black milk tea we ordered tasted like soap. Apparently, the ladies there thought the tea was fine, but how could the three of us all think it tasted like soap?
Never again. Just. never again.
Granted, this was back in May 2011 so maybe they’ve improved.

UGH.
Despite reading the poor reviews of this Tapex location, I decided to take a go because I was craving some crispy chicken and boba like I was used to in the Bay. I come here and it’s called Tapioca Express Gentry Duck restaurant. basically, two stores = 1 restaurant. I come in confused because the menu was on the far left side of the restaurant not in a visible spot for you to see so I had to walk to the counter to look at what I wanted.
Let me tell you, I’m big on customer service so when I don’t receive good service, I will show it in my face. I asked the cashier if they had crispy chicken and he nodded. That’s not what got me pissed. The fact that I had to wait FIFTEEN minutes to get my crispy chicken when in places like Union City and Milpitas, they’ll have it out by 10 minutes or less. They gave me my boba first as I waited and waited and waited. I felt like they didn’t have a sense of urgency when it comes to peoples’ orders. Anyways, I walked out hurriedly because I was on a lunch break and to show that I was upset. I ordered a level 1 spicy and the chicken was too salty and there wasn’t any flavor. I didn’t enjoy a single bite of it. I had to eat it in intervals while I was at work because it was too much to handle.
Don’t waste your time at all.

Cash only, so leave that debit card in your wallet! I can’t recall if they had an ATM in house though, so all hope may not be lost.
I only come here for the boba drinks. Honey milk tea is my favorite, but sometimes it can be too sweet depending on who makes it. The crispy chicken is definitely too greasy. I’m usually very cautious of what I eat, but sometimes I can’t resist grabbing a bag of the crispy chicken.
Service is mediocre. The ladies aren’t very cheerful, but I’m willing to overlook that if I can get a boba fix when I’m in the area. They’re located in the middle of many other Asian grocery stores and restaurants.

I feel bad to write this, but this place was a joke.
PROS–
— They take ATM. OMG yay!
— Nice soups and rice dishes.
CONS–
1 — At one time, I was the ONLY customer there. Took them 15 minutes to make me egg rolls and a shake.
2 — They stared at me as I ate my food when I went with some family. Like they wanted us to leave?
3 — They aren’t quick to answer questions, nor do they seem like they want to.
4 — Small staff, slow service.

So this is a first… the drink was so bad that it made me want to put a stop payment on my credit card. I’m not even joking, when that statement comes I am contesting the 4.50!
I mistakenly assumed that since the tapex in natomas was so good, that this one would be too. I should have known… all the red flags were up. From the janky broke down sign above their entrance to the socially awkward service rep… I didn’t expect their drinks to be as bad as their English.
The honeydew boba I ordered with boba and green apple jelly was the worst I’ve ever had. Besides being teethrottingly sweet, they committed the one cardinal sin. THEY SHOOK UP MY BOBA! I hate when people do that because I DON’T drink it that way. It makes the boba hard and yucky. But in this case I am convinced that their boba was hard and yucky to begin with and they had to shake it up to hide the fact. Plus they gave me so little boba that if I had even wanted any, it would have been like cherry picking in the winter… in the dark… by a blind midget.

It’s 90 degrees out (ok, I’m exaggerating but that’s what it definitely felt like), Bambu is closed but Tap Ex is open. Ok, so why wasn’t there a big warning sign telling me NOT to go in!!!
Alright, to be fair I did not get anything here, but the service alone makes me not want to come back. My friends and I came in and was greeted by the server, but since we weren’t ready to order yet she ignored us and was on her laptop. After a minute or two when my friend was ready to order, she was still on her laptop. Confused, we didn’t know if we were going to order or not. They were out of boba, but did have grass jelly (which comes in thick strips, not small cubes as other boba places). I guess the drinks weren’t bad since my friends didn’t complain. I shouldn’t have been lazy and made the trip across to Lollicup.

this is a pretty decent place to grab lunch or just to get a drink. they have very simple dishes for a cheap price. its either a hit or miss with whatever dish you decide to stick with. for example i got the noodle wonton with duck and pork. the broth was bland but the solids were flavorful. my friend got the yang chow fried rice and it was good! nothing more then egg n chinese sausages but nonetheless it was still good. just gotta come in with an open mind i guess.

Wonder if I can give zero star because this would be the place. I went there for dinner tonight and was not impress at all. I mean the family who owns the place seems super nice but the cooking needs work.
I didn’t want to try any of the drinks because it doesn’t look appealing at all. My boyfriend stated they have a satay beef noodle there he likes and want to try again. So I decided to go with him, this is the last time I would probably let him pick the place for dinner.
I order their combination phở which contains beef balls and beef. The broth was super sweet, seems like they added a great amount of sugar. But again, who add sugar to phở –_​– The beef was super tough and the beef balls tasted really rough and old.
In the end, I didn’t want to continue eating my food and went home on an empty stomach.
I tried my boyfriend’s dish, his beef was tender but it doesn’t taste fabulous at all. He even say so himself that it wasn’t as good as the last time he remembers.
The restaurant is small.

Came here with my girlfriend to get a franchise tapioca milk tea and boy was it disgusting. It seriously taste like glue. Not what I expected and should of known better when she had to use change from her tip jar to give me my change. Ended up going to lollicup across the street to satisfy our craving. Do not come here for their drinks!

After years of cruising stockton blvd, I finally decided to pull in and try out that phở ox tail I keep seeing advertised on the window. Although there was a constant flow of customers lining up for the drinks, the seatings for the dining area were completely empty.
It was so dead that I don’t think the waitress was used to serving customers. I say this because she had this «deer looking at headlights» shocked dumbfounded look as I stood there patiently waiting for her to seat me at a table. When she finally realized I was there for food and not tapioca drinks, her selective hearing did not hear me as I repeatedly told her I wanted to try the phở ox tail. It was all a waste of breath because she still brought over a couple menus.
As for the ox tail, it was just as disappointing. I never realized how much fat and big the bones of a tail can be. Since I’m more of a meat kinda guy, it was basically not edible. The broth was delicious, however, with a surprising sweet taste, not sure if that was due to the ox tail bone or special additives. This was only good enough for 3 sips before I had to throw in the napkin.
And to conclude the review, I was disappointed for the third time when I was told they ran out of take out menus.

Say what?! They ran outta Taro Milk Tea? Ugh… so that means I have to reevaluate and actually have to look at the menu? I don’t think I’ve ever ran into a TapEx that ran outta Taro Milk Tea so early in the day.

This location misrepresents Tap X! Their drinks are too sugary and they don’t blend well enough as they should. We waited 20 minutes for our drinks and it wasn’t even busy!
I enjoy Tap X and this location does not live up to it, so you’d might have better luck at another one. Thai Iced Tea slush gone wrong… this should happen to no one.

what a regret coming here! I was debating to either come to tap ex since it’s near the market i was headed to. or wait till I get back to Elk Grove to get Boba Tea house. but since i was getting pretty thirsty, i decided to get tap ex. this was definitely a let down! i agree with most of the Unilocalers. it’s more of a restaurant. with noodle soup & roasted duck, and pork, etc… not your typical tap ex joint!
Service sucked. waited a couple minutes before the lady finally realized that there were people waiting to order… didn’t really smile or anything…
I ordered Jasmine Green Tea with tapioca. 2 stars because the tea was actually pretty good, it was refreshing. However, the tapioca tasted old, nothing like the normal tapioca express recipe, and it reminded me of those asian salted prunes «wah mui’s». They didn’t even have those regular cups with the tapioca express logos!
What made it worst was right when we headed out, I saw Lollicup! Should have definitely went there instead.

I have mixed reviews about this place ’cause my experience has never been consistent. I come here only for the ‘caramel mochiatto’ w/​no boba. Haha. Love that drink, but the service is off they serve diners first and take 10 mins to make a drink that does not require much thinking or conversation… and one time I had 5 people ask me what I would like but never completed my order as they were too busy serving their 2 customers so i walked out. Hmm. I would come here everyday, but the service makes me think twice so I come 2x max a month.

This place is more of a restaurant than the usual Tapioca Express I’m used to. The drinks were not good at all compared to Quickly’s and even the other Tapioca Express (s) I’ve tried. The Jasmine Milk Green was off, the Coconut Milk Tea was bland and the Avocado Shake was wayyyy too sweet with SUGAR!!! I could feel tons of sugar in the one sip I took. CASH only by the way, but I believe theres an ATM machine inside or something.
P. S. The mango jellies were not cut into exactly suckable pieces either.

Even though the name implies that they just have drinks here try the food, particularly the phở. I had the phở tai and the noodles were good and there was plenty of beef. There were not as many veggies as I like, and not getting basil to add to the bowl was a disappointment.
But the broth…
Oh my goodness, the broth.
Rich… Savory… Delicious… I slurped every drop out of the bowl. I will absolutely be back.