Tapioca Express

Boba not fresh. Store is dirty. The end!

So I’ve only had two drinks here but both of them I love!
Location — in the Price center on the undergrad campus. Hard to access by car but easy by foot and the Price center is a great break from a boring work day given its wide range of restaurants and ample outdoor seating.
Line — can get quite long, if so expect to wait anywhere from 5 – 10 minutes for your drink.
Drinks — Their watermelon juice is so good when watermelon is in season. They literally put whole watermelon into a blender and give you the finished product, no sugar added. And I love watermelon. Their boba has always been wonderful too — very soft and sweet and the perfect amount for your drink. I’ve also had their milk tea at 50% sweetened (to save calories) and this has also been great, but 100% sugar is of course better!
Food — had their popcorn chicken with the spiciest level — they just pour red chili pepper on it to make it spicy. It’s super fried and delicious if thats what you’re in the mood for and its quite a big portion. Best part is that during happy hour, its cheaper!

It’s not very good boba, but let’s be honest: the convenience of being able to pick up a drink on campus without a car was pretty nice.
I did like their crispy chicken, and ended up going here back when my taste buds were slightly still underdeveloped.
The atmosphere could be better as well, although I wouldn’t blame that much on them but rather the dynamics of the «Price Center» they were in. Better Boba? If you have a car go to Convoy, and if you’re lucky go to Orange County.

The reviews were right to say their drinks are too sweet. I asked for less sugar but I got just about the sweetest boba I’ve ever had. The taste wasn’t especially good either.

Service was extremely slow and my passion fruit milk was pretty tart and overall not that great. It left a very bitter taste in my mouth that’s still lingering as I type this review.
We also ordered a «Pudding Snow Bubble» and paid for boba pearls, but didn’t get them. We had already waited far too long to have them fix it.
Unless there wasn’t another place around and I was dying for Boba, I wouldn’t go back.

This review is well-​overdue because I have been eating here frequently for a long time, and for a good reason too: This place is awesome!
I see a lot of raised eyebrows when I tell people that Tapioca Express is my favourite place. Now, I know why. It’s because this Tapioca Express has exceeded the standards of other Tapioca Express locations, and they easily overcome the «fast food» stereotypes. I don’t think people are very aware of this and they associate this awesome location with the others.
The lines can be long during their rush hours (it’s on a school campus), but each worker has an excellent sense of urgency, and the wait will be brief should these lines occur. Even a ridiculously long line during a very busy hour can be less than 5 minutes to get through.
Everyone who works here has a great personality, and they begin to recognize their repeat customers. I love a place that can do that! People assume that this is normal for any business, but I’m a regular to a lot of places and none has given me the same quality recognition as this place.
The owner actually works with their team members. That’s rare! I’ve scarcely seen a place where owners actually work with their team members (cashiering, making drinks, serving the orders, and calling out numbers, etc.). I believe this effort has enhanced the owner’s leadership, and their operation is very fruitful. Other places I have seen can be chaotic when the owners visit and demand impractical tasks (clearly showing no understanding of their business nor their customers). That’s not a problem here! The owner is such a fantastic person and very personable; I have also noticed that there is a good retention of employees. That gives me additional insight on their business, and I am getting a positive vibe from it.
Good customer service, wonderful leadership, no wait… something has to be wrong, right? Nope. The food and the drinks are very high quality. I could honestly eat here everyday, and unsurprisingly, I do eat and drink here a lot. One thing I do not like is that the menu can appear a bit unhealthy (all of these sugar drinks and fried food); however, this can be resolved easily by asking for a custom order. They’ll make it happen, and it’s without additional cost nor hassle.
I typically order a grilled chicken combo with the sides substituted by salad (as pictured). It’s like a grilled chicken salad, and it’s absolutely delicious. It’s surprisingly a high quality and nutritious meal, and I like it better than many of their local competitors, and especially compared to the other meals that can be bought on the school campus. It’s very filling. I also drink their Thai Milk Tea most days. A lot of people criticize that it is too sweet, but you can easily ask for light sugar, which I do too. I also recommend the Hot Triton Milk Tea (it’s half Black Tea and Half Earl Grey) on cold days, and the Avocado Snow Bubble is another good option. If you are in the mood for a dessert, then their Sweet Buns with Condensed Milk is delicious, but I obviously can’t have that everyday. Their Crispy Chicken meal is delicious (I think it is most people’s favourite), but it is also unhealthy and probably shouldn’t be eaten everyday as well. The French Fries and their Sausage Combo smell delicious, but I have to admit that I have never had them. Fried Tofu tastes very good to me. If I could describe its taste as another food, it tastes similar to scrambled eggs for me. The Pork Buns are very good too, and they make a great and filling snack.
I have never been let down by these guys before, and I have never gotten sick off of their food (something I am seeing other people review about, but I think this might be the fast food mentality taking over). I have taken a blood test during a checkup and it shows that i’m in excellent health (sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.) despite eating here most days. Great service, sense of urgency, filling meals, and all very delicious. 10 out of 10… would eat and drink there everyday. I definitely recommend it, and my visiting friends and family love this place too.
… and… although I may appear as a Tapioca Express fanatic, that is only for this specific location and their Regents location. I’m from the Bay Area and the Tapioca Express over there (and many other locations) have been terrible in my opinion. This one is unique and special, and they work hard. They do a great job, and I can really tell the difference. I could write so much more, but I’ll leave the next Harry Potter novel for J. K. Rowling to do.

the drinks are decent but the food is meh quality. the rice is either really dry or really really clumpy. I mean if there is no way to get off campus then this is better than dining hall food.

Their crispy chicken is SOOOOO good! I love getting my chicken medium spicy-​always just enough heat. They also keep the spice packet outside in case you want more spice in your life! Also, I like that they fill up the bag all the way so I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. My favorite drink to get there is the trident milk tea-​enough caffeine to keep me up studying, but not enough for me to be bouncing off the walls. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend (especially if you’re a broke college student like me!)

Whenever I have my boba craving, this is my go-​to spot. The employees are super efficient and nice. Also, for a broke college student like myself, you can’t beat $ 2.95 for a milk tea WITH boba. Also, for these chilly days in San Diego, I totally recommend the hot Triton milk tea for $ 3.50. Totally soothes my soul. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend.

Excellent! Delicious! I’ve never had a Thai tea so delicious. Also the milk tea is a great drink if you wanna get more bang for your buck. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would do again.

Never go wrong with their spicy chicken snack and a thai tea boba.
I only wish they can serve them better because when you are on the go, its hard to carry the chicken and the sauce and the boba at the same time

The service is quick and the staff are very friendly. They normally have long lines certain times of the days, like when classes end or lunchtime, but you never wait in line for more than 10 minutes. There hasn’t been a time I walked away from TapEx angry. The drinks are decent (I especially like almond milk tea) and the snacks are suuuuuuper crispy. My all-​time favorite that I will never get tired of is the fried tofu and their sweet and sour sauce. There’s a nice crispy skin and a gooey center that melts in your mouth… I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
Give this place a shot if you’re on campus. It’s in a convenient location at the center of the university and their staff works above and beyond. The drinks aren’t the best in town, but they’re made quickly and some of them are pretty darn good.

If you really want boba, it’s always really nice to have somewhere on-​campus that conveniently satisfies your craving. Service is usually quick and always friendly. Since they’re open late-​night, it’s always great to have a snack while studying for midterms and finals.
It’s a bonus that they treat students well and they’re always open until 1am during finals week! :)

Update ¹¹⁄₁₉: I have dropped my score down to 1 star after unacceptable service and quality from this place. First, they made a mistake on my order 3 times (I ordered a boba tea) which is not too bad, but was frankly very annoying. The worst is what happened today. I ordered a lychee milk tea with boba and this was absolutely disgusting. I’ve ordered it in the past and not had too much of a problem with it. This time, it was actually gross. This is the first time in my life that i’ve had to throw away a milk tea and i’ve been to so many boba places. Tapex lost a pretty regular customer today and I strongly advise against going here even if you’re a UCSD student.
As the only boba tea place on campus, tapex gets a small bump in my score. Overall, it’s nothing special. They use low quality tea, powder, and their boba is average. If I didn’t like boba tea as much as I do, I would likely never go here. As the only choice on campus, I’m more forced to go here when i crave boba. I’ve had much better boba tea elsewhere and would not recommend this place to any non-​UCSD students.

+ Clean and nicely kept
+ Service is good
+/​-​Seating can fill up quick depending on when you’re there
— Drink was bland
— Portion size is off lol. (read the review for more on this)
Was down in San Diego for a small trip and wanted to get a quick bite/​drink. My SD friends said lets just go to Tap-​Ex. I figured you can’t really go wrong and said sure. Made the trip here, ordered myself a combo — Honey Dew Milk Tea w/​Chicken Wings. This deal was like $ 8.50~ or so. I had whatever their most spiciest option was.
I received my drink a few minutes after initially ordering, and then my chicken about 10~ minutes later lol. Understandable I guess, since chicken takes a bit to cook and no one really goes there for wings anyway. However, their ‘spicy’ is pretty much just some red chili pepper powder spread out throughout the container box lol.
You get rice, corn, 1 gyoza and 6 pieces of chicken wings. My friends ordered the popcorn chicken and they got a container of the same size. but more full of chicken, rice underneath and corn. I was amazed at the difference in portion lol. Which makes me wonder if it’s just this location, or does the whole franchise follow this procedure.
Also, my drink wasn’t anywhere near sweet as other places I’ve been to. Even other Tap-​Ex are better than this. Maybe this location was just having an off-​day, don’t know.
Other than that, the workers behind the counters were cool. Service was a bit slow (not only for myself, but friends too). Everything was meh. I wouldn’t be coming back, would rather go to another location.

I’ve never really ordered food here other than the calamari, which I also don’t order anymore because the breading is just way too much. When I came here as a freshman, there was a special for downloading the munchonme app which gave you a free milktea (and you could pay for boba on your own). Unfortunately, they don’t have that kind of promotion anymore :(I do think it’s great to have a boba place on campus for the casual boba dates and such but if I had a choice I would definitely go out of my way to convoy or somewhere else for boba drinks… a lot of the drinks here taste straight like syrup and powder with water. Ew.
Like I said, the calamari is pretty good but there is a ton of breading on it and usually I just end up ripping off parts of the breading which lead me to discover that the amount they give you is all a lie lol. If you are looking for something fishy, even going for the measly 5 or so fish/​squid/​shrimp balls is better than the calamari.

I was never a fan of Tapex, because the first time I came and ate here, I got a stomach-​ache. But it sucks that I end my Tuesdays late and I live on campus, so my only option besides delivery was Price Center. Tapex was one of the places opened, so I came here with my boyfriend on a Tuesday night around 9 PM!
We ordered:
«Snack»: Crispy chicken ($ 4.95)
«Snack»: Steamed Pork Buns ($ 3 each)
–Hazelnut Milk Tea (hot) with boba ($ 4)
Pros:
–Order comes pretty quickly. I guess they are used to the constant request of crispy chicken, so they come quick!
–Good customer service! Though they are quite understaffed, but the staff there was still smiling and calmly taking orders while everyone in the back was trying to hustle.
–Good portion! I mean, food is decently priced so I’m glad the portion sizes are not bad. Chicken they always give a generous amount, and then bun was a decent size.
–Pretty good drinks! I have to say that Tapex is not the most «authentic» boba place, but it is still a nice place where I can get hot drinks!
Cons:
–Small amount of boba. After watching them scoop, I realized that this place gives very little boba in comparison to other places. As well, the boba is kind of stiff and not as sweet and chewy.
–Flavor is A-​OK. It’s crispy chicken is addicting, I have to admit. but the bun was very okay. It seemed like one of the buns you could get packaged from 99 ranch.
Tips/​observations:
–Kitchen closes around 11 PM on weekdays (or even midnight) so make sure you order before then!
–Surprisingly, they do not have taro milk tea (hot)! But their hazelnut milk tea is good!
Overall, I wouldn’t mind coming here again for the crispy chicken and trying another hot drink.

This place is sweet!
On my recent trip here at TapEx (which is on campus at UCSD) I got the Triton Tea which is yummy, it’s a like a black/​earl grey milk tea blend. It’s also fun how it represents UCSD which mascot is Triton!
Tapioca Express is so fun to get since there aren’t too many (it doesn’t get played out). it’s enjoyable to get a drink when near one. I’ve been to the location in Convoy and the Palm ave one. TapEx has great food and **drinks** (smoothies, milk teas, etc all different flavors). Some of my favorite items to get is Almond Milk Tea, Thai Tea, and Taro Milk Tea. Sometimes I order my drinks with boba if I’m in the mood which costs a little extra around $ 1/​$ 1.50 I think. I love how their drinks are sealed tight that way if I’m on the go I can just toss it in my purse and not worry about spillage. When I am ready to drink I can just pop the straw in and drink up. Their crispy chicken is also a yummy snack to get when hungry. The service here is nice, I never had a long wait in line and got my drink fairly quick. I came twice this past week, first time to get some boba in the beginning of the week, and second time because D’lush told me they were closed… It’s okay I’m glad they were «closed» because I got TapEx again for the win. (:

I love TapEx! I was happy to see that there was one on campus, but it’s not the greatest compared to Eastlake’s or Convoy’s. Since it’s conveniently on campus, that’s just what matters the most.
I actually haven’t tried much other than the crispy chicken. At other TapEx locations, I always get crispy chicken, Thai Tea snow with boba, and the chicken/​egg/​rice combo. Surprisingly, I haven’t tried UCSD Price Center’s boba drinks yet.
Whenever I crave TapEx and want something a little cheaper, I go with the mild crispy chicken snack. It’s pretty good! Sometimes, I don’t feel as if it’s thoroughly cooked through, though. Actually, there are a few pieces that aren’t thoroughly cooked. It’s been that way all 4 – 5 visits.
The line is ridiculously long come lunch time. Especially since that’s about the time everyone gets out of class. Other than such peak times, there’s not much of a wait.

One of the only places I trust to eat on campus, besides Santorini. Food and drinks may not be the greatest and cheapest compared to other Tap Ex’s but hey it’s conveniently on campus. Lines may be long during lunch rush but if you skip those times, theres usually only 3 – 4 people in line. Keep in mind the manager specials that can save you a dollar or two (I know there’s a crispy chicken rice bowl thats under $ 6 from Monday to Saturday before 3 pm).
Nothing too amazing but it fulfills the boba crave when stuck on UCSD.