Tapioca House

Came here a few times. Their drinks are okay. I usually get a mango tea which is pretty okay. Not amazing or bad. The place is usually empty when I come in. The place isn’t too big but it’s a good place to study since it’s quiet. I try one of their rice combo which was alright. Portion was nail size. Didn’t leave me satisfied.

This place was probably one of the oldest and 1^st Tap houses that i ever went to. It’s a chill place to come and chill everyone once in a while. I remember my friends and I used to frequent this place a lot during high school and community college days. lol. Get a couple drinks, a deck of cards, and you’re good to go.
The drinks here are pretty good. They have been in business for a long time, so they got it right. They serve the standard café fare. Rice dishes, popcorn chicken, tempura, etc. and drinks. This pace is almost always busy, so be prepared to wait in line. They only usually have 2 people working at a time. Which is kind of annoying if you are on a time crunch and need your order asap. You will not get it asap. lol
I usually always order a Thai tea and 2 orders of chicken nuggets with EXTRA spicy seasoning! It’s just tooo goood to pass up! If YAO MING was known to frequent this establishment back in the day. you know it’s got to be legit!
This place is just a good place to chill or study. The free wifi is a plus …

I needed a place to decompress after a stressful day of house hunting and I was craving bubble tea. This place definitely felt like a hangout for high school/​college aged kids. There was a good amount of socializing and «studying» happening so this place is decent for both settings.
I tried the honey jasmine milk tea with tapioca. The bubbles were a little too soft and sticky for my taste but I like the flavor of the tea. The service wasn’t very good (I don’t really expect much at these types of places btw) — every question I asked (what is your most popular flavor? what’s the wifi password? where’s the key to the bathroom?) was received with a cold stone face and a shared laugh between workers making me wonder if I was somehow just expected to know the answers/​the butt of a joke. It made me feel like I was in high school again — this I would not wish on my worst enemies.
Bottom line — the tea was alright and the atmosphere was not inviting. I am going to scope out other bubble tea places before stepping foot in this place again. Sorry Tapioca House — you didn’t deliver this time around.

The portion size and price is good but the service is a little rude. You can get a meal including drink for about $ 7/​person here. My personal favorites are the fried mushroom, fried tofu, or chicken nugget combos with strawberry milk tea or matcha green tea. The cashiers and cooks tend to rush you through your order and always sound frustrated even if no one else is in the store but that tends to be the general atmosphere of Bellaire and is common for Asian restaurants. Be a little friendlier and will update to 5 stars.

I eat here often for lunch. Good food, good drinks! I also like to price, very reasonable. Nothing fancy here, just a good place to make your tummy and pocket happy. Definitely one of my top pick for a quick bite in this area.

Very pleasant little place! There was a line when we arrived, but it moved very fast. We came here because we took the wrong entrance thinking it was the teahouse lol, but its okay.
My husband had the coconut smoothie with tapioca, and I had the strawberry smoothie with tapioca — regular size.
I loved my smoothie. The taste was very fresh, not like the artificial powder strawberry flavor. The Coconut smoothie could have used more coconut flavor or cream, whatever it is they put in it. My husband said it was okay, that he has had better.
It was still a nice and pleasant experience. I doubt we will be back soon since we do not live in the area, but I do recommend you all to try this place.

This was one of my favorite spots before the surplus of new tapioca joints popped up. Since then, the drinks here lost it’s appeal and is nothing but mediocre.
Pros:
— Cheap drinks
— Good food with good deals
— Great study spot
— Playing cards available to borrow
— Staff always friendly
Cons:
— Unusual flavors are usually a miss for me. (Rose milk tea and mint milk tea is very sweet and artifical tasting, just to name a few.)
— Just average. Nothing special.
If I’m ever in the mood for milk tea without all the flare, this is the place to go. If you’re craving something different and unique, I’d suggest another location.

Consistently good bubble tea and smoothies. Fast service. Not the cheapest but everything normally tastes good.

Tapioca House might be the cheapest of the many Taiwanese snack/​tea shops in Chinatown, but unfortunately also the worst in my experience. You kinda do get what you pay for here.
DRINKS:
Milk teas are $ 2.77-$ 3.00 for a regular size (16 oz), but you should always get a large (22 oz) for only $ 0.55 more. Very cheap and the milk teas are pretty good for the price. They have some noticeable tea flavor and aren’t too sweet by default. I can’t tell if they use real milk or not, but it’s blended really well if it’s non-​dairy creamer. Ice levels are above average, filling up ¼ to ¹⁄₅ of the large cup or ¹⁄₃ of the regular sized cup. Definitely request less ice if you get the regular size.
Their tapioca pearls are also not bad. Well cooked, bouncy and chewy, probably coated with honey. But they’re not sweet at all. If they were sweetened a bit more, they might be some of the better tapioca around.
Better options nearby would be Twinkle or to a lesser extent, Teahouse.
FOOD:
$ 5.05 for a meal with rice, or $ 6.25 when combo’d with a regular sized drink. Definitely the cheapest Taiwanese rice plate/​bento box meal I’ve seen in Chinatown. But I haven’t had good experiences with the food.
Crispy pork chop steak rice — Comes with steamed broccoli (WHY?), a rubbery hard-​boiled egg, bad rice topped with mystery meat (tasteless pink-​colored mush that I assume was supposed to be ground pork), bean sprouts + bean curds, and fried pork chops. The bean sprouts and bean curds side was about the only good thing in the entire box. Everything else was TERRIBLE. The fried pork chops had a nice crunchy breading but it was way over-​breaded and there was very little actual pork chop steak. By far the worst fried pork chop rice I’ve had in Chinatown. Stick with Star Snow Ice, San Dong, Boba Lounge, Tea Dot Café, I could go on…

Was introduced to tap house in Austin during my college days so it holds a special place in my heart. I always get the spicy chicken nugget meal or the chicken steak meal — always satisfying. It always comes with an egg, bean sprouts, green beans, and rice. I usually skip on the drink.
Each time I’ve gone in, they’ve added more food and drink items on the menu! TRY ALL THE FOODZZZ

It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. Last I remember tap chicken was the Shizz. Dropped by tap house to pick up a snack sized tap chicken with 4 out of 5 spiciness. Mmmm as I sit in the newly renovated tap house which looks so much nicer than the dump it was back then.
The tap chicken was called to pick up, had my first bite and MAN! This is bad, the batter and chicken were super bland no salt or spice to it. It tasted like cut up chicken dipped in non seasoned batter. Guess there was a reason for the long stretch. Won’t be back anymore.

They have the best spicy squid balls, fried calamari and fried basil chicken nuggets evaaa! Oh yeah, I like their tapioca as well. The food and the boba compliments each other very well.
This place is also good for studying since I always see people doing homework here, any time of day.

Food was not good. I got the pop corn chicken with rice combo. Mushroom snack was bland. Mind you I got level 4 spicy. The rice in the meal was so dry I had to ask for extra meat sauce to wet it… There was no difference with the extra meat sauce. The pop corn chicken was dry, bland and hard. He didn’t have a smile, gave short answers and had no enthusiasm. The jasmine green tea was watered down. Barely any tea taste. The cashier looked like he hates his job. The only time he was speaking to us nicely was when he told my friends and me that the place is closing in 5 min. I don’t think I will be back. I’ll just go to twinkle which is across the street or teacup care by Viet hoa.

Pretty good drinks, snacks and good prices. Could have more staff thou .
Pretty good location too !

Place was nice to chill the service was good I would say 4 stars. The Thai tea was one of the best I’ve had recently. Wish I would have brought my laptop would have been perfect for the time. Next time. I like that the name is Tapioca house. Very easy to recommend.

Been here three times. The general attitude of the employees are pretty curt, but if you get past that it’s a cool spot to bring your laptop in and get snacks +boba tea for cheap. Cheap is the main draw of this place while offering a substantial meal (not fast food even if it is kind of greasy.)
Depending on the time, it may be too loud or too busy to even study, so consider that. You should know what you want before even facing the impatient cashier/​employee-​person if you don’t want to feel awkward. They have regular tapioca balls, rainbow jelly, lychee jelly etc. It’s on the counter you order in. And, their combos come with a hard boiled egg, bean sprouts, and green beans.
Chicken nuggets and calamari are deep fried with basil. You have to ask if you want sauce with it (like sweet and sour.) And, pay attention to if you get called. I’ve seen meals sit on the counter only to get cold.

Apperantly to this fools, Mocha and Cappuccino are exactly the same thing… WOW lol
Won’t be coming here again. These kids need to know what they’re serving if they want to work here

Nice atmosphere, the staff was friendly & helpful. This was my 1^st time to try Milk Tea & I was pleased with the experience. Would go again!

Excellent little place. The spices are delicious and everything is pretty cheap. The atmosphere was a little busier than I would have liked, but everything else was stellar!

This place seem popular, but the moment I walk in is so disappointed.
The smell of the store is smell like a restroom for some reason.
Drink are pretty actually.
Too many young people come here to study.

Oh Tap House. You remind me of my undergrad days at UT, but better! I know they recently remodeled. So it’s a perfect spot to study and do work.
The food is much, much better than the one in Austin. The drinks are too!
Service is also spot on. No rudeness you usually see from Asian establishments.
The best part of Tapioca House, they take card!!! No limit from what I can tell! I’ll support that!

Placed in a to go order for me & my boyfriend earlier tonight.
First of all, the link on Unilocal for their menu doesn’t work for some reason, so I looked through the pictures for a menu so I could know what to get before I placed the order.
When I called in, I was immediately greeted with a rude tone. Some dude that seemed totally impatient, but I figured he was having a bad day, or something idk.
I ordered two dishes to go and a icy boba that was half strawberry/​lychee (something I always get at boba places) and when I ordered that drink, he replied right away with, «k, but if you don’t like it we don’t do refunds or exchange.»
Alright bro. I never asked, but that was a little rude.
I just said yes and moved on to order my boyfriends drink, he wanted a hot tea because he is sick, but I couldn’t tell if they had hot tea, so when I asked him if they had hot tea they had it, the guy goes, «what do you want???» With a really rude tone.
So we just went with a black tea. But at this point I was getting so annoyed with the way he was talking to me.
At the end of my order, I asked him for the total, and he said, «I don’t know?»
I’m like, what??? And he tells me they are super busy right now and he hangs up.
Doesn’t give me a time estimate or anything, never asked my name, I didn’t even know how much to pay, and he just straight hung up. No goodbye, bye, or thank you. Just hung up before I could reply.
So when my boyfriend goes to pick up the food, I didn’t even get a straw for my boba drink at all. Okkkkkkkkk.
And when I asked my boyfriend is the place was busy, he told me they weren’t, and that they were just cleaning and closing up.
Rude. As hell.
I put in my order +40 minutes before they even closed, and this dude lied to me so that they could focus on getting out quicker? Understandable if you wanna close early, (this is why I placed to go and picked it up instead of dining inside) but to treat someone as an annoyance because of it is unacceptable.
+ We are generally people that tip even when it’s a to go order, but I was so annoyed with this dude that I told my boyfriend not to bother with the tip. (Which I’ve never done before)
I used to go to this location quite frequently before, but not after tonight.
There’s a ton more places for great tapioca and the same dishes, but with way better service and taste.

One of the ladies calling out the drinks was a little rude. She yelled at us that our order was ready and it wasn’t our drinks. My drink had just the right amount of sweetness, could have used a little more ice.
TV is small, seating is an L shape room. They have seating for a few large parties. It can be very loud when crowded and the drinks are blending.
There is a lot of competition for tap drinks. It will be a while before I return.

Drinks are better than the food.
I had the chicken nugget meal which includes chicken nuggets 鹽酥雞, string beans, rice with meat, marinated egg, and bean sprouts. The chicken was very tasty, but the portion was small compared to the amount of rice there was. The string beans and bean sprouts were just ok. The rice topped with a little ground meat tasted like cafeteria food and was the worst thing on the plate.
For drinks, we ordered honey dew milk tea and passion fruit green tea with star mango jelly. Both were very flavorful and tasted as you would expect them to.

The food is so good! I got the fried shrimp plate combo, dumplings and fried calamari all for 15 bucks! Super cheap! Vietnamese coffee is great, best I’ve ever had to be honest. I gave them a four because the food took a lil long to come out and we were the only three ppl in the restaurant so I mean really? But it’s definitely a place where I love to frequent! Stop by!

One of the many boba places in Chinatown, Tap House is definitely one of the best. After their renovations, the place is now super clean, pretty spacious, and very chill to be at. The service is alright (not too bad, not to great), but the food and drink are worth.
I ordered the mango milk tea and the chicken nuggets. The boba itself was sweet, but I wished there was more mango flavor. The tapioca had good texture and in all, the boba was slightly above average. The chicken, on the other hand, was really good. Seasoned well and very crispy, it was a nice snack to go along with the drink.
Tap House is a solid boba joint that combines a good atmosphere, decent boba, and pretty good food. What’s even better though is that prices are SUPER reasonable. Would come again.
Food ⁴⁄₅
Service ³⁄₅
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅

I’ve been here numerous times, hardly any problems, but today kind of frustrated me.
The standard for my visits to TH is being greeted, typical questions about the size and spiciness of my order (They have a system of 1 to 5, mild, medium or spicy). Everyone is cordial and efficient. Drinks always EN POINTE. My sister loves the chicken and green beans here, so she always gets medium (a 3). I’ll eat them if she gets them, but the way the spice is distributed on the chicken is always uneven and powdery. Food is a hit or miss for me.
However, I was greeted by a new cashier today and when I was about to place my snack order after my drink order, I had a stray feeling that I should say the item number instead of the name. I ignored this and the following occurred:
Me: and sesame balls please.
Cashier: okay, how spicy?
Me (confused, as this didn’t happen last time): what?
Cashier: Like medium?
Me:…mild?
Cashier: Okay.
Me *odd feeling*: that comes with red bean, right?
Cashier: *smiles a little* No
This exchange happened without him looking at me once. Now, I will definitely take half the blame for not following up with him, but I’m new to the recipe that is sesame balls, not feeling well and I was like as long as sesame is on the outside, it should be fine. Imagine my surprise when he places a bag down, and says «Your *squid* balls».
Omg, no, no. Of all the wrong food I am to receive, squid balls? No thanks. I have now had my suspicions solidified and escalating irritation. I walk around the counter and he comes back. I’m testing him here and say Sesame balls. He asks me if that’s it and then gives me a total. Usually, I’m fine with telling people it’s the wrong order but I hate wasting food and I am like, you’re not a mindreader, but now I’m aware you’re not really listening. I figure I can give the squid balls to my sister’s boss. I’m overreacting a little, chill. Then I get the sesame balls.
They’re burned, fried longer or hotter than they should have. Of course. It happened the first and last time I ordered sesame balls here, but only a little bit and gave it an extra crisp. This time, it was hard to chew and the red beans inside were gritty. Despite saying mild, my sister’s boss noted the squid balls were too spicy. Icing on the cake, honestly. I’ll be sticking to drinks from now on.
Also, pro tip: Don’t place someone’s change on the counter if their hand is outstretched and then walk away. Let alone twice.

I always buy one of the combo meals when I visit since I think they provide the best value for the price paid.
The combo meal actually comes with more than just the item listed on the menu. You also receive a side of sauteed green beans, a hard boiled egg, sauteed bean sprouts, and rice with ground pork on top. (Please see the picture I uploaded as an example– just note that I already took a few bites out of the meal).
The boba that comes with the meal was typical of those that you can buy at other places.
The ambiance is also similar to many boba places. You can study or just chill here if you want.
The only gripe I have is that there isn’t a clear listing of all the miscellaneous charges. For example, if you want tapioca in your tea for the combo meal, it costs an extra 28 cents.

I love their rose milk tea here! One of the few tea houses that actually use roses for their rose tea. Other places cut corners & use a cheap extract that taste like a mouth full of artificial chemicals.
For that itself to me deserves 5 stars.
Service is quick & polite. Cash only policy.

After who knows how many years, Tapioca House is still around and I, for one, am glad because I still come here every once in a while to get their chicken nuggets meal combo.
The interior renovation was recently completed (Friday 02÷06÷15) and the place is now much brighter with lots of new light fixtures. The order counter looks much nicer with the faux marble counter top and the faux wood walls. They also added a couple of LCD TV’s although they were still not operational when I wrote this up.
Food quality and quantity has been consistent through out the years. Some of the workers here have worked a few years so the quality of service is still the same as before. Prices did go up by a little bit, but that’s pretty much expected.
All in all, this is still a Chinatown fixture that I frequent and hopefully I will for years to come.

Even today, Tapioca House is my go-​to boba place in Chinatown, because it serves the most authentic boba tea that is closest to what I had in Taiwan. Its perfect sweetness and balance between milk and tea make Tap House’s boba tea my favorite in Houston.
Now, Tap House is even better than before! In the past, Tap House’s biggest weakness is its filthiness throughout the store that can be sometimes repulsive. Fortunately, with its recent décor, the entire premise is modern and clean! I used to just pick up the drink and go because I didn’t want to sit in the dirty setting, but with the new and clean décor, I think that Tap House can be a great place to hang out. Hopefully, it will stay clean from now on.
If your appetite allows it, do yourself a favor and get the Taiwanese fried chicken nuggets! Fried in starch batter and sprinkled with salt and pepper, Taiwanese style fried chicken will be a delicious experience that is different from your regular fried chicken. Get the nuggets either as a value meal combo (with rice and a drink) or a la carte to complement your boba drink as a complete Taiwanese snack experience!
Because it used to be cash-​only, many items are priced so that you pay whole dollars with tax. For example, a regular boba tea is priced $ 2.77 so you pay $ 3 after tax. I thought this is pretty nice because I don’t have to deal with pesky changes if I pay in cash.
Anyway that was just a distraction. Hopefully it won’t distract you from trying out this down-​to-​earth, authentic Taiwanese drink stop next time you are in Chinatown!

Tap House has been here for ages. It was one of the very first tapioca joints in the Houston Chinatown area, and my favorite of all time. It remains my favorite place to get a milk tea tapioca drink at, even after trying out the numerous new tapioca joints that have opened in the area over the years.
Maybe it’s the nostalgic feels I get from the special taste of their milk tea that I’m so in love with, after all, Tap House was where I first tried out the milk tea tapioca drink. And I continued to enjoy their milk tea as I grew up over the years, begging my mom to make a stop whenever we were in the area, convincing my high school Chinese language teacher to order delivery to the school for lunch during Chinese New Year’s day, and frequently visiting after I learned how to drive. The taste of their milk tea and tapioca have remained consistent over the years, which is something I’m incredibly delighted about.
They also served some of the best meals and snacks to compliment your drinks. Some of my favorites are the fried pork chop, fried chicken nuggets, fried calamari, basically anything fried, because I loveee fried foods. Any of those can be made into a meal, which adds on sides of rice, green beans, bean sprouts, a boiled egg, and meat sauce. It’s a relatively cheap meal that tastes wonderful and will fill you up. I couldn’t ask for a better combination.