Boba Jam

I have been to Boba Jam two times and both times I was happy with the food I was being served. I was also very impressed with the pricing of the desserts, the overall atmosphere and even the quirky detail of the buttons was also a great idea however the only reason why I would give it a ⁴⁄₅ was because of the rude customer service I received when I went there the second time. Hopefully when I go back I won’t be served by the same person!

After waiting 10 minutes for the server to finish trying to pimp out his own website (which the customer was clearly uninterested in), I was finally served, after many customers behind me left, by the rude cashier. All I know is his surname was Nguyen. He was disrespectful because I didn’t have cash — refused to help me spend more money (which I found bizarre), and then continued to disrespect my decision to not carry cash, despite it not being a problem for the past ten years of my life (it’s central London, only tourists really carry cash). I was furious when we left, and then the tea made me feel sick — I had to order it four times, and it wasn’t worth it. I only didn’t walk out because his arrogance and blasé attitude at losing custom proved he would have just thought he won. Very bizarre shop.

For what it is Bobajam offers a nice standard of service, food and value. Over all I’d say I liked it, but it didn’t exactly blow me away, but that could be more down to my menu selections.
To give you some context I ordered a Coffee and a selection of small dishes from their 3 for £10 menu.
If I’m honest the coffee didn’t really taste like what I would consider coffee. It was really, really sweet, almost like it had 4 spoons of sugar in it, and I’m honestly not a fan of sweet coffee. However I have to admit that ordering coffee in this place seems against the grain of what it is they specialise in, so I’m not really going to hold it against them to much.
The food on the other hand was rather nice, and I liked my selection of dumplings, tempura and fishcakes. It was all done to a good standard.
In summary I would say I enjoyed it. But should I ever come again I’ll know not to order the coffee.
Writing reviews of other people’s hard work and business validates me as a person and gives me a reason to go on. Love me and listen to what I say.

If I am still down to do this at 3:01 am in the morning, there are only two possibilities: 1) I am thrilled/​amused/​excited, 2) I am annoyed/irritated/[insert other negative feelings here].
So, with that being said, I am experiencing possibility #2. In one word, I am ANNOYED and in many words I am disappointed, discontented, and dissatisfied about my first impression of the joint. Before I get worked up talking about my unpleasant experience, I would like to mention a couple of good points first.
I have tried countless boba/​tapioca pearls/​bubble tea in my life… So many that I cannot even begin to remember where exactly was the very first place I took my first sip. Starting from the United States, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and now the United Kingdom, I have always been a jetsetter when it comes to boba hunting. So, I am definitely a person who has MEGA high standards for both drinks and toppings. In that regard, I am always down to try something new, or something that «sounds» new to me (but maybe tastes the same). Anyway, I looked at Boba Jam’s menu and I was contented by what I saw, so I knew right away that this has to be the next target. And I must say, I was very happy with what I got, which was the Nagasaki Milk Tea with half-​sugar (half sweet) and bubble pearls. I really enjoyed my first drink although my instruction of «half-​sugar» turned out to be regular sugar. This is where it all began, actually. Wait, no, it was when I started ordering did I not like the place.
I came in here with a smile on my face and exited with nothing but shattered romance. The cashier was not very friendly at all. I have no idea what went on or what happened to that person but that «gender» was giving me an attitude as to how I was ordering. I told the person to give me a regular cup with half-​sugar but the order came out to be a large cup with full sweetness… and the best part is, I couldn’t CHANGE IT. Also, the «gender» criticized about how I was ordering. You know, I truly respect the fact that some joints have their own way of ordering stuff. Yeah, I get that, but what truly strike me was the attitude that the person gave — absolute disrespect.
Overall, there is not a shred of chance that I will come here again. Yes, the drinks are amazing (although the bubble pearls are not up to my standards). Customer service is the first thing I look at, but since my first impression was unpleasant, then NO, I WILL NOT COME BACK. I would have highly recommend my US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. friends to try this when they visit London, but I guess I can cross this one off the list.
I have definitely had better.

They open late and serve a mean Hong Kong milk tea. The vibe is very teenager, but I found the bubble tea to be pretty good!
Recommend the Hong Kong milk tea with bubbles. They were still open after midnight, which is nice. I think Chatime in Chinatown is better though.

Nice place were to get refreshed and try new stuff everytime. Worth to try.
Reasonable prices.

True to what its name suggests, Boba Jam appears to be a jam-​packed bubble tea stop. However if you delve a little deeper you can find that it has more seating in the basement, even a karaōke room as well as a good variety of desserts, a selection of savoury snacks and noodles. I effectively had a 3-​course meal at Boba Jam once. Their savoury snacks are on an offer of 3 dishes for £10 (including options such as popcorn chicken, chinese jellyfish, chicken wings, pickle, teriyaki prawns, tofu, etc.); their bowl of dumpling udon soup was genuinely tasty and their dessert was acceptable but actually looked better than it was if I’m honest. Overall, Boba Jam is nice to have around as a pit-​stop for whenever you crave dessert (which after all is debatably the most important part of the meal), and being able to order savoury bits alongside dessert is a bonus!

So I recently came back for dine-​in dessert madness. That’s right, dessert madness. This is a so typical Taiwanese/​HongKongese type establishment where you just go in, chat, have a few sweet drinks, eat dessert, and if you do so feel inclined, there are 3 karaōke rooms downstairs.
The place was packed on a Sunday but thank goodness although we had 8 of us we only waited about 5 – 7 minutes before heading downstairs to a big table. What dessert do you want? Do you want bubble tea, milk tea, ice cream, crepes, french toast, concoction of everything together with fruits, saigo, sweet dumplings? You name it, they’ve got it.
Desserts were delicious, drinks were delicious, on this occasion they even have the tapioca pearls consistency right in the bubble tea. Only lament about this place is that 1) the karaōke rooms are not so sound proof so you hear so much bad singing on top of the bad karaōke videos they are playing in the general dining area. 2) the food could be more chilled.
The fun stuff — there are electronic bell buttons everywhere to get your service sorted. Slight wait for the bill and sometimes service but if you do walk past the «preparation» area next to the stairs, you see a lot of staff working hard at your desserts and I was duly impressed.
I went for the Mango Paradise I believe? (See picture), food was good but the mango was still raw so it was slightly tangy and not as soft and sweet as I would have liked. However, I would rather have it raw than really over ripe which makes it really squishy and horrendous.
Must come back soon for this is a good place for desserts in the UK next door to Golden Gate Dessert Place. Only 3 stars however, as my memories of desserts in Hong Kong and Malaysia is still going strong. I would give my eye-​teeth for a Hui Lau San (sp?) from Hong Kong to open branches here.

eep, didn’t think I would find a boba place in London but I did! My friend recommended this place because she used to come here all the time when she lived here. I got taro milk tea and it tasted mediocre. I’m not sure if it is because I am used to good boba from America, but it didn’t taste like taro. It was a bit grainy and the milk tea was too thick. Tapioka was okay, some were too slimy. They have other menus for food. This place isn’t too bad, the boba isn’t excellent, but I will take what I can get!

I’ve walked by this place a few times thinking, «meh» because of the amount of space it appeared to have. But when I actually tried it out, the shocked to find they have a basement level too. This is a great place to hang out with a group of friends for the evening. I never felt pressured to leave.
Sadly, none of the food or drinks stood out to me. Perhaps I’m 30 now, and shouldn’t crave tapioca balls in my mouth. I wish they had more milk tea selections, as their menu feels dated from 2001. Seems like they’re more about their desserts anyway.

How did I not discover this place earlier???
I wasted all those years wandering near China Town not knowing of this hidden gem. The variety of drinks, juices, milkshake sorta stuff, bubble tea, hot drinks, coffee mix tea, and inexplicably wonderful list of sweet and spicy fried and not fried type of snacks.
If you have a bunch of mates and you don’t feel like having alcohol but want to sit down and chat and all of them love HongKongese type of food, you should go here.
If you love Karaōke, you’ll love this place even more, there are rooms for that too.
I have tried just a few items, Cumin Chicken wings, Sichimi tofu, peanut and coconut topped sweet dumplings and a dish which I don’t remember the name of and lastly coffee mix tea.
I know the names might sound weird, but trust me, you’ll thank me.
So you are welcome.
I don’t understand what some people are complaining about. This is not a bubble tea shop, they don’t specialize in that. There are other places for that. This is for snack/​sweet/​juice/​shake/​ice cream lovers, in other words, sweet people like me.
It don’t know if people of all cultures might like it, but me and my British Chinese friends, love it.

First off, I don’t have a particularly strong baseline for other stores like this in the area. I can identify a few key aspects of my experience here though –
They have a small store that’s split between levels. There’s a lot of seating downstairs and it’s quieter. I sat upstairs in a booth, which was extremely tightly spaced, and the heating (I was there in January) was up very high. It wasn’t particularly comfortable. The call bell for service was generally effective except for when we requested the bill and had to call three times.
The savoury snack foods were great — we tried a tofu dish, seaweed salad, and also pickled cucumbers. I would definitely recommend getting some to go with whatever sweet drinks you pick. The drinks are average and they seemed fairly accommodating of minor changes.
Overall I would say that the food is fine, but the atmosphere isn’t the greatest and it’s not particularly conducive to a long-​winded conversation or catchup with friends as it’s not that comfortable. They do have free wifi, though, which is convenient.

The environment is simple and spacious enough for several groups to chat and hangout! There are definitely enough servers to serve the people! They were pretty attentive and friendly!
I got this dessert called fallen in love for about £5, and it has grass jelly, strawberries, ice cream, and syrup. I think it was more on the pricey side for the quality and appearance of it. The strawberries didn’t appear too fresh and I couldn’t tell if it was naturally sweet with the syrup on top. The dessert looked more appetizing on the menu.
Btw, they had free wifi, but somehow I couldn’t log on.

4 stars for flavor, 3 for price/​boba selection. Very friendly, even at a late hour, but it was understaffed which led to a bottleneck of orders. Really tasty tea — and gobs of options on that front, but the boba/​pearl/​jelly selection is a bit weak.

Fresh boba. Solid tea.
Hot Almond Milk Tea is my standard for cold days. Got that and it’s good.
I’m fascinated how the hot tea comes in an almost same container to the regular cold tea.

It’s a bubble tea place, that also serves food in their restaurant area. On account of them having a dedicated takeaway/​restaurant split, this might account for the prices being a little higher than comparable places.
Seating is normally full on the ground floor. When that happens, you’re taken downstairs (should it not already be booked for karaōke) where you have truly awful mtv style karaōke playing in all directions. If you like Miley Cyrus, you’re in heaven!
There are no staff downstairs so to get their attention you press a little buzzer for service like on a plane. Quite cool, and you’ll want to press it for no reason.
This said, I’ve never been impressed with the bubble tea here. It’s a combination of the mugs they’re served in (look cloudy and un-​washed) plus the staff that can be a little intimidating. Plus you can only collect stamps when gettting takeaway. What’s that about…
I hear better things about the food, so maybe that pushes this up a star. However for now and just on the bubble tea and restaurant, it’s average at best.

Boba Jam sell my new favourite drinks, milk fruit tea with tapioca pearls. There is a take away side and a small seated café next door, I’ve only been into the take-​away side so far.
They have a range of fruit and milk teas and lots of different tapioca and fruit that you can choose from. Every day they select 2 drinks from their menu to put onto promotion at buy one get one free and at £3.60 it’s not bad.
They served the drink with a sealed lid, which they put into a machine to apply — quite interesting to watch. They serve with a giant straw which is used to suck up the tapioca, which is also known as popping boba as it pops in your mouth

I was so lucky stumbling on this asian joint!
The name told me they must have boba tea — and sure they did! Plenty of f flavours and variants of both the drink an the pearls!
They also have super deal on eating — choose any 3 dishes for £10! I am glad we went in, I guess I would never have gone here to eat specifically. We had chicken and spring rolls and it was so-​o-​o– delish!!! Super!
Brown sugar tea is sweet and has a specific taste but I liked it.
The original is often the best.
I always go for the cold milk teas.
If you haven’t tried boba tea before — you should go here!
If you already have tried it — go here anyway! It is good!

I am such a big fan of Boba Jam. Me and my boyfriend discovered it a few years ago and we’ve watched it grow from a pokey little juice bar, into a cute café, into a multi-​levelled bustling business!
Bubble tea/​juice is just so much fun: so many flavours and combinations to pick from and every one I’ve tried has been delicious! I love their desserts too, the waffles with mango are just incredible: lovely and crunchy on the outside but soft and doughy inside.
Prices (especially for London) are very reasonable. The interior is casual, fun and always clean. If you’re looking for somewhere to regress back into a little kid for a while then Boba Jam is the place to go.

Boba joy!
What an amazing menu! This place serves all sorts of tapioca-​filled yummy teas, crazily sweet drinks and fantastic looking deserts. I tried the hot ‘okinawan’ tea (with black sugar.) It was incredibly sweet, but in a good way… and I finished it with a cheesy sugar-​induced grin.
Yee Gan… it’s time for you to go back… the photos of crepes on the menu looked delicious, and my friend’s waffle made him all smiley. (^^)