Tapioca Express

Oh TapEx, how I miss you… or perhaps rather I miss what role you played in my life back in my high school.
… Those were the days when I first started going out on my own to try new things… shopping without the parents, my 1^st bf, new foods, etc. At one point, I experienced this phenomenon called bubble tea around my sophomore year in high school… + proceeded to shoot most of the tapioca (called big tap or small tap) out through the straw at inanimate objects or the neighbor’s cat. It wasn’t until a few visits later that I started actually liking the tapioca.
… Those were the days of freedom upon turning 16 + getting my license my junior year. Sure I was driving a dinky old car that was only a couple years younger than myself, but who cares. Where did I make a pit stop nearly every week? TapEx, of course. And everyone knew it was cooler to park around the back rather than in the front lot.
… Those were the days of breaking curfews + cutting class on a couple rare instances during my senior year to spend evenings hanging out with friends at TapEx. As not much else was open late, this was the default place to go meet up + enjoy my favorite passionfruit milk or green tea with popcorn chicken. They even introduced a «supersize» that was only $ 0.99 more.
…
Then the college years began, + I moved to LA where I discovered a whole realm of other boba chains with all different kinds of flavors + jellies. But even still, TapEx was my standard by which I judged any other boba drinks I tried. And of course, I made my traditional visit to TapEx every time I came back home, which was probably about 3 – 5 times a year. I’d search all around my room for my old stamp cards + then drive my same dinky old car to that back parking lot to meet up with old friends. Or some of those times I’d make the trip alone to reminisce about how simple life was back then… sipping the sugary concoction in my hand + eating a whole bag of popcorn chicken down to the crunchy deep fried bits + greasy leaves at the bottom.
How fitting that TapEx disappeared from Marina Plaza around the same time that I finished my final year of college for graduate school. So when I visit home now… as an adult with no more of the silly problems of curfews or cutting class… the place that I often escaped to is gone, too.
In its place now is Ocha, another almost identical boba shop… but in my heart I know it’s not the same.
Bybye, TapEx. Thanks for the memories!

TapEx is now OCHA…

Came here for the first time yesterday and got a Jasmine Milk Tea with Tapioca. The consistency of the tapioca balls were right on… chewy and soft, just the way I like them.
I’ll have to try more stuff on their menu to really give them a better rating so 3 stars for now.

When you don’t sell something, take it off the menu. And when you work in customer service, you should act like it.
Asked for Frozen Yogurt, which is on their menu (though the small size is taped over). The girl at the counter acts as if I’m retarded for even asking. What? It’s clearly on *your* menu. At the very least the staff should be gracious about what is clearly an error on the part of the store.
Aside from that their drink quality is also terrible.

I grew up drinking all kinds of bubble tea. It practically flows in my blood. I was raised in Hong Kong but the bubble tea there wasn’t usually good enough (until a few chains that opened recently in the last YEAR), and so I always have to fly to Taiwan for it or ask mum to cook it.
Other than Asia, the only place I’ve found with good bubble tea is in Ithaca. YES, upstate New York. Why that is, is still a mystery. Maybe because the person who set up the place there is a Taiwanese student who was nostalgic and isn’t some money-​grubbing Asian that passes off less than average drinks to laowais (read: foreigners) who don’t know any better?
A-​hem. Back to my real review.
This place is no different. The only upside is, you can still taste the tea in your bubble tea if you don’t get any of those fancy variants. The downside is, their bubbles/​tapiocas/​pearls taste like s — . They’re either not cooked all the way, or are over cooked and hence mushy. I suspect that they’re lower quality or even not tapiocas at all, because the classic honey sweetness of good tapioca is not present.
On a good note, the food isn’t all too bad, but I’d really only go there for a snack, not for a main meal. From what I’ve had, their meals lack in flavour, and while their crispy chicken’s flavour is done pretty well, they come in these ridiculously huge chunks, making it impossible to eat easily. They also don’t give you fried Thai basil along with it (which is a must in crispy chicken. A MUST.)
If you’re in the area and want some bobas, drop in. If not, don’t bother. There are better places.

Boba in my mouth, my boba is in my mouth. Super cool that a tapioca place is close to my apartment. Now I don’t have to trail all the way down to 3^rd street in San Mateo for Quickly. The menu here is fairly large. They have a good selection of hot foods you can munch on.
The shop is clean, the staff were helpful with my questions. Like what can I drink without caffeine in it? I look forward to my next trip to Tapioca Express.

I’m not a fan of their tapioca. Sometimes it’s too hard, sometimes it’s been over soaked and watery.
All the snacks I’ve had have been soaked in grease: fried chicken, fried tofu. I know I’m ordering fried food but dayum, it’s up to them to eventually pull the food out of the fryer!
Final Call:
My friends and I only occasionally visit here because they have tables and cards. We’re all about Deuces… and yes, it gets intense!

This Tapioca Express is the best one out there! Their fried chicken and calamari tastes sooooooo yummy! Everyone must get these items from this location. They also have many food options to choose from AND froyo! I usually order the almond milk tea, regular milk tea, and passion fruit color icy. ALL are delicious. I wish this location was closer to me.
The only downside to this place is that it’s always packed with high school-​ers. There’s so many people there during the night and sometimes they’re rowdy… but then again Tapioca Express can’t help that!

Cute little spot however it’s carefully tucked away in the back. It’s never been busy when I went in so the staff is pretty quick to turn around drinks. The downside is the $ 0.50 charge for using debit cards (that really frustrates me just about anywhere). That aside you’ve got your basics: friendly staff, quick service, and delicious milk teas… with tapioca :)

Why would you come here to get food when Marina market is right next door? Anyhoo, the location is a little odd… all the way in back hiding with Phở Saigon with a bunch of old guys smoking outside… Also, it doesn’t look very clean. Streak marks all over their stainless steel, questionable cleanliness of the granite counters, and the tables that they have were uninviting to sit at. Also, the cashier girl is kinda rude.
I went in because I have not had a boba tea in a long time. I was really excited to see that they offered MATCHA… and it’s really hard for me to find a place that does a decent matcha. I smiled and was polite, and the cashier girl just glowered at me and acted like I was an idiot… that’s why it’s not four stars.
Other than the attitude with the cashier girl, the matcha was good. I would be tempted to stop in again if I don’t see that girl through the window. But it might be better if she is there, that way I can save myself from spending four bucks. Also, I wouldn’t get food from here and I would not sit around. Maybe they should put a minimum spending limit of 5 bucks (instead of 2) in order to sit down so I can say I’m not allowed to sit down instead of me just sounding bad by saying it looks dirty.

It’s not bad but the one on Fillmore is far better. The lines here are crazy long and the menu is far smaller than a Quickly and the other Tapioca Express in Daly City. They do offer Snow Bubbles which is not common at a lot of other bubble tea places.
Order the milk teas as that’s what they do best here and stay away from the crazy syrupy ones. They offer a pretty good selection of food and they do combos which is unlike Quickly also. I’ve yet to have chicken curry or pork katsu at any of those other places.
The drinks here are a little expensive and the tapioca is far too chewy to be considered digestable. But it’s the place that’s hip for young Asian kids so prepare to look for parking and a place that’s free of super loud J*Pop.

One of the better Tap Ex franchises I’ve been too, even though I rarely stop by anymore. The one in Millbrae (now closed) was okay, but didn’t offer much selection & the drinks still didn’t taste as good as this location & the one across from SJSU I don’t care for much either. And the last time I went to the Quickly in downtown San Mateo my strawberry snow was waaay too sweet. which may friend says it was do to teen angst of having to work on a nice sunny Saturday summer afternoon. And sadly, Ray’s Tea Time has been closed, so Tap Ex is the winner in the peninsula. Most of the employees here never crack a smile, never seem cheery when greeting, rarely say thank you. Even when I worked at Jamba Juice in high school and was having a crappy day I still faked it. You youngings should learn how to fake it… it may come in handy in the future. =p
What’s good (these have been consistent):
*peach & strawberry flavored snow bubbles.
*lycée, green apple, peach icys.
*lycée jelly.
*The big tap… the small ones won’t do for me. Not too soft, not too hard!
*Crispy Chicken (I like it «2» spicy on their scale of 1 – 3 spiciness).
*Fried tofu… I think they top it w/​sriracha & soy sauce.
*The stamp card has no expiration date unlike some places.
*Late night hours.
Don’t like:
*Cash only or 50 cent fee for using debit… boo!
*Parking, it can be a pain during the day.
*The snow bubbles can take awhile to melt so you may have to wait awhile to actually get some liquid to drink.
*The coffee icy is good depending on the night. I’ve had it good & bad.
*The passionfruit the last few times I’ve gotten it tastes plasticky! Yuck!
Even though many people of different ages come here from high schoolers to CSMers, to even middle aged FOBs, it’s still pretty much a high school hangout especially later in the night because if you ain’t 21 there just aren’t that many options for ya!

The tea here is pretty good, the pearls are a good texture (chewy but not too chewy or too hard). The tea is a bit on the sweet side and the prices are a bit high (almost $ 4 for a jasmine milk tea with pearls… i’m used to paying less than $ 3 in mountain view at Tea Era).
The really bad part about it, though, is that there a wanna be gangsta’s who sit around there and smoke… it’s weird because it’s almost like a little alley and it looks hella ghetto.

So i basically used to come here way too much in high school and as a result am sick of it and no longer crave it very often. But before i had thoroughly oversaturated my body with combo a’s i was a pretty big fan.
They do tapioca pretty well, i guess it’s sort of the standard i use in general and i still really enjoy their chicken. I still remember fondly the days of driving around in my old car swilling milk tea and stuffing chicken in my mouth with oversized tooth pics while steering and shifting

This place is ok. their food’s not so great, but their milk tea’s ok. I never feel like they mix it enough before giving it to you so mine always starts off tasting too much like milk so I have to stir it a bit. Their tapioca balls are a nice texture, but aren’t very sweet, so I don’t enjoy it too much (even though they’re still addictive).
I only come here because it’s close by to home so it quells my milk tea cravings from time to time, and that’s probably the only plus? They’ve also recently jumped on the frozen yogurt bandwagon, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Oh! And their frequent buyer cards kind of suck. buy 10 drinks, and you kinda get one free, but only up to I think $ 2.50, and most of their drinks cost a bit more than that so you usually end up paying a little for it. If you’re gonna have a frequent buyer card, do it right!

This Tap Ex was a good way to grab a drink post-​phở. I liked that they had the small tapioca, because that’s hard to find in LA in some places. I don’t know why. Friend DK said they were prolific up there.
Had my standard ice green tea boba and the bobas were just the right firmness and the drink was not too sweet. Friend had the milk tea, but I think they forgot to put the tea in there. Oh well, mine was good.
They also serve froyo here at your standard Pinkberry prices. Maybe slightly cheaper. Just slightly. As usual, cash only. But if you want to use credit card, they charge you $.50 or something and you have to buy a million boba balls or something like that.

I smirked when I saw the little printed message about «not intended to be swallowed whole» on the boba cup. I might even go so far as not intended to be swallowed at all, unless you are in the Mojave desert and desperate for refreshment.
Hidden back behind a strip mall, this has the look of a promising, hidden dive. Inside there are flat screen TVs, music videos, plenty of Japanese comics — even more promising. Hip Asian staff, cool simple furniture — not too pretentious — reminds me of a good old SoCal place.
And then, I taste the boba and I am convinced that there is no such thing as good boba on the peninsula. I know Unilocalers think this is the better of the evils, but I’m not so sure. It is certainly better than my first experience at Quickly’s, but this stuff is not worth the calories.
I had a matcha tea with boba. Low marks on the quality of the tapioca pearls. There was a mix of well-​cooked, fresh pearls — nice and chewy, and some older pearls that had that stale, undercooked-​like texture. It seems they also do a honey drizzle on the boba at the bottom (like fruit at the bottom yogurt). The honey sweet taste overpowers the matcha green tea flavor.
I didn’t throw this boba in the trash as fast as my last one at Quickly’s — but I only made it about ¼ of the way through. I have resigned myself to the fact that good boba is only in the the SF city area or in SoCal. Sigh. Sadly, I will have to shake my former boba addiction.

I acutally find this location of Tapioca Express enormously better than the Quickly on 3^rd street. Keep in mind any pearl tea drink = about 500+ calories, so don’t get too addictive here!
–Small pearls are very good here, sweet yet not overly soft
–They really do fill up their drinks without any watering.
–Decent space to sit and hang out.
–Good collection of magazines and comics
I’d go the extra mile for this wonderful tea place.

Ahhh tapioca express… how happy you make me.
Before you, I only knew q-​cup (gross)… but you’ve persuaded me with your chewy balls and creamy liquid to stay loyal.
I know no better but based on other people’s reviews — there are other places in the neighborhood that offer a better quality tapioca drink… and well it makes me feel that we may need a break… you know… to find out if we truly need eachother or if it was just a «great while it lasted relationship.»
Dont get me wrong, i love you. Let us see if this opportunity will make us stronger or tear us apart…

Definitely go with the regular size boba rather than go with the little ones… Unless on a very crowded weekend day… Since fewer people order the little ones, they are not always as fresh.
The bento boxes are yummy. They do them good old Taiwanese style and have nice large portions for the right price.
TE is definitely my general fall back boba place because I know they have certain level of quality control… I will always prefer Tea Station (in LA area), but in the Bay, TE is just fine!