BAMBU Desserts & Drinks

All their fruit drinks/​smoothies are made with real fruits, not powder!!! Lots of different fruits and flavors to choose from. I got the passion in love fruit smoothie with lychee jelly and the Bambu special (coconut, jelly, longan, basil seed, coconut juice). Both were fresh and tasted great!
They only accept credit card with purchases over $ 10 so bring some cash with you.

The owner is always pleasant when I come here. Small chit chat makes you feel appreciated. Perfect place to cool off after the gym.

Glad this Bambu opened up so close to home. Parking is a little lacking but worth the little extra trek. Has a lot of seating and clean area. Friendly and quick service. Bring cash because there’s a 10 $ min for credit cards.

It was my first time here and probably my last. I had just finished an appointment nearby when I spotted the Bambu sign and decided to give it a try since I was thirsty and I’ve been wanting to find this place to try out for a while now. Having been my first time I asked the server what the most popular drink was. He stated the almond milk tea was one of the most popular so I took his advice and tried it.
I was disappointed. It resembled nothing like almond. I can’t quite put a description to what it tasted like. I didn’t get boba in my tea because I was just thirsty and on my way to go have lunch somewhere. So I didn’t want to fill up on boba. It went from this is ok, doesn’t taste like almond, but ok. to I really don’t want to finish this the more I drank it. Good thing I ordered a small. :/​
The server was friendly and service was fast. Granted when I went in the place was empty. With the plethora of boba shops on island to choose from, you need to be at the top of your game to keep customers returning.

This time had #5 & #1… NONE are blended drinks like how I like to have my boba, BUT #5 is AVOCADO with all kind of goodness added & shaved ice on top! You have to mix it with your spoon to make sure the ice is well mixed!
#1 was VERY different to me BUT ohhh soooo GOOOD!!! I enjoy that taste!!! If you like coconut & lychee, then you’ll LOVE this. Nice and refreshing. I have the WHOLE LYCHEE left in the refrig. For my midnight snacking!!! Mmmmmm

I’ve been to Bambu in other locations and absolutely love it. Came here with the same expectation but I hate this place.
SERVICE
Service sucks. I don’t know what some reviewers here mean by «Great Service!» because service was non-​existent. Is cashier rudely answering question with «please gtfo» vibe considered a good service? Methinks not.
DRINK
Ordered my favorite drink, Jasmine milk tea with boba. Jasmine milk tea tasted exactly like the other location (My only reason for 2 stars because otherwise, I would give this place 0 stars). Nice floral taste and perfect amount of sweetness~
Boba here is disgusting. Took a sip and my initial reaction was «wait, did I accidentally order a grass jelly?» No I didn’t. And I don’t remember asking them for a extra cooked mushy boba… boba just melted in my mouth. No chewiness whatsoever. yuck.
CONCLUSION
Ain’t nobody got time for a bad service and disgusting boba. PASS.

I always wanted to try this place and I heard good things about it but it didn’t live up to my expectations at all. I ordered a strawberry milk tea and thought it would be similar to like all the tea places but I was wrong. It didn’t taste like it at all, it was very sweet and didn’t taste like tea. Also they charge you extra $ 0.25 if you use credit card. The worker was rude when we asked if they accept credit cards he said it kind of sassy. He was also rude to a customer who came in with outside food. He told him he can’t be in here with outside food. I have mixed feelings if I should come back here after this experience.

Many of the reviews talk about the «great service» here, but I have to disagree; the service was horrible. Walked in at about 715 and the place was empty. There was one employee who was on the computer. He didn’t greet us. After we stood at the counter for a bit, he got up (still not a word out of his mouth) and stood there, waiting for us to order. We ordered and got our teas and sat down to chat. A couple walked in to look at the menu and the worker didn’t say anything to them either — the couple ended up just leaving. After drinking our teas for a bit, we left without a goodbye from the worker. He literally said maybe 10 words total, and you could tell he just did not care at all.
Though the milk tea was good, I will never be returning due to the utter lack of service.

So-​so. I’ve had better and I’ve had worse.
Located opposite Moanalua Freeway from Aiea Shopping Center, this place is street front with parking in the back. I parked back there and walked up a stairway to the front, having to pass a homeless person on the way to the shop.
It was a Friday afternoon and empty. No plain teas on the menu, only teas with milk so I ended up with a mango smoothie with bubbles. Mango flavor was ok but tasted closer to orange sherbert. The bubbles were good and chewy and didn’t harden up in the smoothie.
I wouldn’t purposefully choose this place again if I was driving from somewhere else but if I was already in the area, I would go back.
Prices were pretty standard for a smoothie with bubbles (about $ 5) and service was pretty good too. And they take credit cards, even for small purchases — Bonus!

Good drinks, Even better Service! Really liked the Taro and Coconut. Now is my review long enough?

First you can easily miss the building so be on the lookout for their sign. Very steep driveway right after the building on right so drive down carefully. There are several parking stalls.
Great atmosphere! A few people were here waiting for their drinks but by the time we sat down they all left after there orders were called.
We ordered Honeydew Smoothie w/​boba, Black Milk tea w/​boba (was recommended) and Strawberry Fantasy. Our drinks only took a few minutes to make. Honeydew Smoothie w/​boba & Strawberry Fantasy Smoothie was very good but didn’t like Black milk tea w/​boba that was recommended by the owner. All 3 drinks came to about $ 12 which is very affordable compared to other places.
Would definitely come here again!

The first thing that greeted me when I walked through the doors was a water machine filled with ice cold water and cups. Yay! It was a sight for sore eyes after having a bunch to drink at Armbar Sports Bar. Cup after little cup made it to my mouth until I had my fill. The water cups were really small so it took many refills to get enough.
BAMBU Desserts & Drinks is one of two businesses with similar names. There is one located here in Aiea and one located on Keeaumoku Street near Ala Moana Center. It’s owned by the same people.
It was my first time here and what really caught my eye was the sheer variety of offerings. There were milk teas with boba offered, smoothies, espresso drinks, and more! There were also so many flavors to choose from! For the adventurous there is durian, followed by jackfruit, and then onto normal flavors.
I settled on a «less sweet» iced jasmine milk tea with boba because of my current diet. I had already maxed out my calories for the day, but I decided to splurge just a little. My stomach went from bored to happy.
There is a small parking lot in the back of the business. It holds less than 10 cars. Besides that I am not sure where else to park. My friends and I left our cars at Aiea Shopping Center and snuck over: D
My jasmine tea was delicious and I enjoyed it being less sweet. I especially liked the boba as it was the perfect consistency. Service was okay.
I will definitely stop by again when I am in the neighborhood. I love me some boba milk tea.

I’ve been to the location in town, and I LOVE it. This location, however I won’t be coming to again because they are straight up rude to their customers! I was enjoying my treat, and noticed a customer going back to the counter about her drink. I could only guess there was something not right about it.
Moments later, I saw the customer’s friend approach the counter. She looked upset as well. The thing that was MOST upsetting was that the employees were getting defensive, basically arguing with BOTH the customer and her friend!!! What happen to «customer appreciation»!!! I would assume that most people who do complain about their purchase, especially in Hawaii, do it with probable cause and NOT just to get a freebie.
The only reason you get customers is because of social applications like Unilocal!Customers help your livelihood. If you can’t keep your customers happy, then you deserve no business. Because, guess what, you’re in the business of making people happy. JERKOFFS!!!

Taro milk tea:
Real taro not powder! (We surmise from superior taste and grainy texture)
Boba: wonderfully chewy and soft. Perfect.
Passion fruit drink: made with real passion fruit seeds and possibly real passion fruit syrup! Great with passion fruit jelly :) super tasty.
Dessert #1: great texture, generous longan whole pieces, basil seeds like chia seeds, coconut is really nice, pandam jelly great chewy texture. Very nice.

The Bambu menu of drinks and desserts is vast like its space in Aiea. Sure, sure the parking situation is just weird. There are a lot of stalls, but can you park there? How about there? Who drew these odd angled parking stall lines? Can your car actually fit in these snug stalls? Enough about the parking, the Bambu menu is what you’re after.
Lots of coffee/​espresso options, lots of milk teas and smoothies, and lots of desserts which I hear are authentic. I can’t qualify the authenticity, but I must say the options are definitely different: beans, berries, fruit, and an avocado dessert?!? The menu is difficult to understand, but there’s a picture menu with numbers so you can visually see what you’re ordering when getting a «number 6» for example.
My iced Vietnamese coffee drink was good and the addition of coffee jelly was free so no complaints. Perfect to compete with the summertime heat.

I have gone to three other places and got the same thing: Mango Coconut smoothies. Ever since Spain I have been craving that same flavor and those three other places have not come close (maybe one, but no). I stopped searching for awhile thinking I’ll just make it on my own but where would I get fresh coconuts?
This is my first time here and I am so happy — it tastes like it does in Spain, FRESH. The best part other than having it with boba is my smoothie was literally smooth. I was so happy I decided to talk to the store manager about how he made it and he didn’t use any powder and blends the coconut really fine.
Not only was my smoothie really good but the only two staff there were super nice. The girl taking my order made me feel like I could get anything I wanted by combining flavors. No limitations there, mix your two favorite (or even three) and get them together.
If you want something sweet this Summer, stop by Bambu.

I found my new favorite place to get bubble tea! The menu is a bit overwhelming, but it’s divided nicely into 4 sections: milk teas, hot drinks, smoothies, and dessert drinks. There are also pictures on the wall of the dessert drinks so you can actually see the different add ins they include in the drink. Not only are there pictures, there are small cups on the counter that show what you can add in your drink which vary from the traditional tapioca balls, to coffee jellies, mung bean, lychee, etc. I tried the honey dew milk tea as well as the dark wood milk tea which is milk tea with coffee jellies. Both were very good, mild, and not too sweet.
The owner was very helpful and patient with me as I was overwhelmed by the menu (by the way, it’s in English and Vietnamese) and I saw some items that I didn’t recognize. He gave me suggestions and pointed out in each column what the most popular items were. He also gave me suggestions for what my kids would like. Apparently, they also just started serving Vietnamese sandwiches. They accept credit cards which if you’ve frequented the bubble tea joints here, a lot of them don’t.
The place is surprisingly large for a bubble tea joint. They have large screen tv’s. They also have a water dispenser accessible. The bathroom is very clean and yeah, you don’t need a code or key on a huge, gawdy key chain! Since my daughter’s ukulele lessons are close by, I’ll be coming here instead of my usual coffee joint to pass the time. I’m looking forward to trying some of those weird looking dessert drinks as well as a sandwich.

Facing Moanalua Road, somewhere between Rainbows and Aiea Public Library, is the second location of Bambu. During my first few visits, business was really slow. I felt sorry for the owners who didn’t seem to do much advertising for their new store. They appeared to have been overtaken by Tea Time Taiwan over in Pearl City. However, this past weekend I stopped in and it was a lot busier!
Just like the Bambu in town, their teas are strong and their boba is chewy and delicious. My personal favorite is the Jasmine Green Tea with coffee jelly, boba or grass jelly! They also serve Vietnamese iced desserts that contain jelly, Southeast Asian fruits and coconut milk. They’ve recently added banh mi to their menu, but I’ve yet to try it.
The owners are friendly and the quality is there. The service is relatively fast, too! If you’re ever in Aiea, give this spot a little love! They’ve got some of the best bubble teas, so I definitely want them to stay on this side of town! Parking can be found in the Aiea Shopping Center.

The menu here is HUGE. The owner took the time to explain the entire menu to my family. We were all very happy with our drinks. The flavors are so good and fresh! I can tell that they take pride in using the best ingredients. They also sell these crispy waffle snacks that are so yummy!
I love this place!

Decided to try this place since I was craving a nice, cold smoothie. It’s one I those hole in the wall places that could be easy to miss.
There are so many choices! I didn’t know what to try but the owners were super nice about making suggestion in what to try. I eventually decided on their mango smoothie with boba, one of their popular drinks. It’s nice amount of creaminess and fresh fruit. The boba was super good too! Just the right amount of chewiness to it… Mmmmm!!! Long story short, I’ve found my new smoothie joint!