Chatime

They didn’t use to charge for bubbles (pearls) until recently. A lot of establishments around Chinatown have increased their prices over the new year but none has been as dishonest as Chatime. There was no signage or any form of indication that they have started charging for bubbles. When I questioned the lady at the cashier whether they have recently started charging for bubbles, she pretended she did not understand my question and another guy working there told me they have always been charging. Big lies! I am a regular customer and I still have my receipts from my previous purchases.
Will hop over to kungfu tea next time since Chatime’s pricing is no longer competitive and Kungfu tea serves better milk tea with a thicker and more intense tea flavor.

1-​High price-​$ 5 for a tea when the competitor is selling it for $ 2-​$ 3.
2-​Poor service as they seem very impatient when taking the order
3-​Teas are way too sweet as you can see them putting the powder in while making it.
This is certainly a place I can’t recommend.

the drinks here are eh ok. I ordered jasmine green milk tea with grass jelly. the jasmine green milk tea was good but the grass jelly was a bit stale. (even my mom said so!) I don’t think it was worth my money. they charge you per topping (no free topping) and they have tax whereas other places I have gotten bubble tea has 1 free topping (or a limited amount of free toppings) and tax included still wouldn’t be as expensive as chatime. will I be back? maybe not. I’ll get my bubble tea elsewhere next time.

Had my first honey green tea here today. It was fantastic… The lady who served me was very nice and friendly. Definitely going back to try the Matcha green tea… Would definitely recommend.

One of my top bubble tea places. I like the Jasmine Milk Tea. My friends like the Roasted Milk Tea. I recently just tried the Brown Rice Milk Tea and it was really good! Bubbles and grass jelly are a must! Will def come back for more!

I don’t get why the ratings here are so low. This is my go to bubble tea place whenever i’m around the area. Ok… maybe its the free upgrade or get the 2^nd drink for $ 1. But it’s still really good! I tend to always get the regualar black milk tea with bubble or the oolong milk tea. Both are really good in my opinion. My drinks that i ordered are always consistent. Even on the regular sugar setting, it’s not overly sweet as the regular sugar from kung fu tea. And the bubbles are always chewy like it was freshly made.

The bubble teas here are great and it used to be my go to spot because I love the option to customize your sugar levels (0,30,50,70%) and also amount of ice if you’re getting a cold drink. The hot or cold regular pearl milk boba tea (50% sugar) is perfect. The boba’s are cooked well and the pearl milk just the right balance of cream and tea.
Recently though they took away their free upgrade and buy one get one for $ 1 promotion. With the promo — the prices are pretty decent and on par with the specials and regular prices in chinatown. Now without it — it really isn’t worth it especially for the limited selection they carry. I would check out bubbly tea or vivi bubble tea around the corner.

Good buy one get one free promotion. I like how you can control the level of sugar or ice in your drink. however when we went in the middle of the day today, they were out of pearl bobas!

I only came here because I was attracted by the Ad, «Buy One Get Another One with $ 1». I ordered the Red Bean with Green Milk Tea with less sugar. The service was pretty fast and they did not force me to buy the large cup, which some places do when you buy the promotion.
However, the drink was not too milky and they did not give me much red bean. I guess I can’t complain? I would go to Vivi around the corner or Teado or Kung Fu Tea if you want really good bubble tea.

3.5 starts to be exact.
I think this place is actually decent. They occasionally mess up the order — 50% sugar tastes like 0% sugar and 30% tastes like 100% etc. In order to minimize that risk, you have two tools:
1. stick to ordering black milk tea (pretty safe)
2. take advantage of the 2^nd one for $ 1
Think in the long run it’s still a good deal and I would totally go back.

**CASH ONLY**
My sister brings me here so we can buy one and get one for $ 1 (I know, she’s just using me). We normally get the cold roasted milk tea w no boba and I like how they give you the option on how much sugar you want in it (we normally get less). It’s tasty and usually hits the spot after a heavy meal in Chinatown.

Apparently this Chatime isn’t the same as the other Chatime. And by same, I mean they have the exact same menu, and the same prices but they don’t do the stamp cards. However, they throw in buy 2 get 1 free, or buy 1 get the second for $ 1. Pretty good incentives.
I got my regular brown rice green milk tea (hot) with boba, and it tasted relatively the same. The tapioca is a little mushier here but it wasn’t too bad.
Come here with a buddy and save some moolah

I can’t say it rocked my world, but it was good!
I tried their passion fruit slushie with green tea & bubbles.
I was a little thrown off. In California we call bubbles «boba»
The drink was really good. I just wish I would have known it was with green tea before I ordered it.

I had one woman who was super nice to me but the rest the time the service is average.
In their window they advertise buy one get one free. So I proceeded to order two lychee green teas. The counter girl told me that I can’t get the lychee as a free tea.
False advertising. You get no choice. They give you the basic milk tea for free. I am lactose intolerant do I don’t drink milk teas. If they mean that you can get the milk tea only for free, advertise it that way. Don’t make me wait on the line for 15 minutes to tell me that.
It’s actually quite expensive because they charge you extra for boba at this location.
It’s a combo dvd movie store in the back. Movie and a bubble tea.

This place makes really crappy bubble tea, sorry to say. The people working there were rude and they’re really bad at making drinks. The taro milk tea I ordered was powdery and chunky. It was so HARD TO SWALLOW this drink. I felt like I was swallowing sand. The toppings (jelly) are another 75 cents on top of the ridiculously pricy sub par drinks and the passion fruit green tea tasted like something I could have bought at some Asian grocery market for 1.25.
They made my drinks while being extremely rude too, making jokes about my little sister. WTF. It’s so obvious you’re talking smack about her when you’re whispering in each others ears and laughing about it afterward. I cannot say more about this place. I wish I could rate this place 0 stars for the way they treat customers and the crappy drinks they «made». Back to Quicklys a few blocks away for me.
Chinatown Chatimes are nothing like the ones in flushing. OH man I’m so mad and I hate to write such a review. I normally don’t write such reviews for a place but this Chatime got me really boiled up. eeeek!

Damn, lots of subpar reviews for Chatime on Bowery. While I feel bad for Chatime about this, my inner Narcissus is feeling pretty good because the tea and service I got were kinda fucking good. Sorry, suckas.
A friend and I were recently walking off a hefty meal and came upon this newish bubble tea/​smoothie place. The cheery lettering on their window announcing a Buy-​One-​Get-​One-​Free promotion beckoned, and we answered as if the phrase ‘Shit, I ate too much’ hadn’t just passed our lips.
She ordered the Taro Milk Tea and I the Brown Rice Green Milk Tea (genmachai, or green tea with toasted rice, to clarify their confusing name). I joked with the girl preparing our order about her killer arms from shaking all those drinks. She ha-ha’d politely as if she hadn’t heard that one before. The customer is always funny. Nice!
My drink was tasty — mildly sweet with a nutty undertone from the toasted rice. The tapioca pearls were good and chewy. My friend’s was also good, if more conventional. There was no powdery residue in either of our drinks. I suppose they worked out some of the early kinks others have written about.
I’ll definitely be back. Probably after eating too much. Oh wait, that never happened.

I passed by here late afternoon and I thought now’s a good time to try this Chatime. There are many different teas to choose from, even oolong tea, that’s different! I went with the matcha latte with less sugar, it was a good choice! There was a strong matcha taste instead of sugary green milk powder.
The service was fast and friendly. As all the other Unilocalers have mentioned, they’re doing a buy one get one free deal for their bubble milk tea, but if you get any other drink, you still get a milk tea; if you don’t want the milk tea, you get a free upgrade. I think you have to try different drinks to know what you like. Ideally, bubble tea places can make all their drinks well, but mostly it’s hit or miss. Honestly, if they can just make one that I like, it’s a good start! =)

So after a few tries, I am still on the border of chatime. I haven’t found the perfect drink. I’ve tried the passion fruit green tea, lychee green tea and jasmine milk tea. Out of the three, jasmine milk tea was probably my favorite. You can taste the tea more.
I dont quite understand why they tax you, but you get free upgrades right now or a buy 2 get 1 free.

So I’m giving this two stars for now. Two for my free «Chatime Milk Tea», and zero for the Taro Milk Tea that I actually ordered.
The Taro Milk Tea was not at all what I expect my taro teas to taste like. The powdered taro they put in the drink remained as a powdery like consistency that I got in each slurp of my drink. Sorta like I was drinking chalk. What made things worse is that I got clumps of undissolved taro powder through my straw! Gross!

There’s a chatime in toronto, and toronto is waaaaaaay better. This place only has the basic tea stuff and nothing interesting. The price is relatively cheap – buy one regular tea and get a free milk tea with tapioca.
Unfortunately, they make their tea waaaaaaaaaaay too sweet. Even after telling them and switching it, it was still too sweet. The quality is just not there.