Chau Down Cafe

Best taro milkshake in the area! ¹⁰⁄₁₀ Better than Vivi’s. The employees are polite which is a bonus. I will definitely return!

Came here a couple of times. Onigiris were good and you can get two for five dollars even though they’re normally three dollars for one. The one thing I don’t recommend is their bubble tea. Their bubble teas taste very powdery? And they’re still around 3 dollars ish, which is typical. So I would just recommend going to a different bubble tea place instead. Also, twice I ordered BUBBLE tea of a specific flavor, and TWICE they gave me my drink with my bubbles. Since I didn’t want to seem like an ass to the employees, since they were super duper kind with all smiles, I left in my anguish and craving for bubbles. And this happened twice with two different employees, but if they did had run out of bubbles I wished they could’ve told me.
Anyways, the employees are all super kind and I haven’t had any issues with attitude so far. Don’t really recommend staying here to eat or to chill out since the place is super tiny. It used to be bigger with ample seating but after their renovation, they cut down half the seating space and really just focused on the creating-​food space? I would like to try their other foods but it all seems kind of over priced? Onigiri for three bucks is good though since they’re normally around the 2 – 3 dollar mark anyways.

came here for musubi combo. a musubi with small bubble tea. i was disappointed at both the green milk tea and musubi. Its bubble tea. the boba is too hard and not chewy at all… the tea is alright. but if the boba doesnt taste right it ruin the entire drink. i would say even michigan Bambu bubble tea taste better than the bubble tea at Brooklyn. its spam musubi. i have been to japan and also hawaii for their musubi. rice is too hard just kinda destroy the vital ingredient of the musubi. disappointed. the only thing i can compliment is its service and its price. small bubble tea with a musubi cost only for 5.50. it is pretty good considering it is located in New York

Although there is no real comparison between Ramen to go and actually sitting in a restaurant to enjoy it, this place was pretty good. The only option is to go, so it’s basically fast food Ramen. The ingredients seemed fresh enough, and the broth was delicious! I would probably go back here again, if I did not have the time to go somewhere else and actually sit to enjoy my food. I was really excited to see you that they had bubble tea though! Have not been able to find it anywhere else in this neighborhood.

The onigiri is good that’s why it gets two stars. Unfortunately I had to wait an hour in this tiny store infested with teenagers. Got there at 3:30. Didn’t leave until after 4:45 waiting on 2 ONIGIRI. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the time and saw how long id been waiting. The staff didn’t give me any update on where my food was or how much longer. It was just an annoying experience. I’d have spent less time taking the trek all the way to Yaya Tea Garden

This place almost always runs out of tapioca. Yes, tapioca, unlike the other toppings that they offer, have to be boiled and then cooled down with cold water. However, if it always runs out before the closing time, then the manager should consider making a little bit more.
I ordered the mango tea with lychee jelly and it took forever for it to come. I was so thirsty after wrestling practice too. The drink had minimal mango taste and it wasn’t even because the drink was watered down by a full cup of ice. The only flavoring came from the lychee jelly.
I have a drink card, but I think I’m just gonna trash it out and be done with this place.

Friendly staff. They know their bubble tea. The drinks are great and i really felt like the baristas take pride in the drinks they make. The food is also very good. Try the onigiri! Favorite drink is the taro bubble tea.

Space is extremely limited compared to what it used to look like. They no longer have a bathroom for customers and there’s only about 6 seats for customers. It gets pretty crowded around hours when kids end school (since it’s close to Brooklyn Tech). It sure has shrunk from when I first started coming here 4 years ago.
So far, I haven’t been disappointed by their flavored teas but my friends have told me that their tea came out watery. They run out of tapioca sometimes, which sucks because it’s mainly what I’m looking forward to whenever I crave bubble tea.
The onigiri looks bigger in size compared to the ones at Yaya Tea Garden, but it’s also way flatter. It was not as filling as I expected it to be and I was disappointed because it was a little more expensive as well.
Overall, I recommend the bubble teas, but maybe
not the newer foods they added.

I work directly around the corner so I tend to come here often to grab a bowl of ramen but no matter what you get here it’s gonna be good.

Lose yourself by Eminem on the speakers, sold.
Also, the staff is awwsome. Really really awesome.

I wanted the Nutella hot chocolate but they did not have it so I ordered the white hot chocolate. It was good but it wasn’t what I wanted. The bubble tea isn’t that good because it tasted like watered-​down milk tea. The drink was made quickly and I sat down to enjoy it. They recently changed the setup of the place but I liked the other setup better. They were out of some drinks which was a disappointment. The cashier was friendly and offered me a stamp card.

Came by to kill time before picking my bf up from work one day.
The décor is pretty cute and the workers are friendly.
I ordered the salmon rice ball but they didn’t have anymore salmon so the worker suggested the spicy tuna rice ball instead and WOW was I pleasantly surprised. It’s cooked tuna but it’s not dry at all. The spicy tuna rice ball was surprisingly generous with the spicy mayo and I LOVED IT. I even bought another one to bring to my boyfriend afterwards and he really liked it too.
Also had a green apple green tea with rainbow jelly. Not bad :)
I’ve heard that the ramen here is pretty good too and the price is decent. Will come back when I’m in the area next time to try it!

The food and drinks are okay. I like their concept. HOWEVER, IT TAKES FOREVER FOR THEM TO MAKE FOOD AND THEY ARE ALWAYS OUT OF SOME FOOD! So why would they put the food on the menu when they are always out of it. If you run a business shouldn’t they make sure the delivery of food comes here on time!

Origini is good to get here, it’s made relatively well. I also recommend their Nutella milkshake. A decent place to hang out, the service could be a bit quicker, but mostly a café worth visiting more than once.

Pretty underrated place! Their «rice ball» is eccentric yet delicious! Awesome lunch special and student discount for those that go to LIU.
–1 star for messiness in the kitchen.

Pretty good place. Onigiri is freshly made and the bubble tea isn’t half bad. However, I’m here to talk about their ramen. For a little café in downtown Brooklyn, I would say their ramen would have a good rating in my book. I bought the tonkotsu ramen and I was surprised about the broth. It was not too thick and had a lot of flavor. They infused it with sesame seeds which gave the soup a nice texture. The noodles were nice and light, not too heavy. I would day though that the atmosphere is a bit lacking, but that doesn’t matter when the food is good. The employees were also friendly. Four and a half if I could add the half. Lol

Awesome f*ing place, I love the onigiri (Japanese rice ball) with the mango bubble tea. I’ve returned for the salmon onigiri but they never have it so I have only tried the tuna. I believe that one day I will experience the joys of salmon… One day.

I have 1 compliment and 2 complaints about this place. First, the compliment. It is well decorated inside, has soft chairs and a nice ambiance. Second, complaint #1… What kind of hours are 9am to 4pm? You don’t open early enough for the people who want to sneak in for a drink before work, and you close way too early for students who want to stay and study for a while What kind of business model is this? Third, complaint #2… I came at 10am one day and wanted some hot food but they said «sorry, we only have smoothies for now» and I was like WTF, I came here b/​c i wanted to eat, but I was forced to get a strawberry smoothie, which wasn’t even that good. If you’re going to restrict the menu just to drinks, at least make a good strawberry smoothie… it’s not that hard, guys.
Edit: Okay, now I realized I came on a Saturday and their normal hours are 7am to 6pm, which is slightly better, but what about the students who want to stay after 6pm? 6pm is really early to close for a place that caters to people who like bubble tea – bubble tea is often a late night type of venture.

Meh. I was excited to see a new bubble tea place, so I hurried along to check it out. The waiters were chilling and acknowledged my presence a few minutes upon arrival.(cool, it was hot today.) I’m assuming its just a replacement for Celebritea?(the older spot) Anyway, I ordered a medium bubble tea: only $ 3. They were handed me my tea, without much to say.
The tea was too watery. I hate watery tea. Rather than a creamy taste, it tastes watered down. And not enough boba. Will I make my way back down here for their tea. not sure.
In short, it’s sort of just celebritea. Their tea is okay if you are absolutely craving it, otherwise it doesn’t taste too good.

Cute décor and all but why did I wait 10 minutes for 3 onigiris? Ordered a black iced coffee, got it with milk and sugar.
Disappoint.