Watched food prep workers through curtains and saw older man grab green beans and other food items with his bare hands several times. He went back and forth between the counter and cooking area without regard to what he was touching as he prepared different orders. Food tastes good but portions have shrunk a little. read more

Finally tried this place at The Lanai Food Court in Ala Moana. Good News & Bad News!! Let's start with the Bad! OMG!! WARNING!! The food(Chinese take-out) is UTTERLY LOADED WITH MSG!! We ordered the MINUTE CHICKEN CRISPY NOODLES. Their most popular dish -- Generous portion, fresh, Great Flavor... but 20min into eating it.... ***Bandabi, StrawBEARy & I were lying about the living room like shriveled listless slugs that just had salt poured on them!! =P We were seriously rendered utterly incapable of doing anything remotely productive.... for over 5 hours!! =(! And I wouldn't say I'm particularly sensitive to MSG.. Have eaten at dozens of Chinese & Vietnamese restaurants who for sure use it in their cooking and felt perfectly fine. So to have this bad of an MSG attack, there had to have been an UNGODLY AMOUNT of MSG in there!! =O What's worse, we even went back the next day to give the food another try. We thought it would be fine if we just requested them to prepare the food with NO MSG. The guy behind the counter said "We don't add any msg in our food." What??! Are you kidding me??! I know my body's reaction to MSG to the T! Pounding headache, mental fog, dry mouth, and just feeling downright miserable!! Argh!!! This is the exact feeling we got! I'm sorry but I find what he said terribly hard to believe!! Anyway, we had no desire to argue with him, and absolutely did not want to risk another msg attack again! That's 5 precious hours of our life we can Never. Get. Back. Ugh!! The Good News! Good Bubble Teas & Fresh Fruit Smoothies! ROSE JASMINE MILK TEA! I LOVE ROSE anything! Got it 25% Sweetness, which was actually still a tad on the sweet side (next time I'll say 10% sweet!), but the flavor was just LOVELY!! You could really taste the Rose & fragrant Jasmine tea....^^!! The BOBA BUBBLES were pretty good but not as chewy & bouncy as many other Bubble Tea places.. Anyway the drink was a dream! WATERMELON SMOOTHIE w/ BLACK GRASS JELLY! Totally refreshing, not too sweet, and SUPER COOL -- they cut up the jelly into rectangle pieces (like the lychee & rainbow jelly they also have)! Every other bubble tea place we've tried, they always put in a couple huge globs of the jelly which you have to break up yourself with the straw. Speaking of straw, please clean/reuse the plastic boba straw or buy reusable metal boba straws online! Every bit of single-use plastics we can avoid discarding into our environment helps!! =) The FRESH FRUIT SMOOTHIES & TEAS/MILK TEAS here are FANTASTIC! This will def be our GO-TO bubble drink place in Ala Moana! Bravo!^^ Drinks GOOD!! =) MSG-laden Food (which you can't request with no msg because they say they don't use any.. right....) BAAAAAAD!!! =( read more

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Ate here for the first time and it was pretty tasty. I ordered the minute chicken with crispy noodles. The crispy noodles were very thin which I personally preferred, but didn't realize it until my order came out. There was so much sauce to compliment everything else in the dish. I also ordered a milk tea which was delicious, but nothing special about it. They sell a variety of drinks and quick Chinese food. The staff are quick and friendly. Lots of area to sit at and lots of parking since it's in a mall. This place is located in the Lanai food court where the old Shirokiya used to be at the Ala Moana Center across from Macys. read more

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This review is only for the smoothies haven't tried any of their food. This place is probably my favorite mainly because they have such a huge variety of smoothies while a lot of tea places usually only have a few options and they don't use read fruit most of their menu they use real fruit except a couple like taro they use powder. And even better you can mix any of them together. Li hing is my favorite and I also mix it with a new fruit. Sooo good for any li hing lovers. The only downfall is the waiting is kinda awkward since some people wait in the middle of the walkway since there isn't much space to wait to also social distance. So glad this place is so convenient and fast! read more

HiTEA Cafe - Strawberry Li Hing - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I was looking forward to trying this place since I learned that they use real fruits in most of their smoothies/teas. I ordered their eggplant tofu which turned out extremely bland...this may have been because I asked for it non-spicy (and it's listed as spicy), but I really wish they would've taken that into consideration when cooking it. I ordered a plantation iced tea with it since I saw on the menu that certain teas (including the plantation iced tea) would be $4.50 when ordering with an entree (as opposed to the regular price of $5.50) The plantation iced tea was good. My friend (who also agreed that the food was extremely bland) asked how much the food was, so I looked at the receipt and saw they had charged me the regular $5.50 instead of the discounted $4.50. I went to the cashier (cause as Ross Gellar said-"It's about the principle!") and explained to the worker I was overcharged. She pretended to be all confused, acted like she didn't know what I was talking about, then finally took a dollar out of their tip jar and handed it to me without apologizing. The fact that she grabbed money out of the tip jar without checking with someone tells me she's most likely not just an hourly worker but possibly the owner or at least a manager. Between that and her fake acting, I can only conclude that she purposely overcharged me hoping I wouldn't catch it. Terrible business practice. I won't be going back. read more

Food is good. Quantity is scant. Weird having a boba place serving Chinese food. There is a discount if you order a boba or milk tea with your plate. I believe it's only $3.50 extra for the drink. Usually it's almost $5 by itself. read more

HiTEA Cafe - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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This review is strictly for drinks. My son had a milk tea and I had a smoothie and they were ok. I think both could have been a little sweeter and price was kinda high since it's Ala Moana. Probably would stick to good options if I returned. read more

HiTEA Cafe - Lychee milk tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

This 5-star review is for their drink menu. This is the holy grail of drink options. Smoothies, teas, toppings, you got it. If there is anything you want ranging from tropical smoothies to jasmine tea, they got you covered. In my one week visit home, my best friend introduced me to this newer spot (I hadn't been to the Lanai yet) and I tried the plum (basically an lihing tea drink) which was amazing. Add in some star shaped mango jellies for an added zing. After that visit, I tried 5-6 other drink combinations and none of them let me down. I esp liked the papaya and lilikoi smoothie and the oolong strwbery tea. I feel the drinks here are a little on the sweeter side, so if you want to cut down on calories and sugar or just prefer less sweet, you can always ask for 1/3 sweetness or whatever ratio you think works for you. Def a stop for me when I'm shopping at the mall. read more

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They don't have the plum anymore (not sure when that happened, likely during the pandemic??? idk) so that's a bummer, since it was my favorite drink there. My brother enjoyed his strawberry banana smoothie though. 3 stars because it's good and reliable, but now their drink menu is pretty much base-line. nothing really special that stands out. I haven't had the food here even after all these years lol, so I can't speak to that yet! read more

Love stopping by HiTea Cafe in Ala Moana Center everytime we go shopping. We are creatures of habit and always get the same thing, Mango smoothie with extra mango flavor and boba, strawberry smoothie, no boba and if we are hungry minute chicken with crispy noodles. Winner everytime!!! Maybe we'll try something different one day read more

HiTEA Cafe - Minute chicken with crispy noodles. Mango smoothie with boba. Strawberry smoothie no boba. - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Had the beef chow fun was greasy and very bland . Definitely will not eat here again. read more

Very disappointing. No flavor to the food. No salt, no spice. If they used soy sauce at all, it must have been diluted or zero sodium. You're better off at Panda Express. Good size portions, but that's just more flavorless food. The menu shows "no MSG" they may want to rethink that policy read more

HiTEA Cafe - Lunch - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

So far everything that I've tried here has been amazingly good and their bubble drinks/real fruit smoothies are just as amazing. I just found out their head Chef (who is Chinese - so you know the food is authentic) was pulled out of retirement from a VERY well known Chinese restaurant on the island and is pushing out authentic Chinese cuisine here. If you're in the area, I highly recommend this place located at the new food court in the Ala Moana Shopping Center. SUPPORT LOCAL - These guys and gals are really great people. read more

HiTEA Cafe - New on the menu, Bitter Melon Beef!! If you're a fan of Bitter Melon (this was my first time trying it) - this plate lunch is for you! - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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I wanted to try something different today so I ate the beef with stir fry vegetables and this was so delicious too!! I normally get the beef with broccoli which is my go to menu at HiTea Cafe.....they also give generous portions...the meat, veggies and rice was cooked perfectly.....I literally mopped off the plate!! read more

HiTEA Cafe - Beef with stir fry vegetables - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

HiTEA is located in the lanai food court, the fancier and newer of the two ala Moana food courts. It offers milk teas, iced teas and fresh fruit smoothies with toppings like boba, coffee jelly and azuki beans. In addition to the plethora of drinks you can order, they also have pretty good Chinese take out food options. It's kind of similar to Panda Express, but with more variety. I've been here twice. The first time, I ordered crispy noodles with eggplant on top. It was really good. I like that they have a combo option because I was going to get a drink anyway! Nice. The second time I was here, it was late on a Monday night and we ordered milk teas with boba. The milk tea is just ok. In the future, I'll stick to the flavored iced teas. The boba was awful though. It was too hard and some of them were inedible. Boo. read more

I wasn't expecting much from HiTea but my bf comes here quite often for their Thai tea with coconut. He also raved about the Chinese food but I didn't believe him (being that I grew up with good Chinese food from my dad). Well I guess I should trust my bf more often cause I started becoming addicted to their bubble tea. Reminds me of the ones in Chinatown.. although I believe they use powder. I tried their taro coconut and lychee coconut. Both good.. the lychee was a bit too sweet for me though. Their tapioca balls were perfect in texture (I'm picky about my balls). I can usually tell if the tapioca balls are good then the bubble tea is going to be good. I also tried some of their food and I must say I'm pretty impressed considering it's coming from a food court. They're not only generous in portion but the food is pretty legit. The minute chicken fried noodle reminds me of how my dad makes fried noodle. Price is also reasonable for the amount of food you get. For Chinese food cravings, this place ain't so bad! read more

HiTEA Cafe - My fav here.. taro coconut smoothie - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

You would never expect a tea shop to have solid food with great prices. Tbh most people were going for food over teas. Their drink menu seems more like the powdered old school milk teas but I'm not entirely sure. Overall, service was super fast and even if there was a line, the food came out in less than 10-15 minutes. You can also basically order almost any of their entrees on crispy noodle, so even if it's not on the menu, just ask! I was able to get chicken broccoli crispy noodle with no carrots! I was really impressed with the portion and taste of my dish, and I was joking that they gave me a whole head of broccoli (my favorite vegetable)! It's very rare that I have leftovers these days, but the portion was super big!! :) Hi tea also updated their website ordering so you can order online and skip the line to make it even more convenient. Next time I'll be back to try the house crispy noodle! read more

HiTEA Cafe - Chicken broccoli crispy noodle and minute chicken crispy noodle - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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What a great place to have a cold drink & oriental dishes. They have many drinks that can tailor to customers' desire. Not one who is fond of sweet drinks, they were able to add only 1/4 sweetness to the jasmine green tea I ordered; love the drink! Their Singapore style rice noodle dish was very tasty. More importantly, their employees were super friendly and unparalleled patient when dealing with customs who had hard time deciding what to order. My highest compliment!! read more

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The salt and pepper pork chop was pretty good but they should put a little bit more because of the bone. Too much rice for the meat portion. Lychee tea was ok. The lady giving the food was not ok, I asked for tissues and she just pointed out at the dispenser where I didn't see any tissues. So the cashier guy came to the rescue lol read more

HiTEA Cafe - Salt and Pepper pork chop - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

One of the best boba places on Oahu and their Chinese food is legit. Reminds me of boba cafes in Asia where you can get a boba drink and grab really good food at the same time. All made fresh to order and their staff is always helpful and friendly if you ever have questions. Pretty much all boba drinks are delicious - I always order the fruit flavored teas. Salt Pepper Pork Chops, singapore rice noods, homestyle rice noods (super cantonese-style), fried rices, black pepper chicken are all really good. Tip: click on HiTea's website link on this Yelp page and it'll forward you to an online ordering link. Order online, park in 10-min stall right outside of Lanai food hall so you can just grab-and-go without having to deal with parking or waiting on line. read more

Best Chinese take out for chow fun and minute chicken crispy noodle. I miss the spicy sour soup they used to sell. The taste is great and worth the money. Bring back spicy and sour soup though! read more

This place was busy and the line was consistent! Good thing the cashier was nice and well-versed in the menu so our check out was quick. One size for their drinks so all you really have to choose is your flavor of smoothies or milk teas. They also sell juices, stir fry, and noodles. Its a good stop in the mall if you're shopping at Macys and don't plan to shop anywhere else. read more

HiTEA Cafe - (L) Almond Milk Tea (No boba) (R) Thai Milk Tea (+$0.50 Tapioca) - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

We enjoy the dishes here. One of our go to dishes is the minute chicken with crispy noodles. Flavorful and the noodles are nice and crispy. We like to ask for our sauce to be separate from the noodles so that it will remain crispy until we get home. Other dishes we have enjoyed are the salt and pepper pork chop over crispy noddles, eggplant tofu, beef chow fun, Singapore noodles with more curry flavor, and one of our new favs is black pepper chicken. Prices are pretty reasonable for what you get. The drinks are pretty good and tasty. A deal too when you get it with your plate. Smoothies are yummy but I really enjoy their teas. The honey lemon is nice and refreshing. So is the plantation tea. A nice flowery tea is their jasmine milk teas. Workers are really nice there. The wait for the food isn't long at all. read more

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Decided on trying someplace new today, so walked over to the Lanai at Ala Moana. That Lanai has a good variety of restaurants to please almost everyone. Lots of chairs and tables. Looked all over until HiTeas smoothies caught my eye. No line, so I ordered my go to smoothie, Banana and Strawberry. Noticed, only one size. I was hungry, so I settled on stir fry broccoli and beef. My order came out quickly. The smoothie was good; no complaints. The stir fry had lots of taste, lots of beef and broccoli. The beef was so soft and the broccoli was cooked just right. I had to take home what I couldn't eat because they gave a lot. I would go again and try other stir fry dishes and of course another smoothie. read more

HiTEA Cafe - Beef broccoli stir fry with smoothie - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

HiTea Cafe is located at Ala Moana Center specifically at the area called The Lanai, 2nd floor. You can ask direction from staffs working inside Ala Moana Shopping Center or grab map at the tourist information desk that scattered somewhere. ~ It is also a good place to grab on-the-go lunch or dinner. Plus there are available tables & chairs to eat your food outside the food court w/c is a very convenient place for those who have pets with them. Lanai is one of my favorite place for on-the-go. ~ Been to Lanai multiple times but this is actually my 1st time to order food from this stall. And I wonder how come I didn't consider this before. LoL. ~ Basically it's chinese food and some authentic teas and smoothies, few of the food listed on their menu. They prepare the food pretty good and I admit I love the flavor and the umami taste. It's really a Chinese thing! ~ I ordered shrimp and vegetables and I love the food. It comes with a choice of brown/white rice. I love its texture and the broccoli was cook to perfection. The shrimp is good and it was cooked just right. It was sumptuous! ~ The price is reasonable. I mean, that's the most price they give it here on a plated meal. The cuisine they serve in here is a good try for someone who's craving for chinese foods and teas! Almost all in one. Pretty sure I'll be back to try out their other menu.... ~ Aloha and enjoy juandering those sumptuous food! read more

HiTEA Cafe - Counter area - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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This place has really good boba and drinks. They make a bomb Thai Tea smoothie, and are flexible with sugar levels!

I just ordered the black pepper chicken from them, came home, eating it and there is no pepper taste at all. I ordered that before and I remember the pepper was affecting my sinus. This time, nothing at all. When the salesperson showed me the plate, I thought it looked more like minute chickens and I asked him to verify if it was black pepper chicken and he confirmed it was. It is tasty but was looking forward for some spices... so, disappointed. read more

When you think of Chinese food in a mall/food court setting, you think counter service style like Panda Express, etc. You definitely don't think about food being made to order at a reasonable price, especially when the setting is Ala Moana Center. Located at The Lanai directly across from Macy's, HiTEA Cafe is just one of several dining options if you're feeling froggy. The menu is pretty expansive given the location, and menu options range from noodle dishes to favorites like salt and pepper pork chops, minute chicken, etc. all cooked to order. Not in the mood for a meal? Fear not, they have fresh squeezed juices, fresh fruit smoothies and teas (milk and non) all also made to order. I've been here a few times and am a fan of their eggplant tofu and the honey lemon tea. The pork chops are next on my list to try. Service is friendly and relatively fast, but food can take a bit depending on how many folks are ahead of you. This place is definitely a good option if you want fresh, somewhat fast food that hasn't been sitting out on a counter top for mass consumption. read more

HiTEA Cafe - Eggplant Tofu - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

The drinks are tasty and the food is delicious. Our go to for drinks are the watermelon and Wintermelon tea. Can't adjust the sweetness and these are more on the sweeter side which we love. We love the orange chicken. It is always fresh and crispy and just enough orange flavor. The wait for drinks is very quick and you might wait a bit for the food but it's worth it. read more

Aww fellow Yelpers, you let me down today... Was encouraged by the 4 stars and read through the reviews, decided on the Beef chow fun and I am disappointed! From the wait time to the smaller portion than I expected - because most of the reviews mentioned the large portions! (?) Then after digging in, I found the noodles to be VERY bland and the only way to get any taste is to drown it in chili sauce. Ah, for 15 dollars, this was a tasteless waste of money and time I spent in line to order and then the long wait for the food. read more

First time eating here today and I have to say the food is tasty. I ordered #C6 which is shrimp and vegetables with brown rice. Good amount of food given even the shrimp. I only ordered the plate but you can add in a ea milk drink for $3 more. My order cost $13. The staff is really nice and friendly. The service was quick. Definitely coming back! I posted the menu board too. Come by and visit... read more

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More like 3/3.5 stars. Can't speak to the food which looked pretty good, and the milk tea did come out impressively fast. It's $4.25 which isn't too bad for Ala Moana, but I think since there's so many options there's better and comparably priced milk tea everywhere. I guess the location is perhaps the most convenient for most shoppers, however. I had the lychee milk tea and it was very sweet and artificial tasting. Decent portion, but it left a strange residue in my mouth, if you've had the bulk-made milk tea available in longs and stuff, I think made by teapresso for mass consumption, that's a bit what this was like. Passable, but if I were to return it would be to try the food. read more

HiTEA Cafe - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

As good as their plates looked, I only got a boba drink as I just had lunch at another establishment. I'll definitely try one of their stir-fry plates one-day! I ordered my usual Honeydew Milk Tea with boba. I initially wanted a Li Hing Mui smoothie, but that day they were out of li hing mui. Shucks! :( Their menu has tons of drink variety so I stuck to my go-to. It was difficult at first deciding what I wanted as my replacement order. It was my first time trying the honeydew milk tea here. It was very refreshing. I also noticed they use honeydew powder, which I don't mind. My drink was $5 something and they made it extremely quick. As soon as I was done paying my drink was ready already! That's amazing for how quick they are! Their service is awesome and their menu is extensive. I'm sure there's a drink for everyone out there. Can't wait to come back to try their food and update this review! read more

Believe it or not, but this boba tea place has really good Chinese food. You might miss it on the menu as their tea offerings dominate their menu board, but there is a good assortment of dishes to order to suit just about anyone's Chinese food craving. The thing I like is that the food is made to order so it comes out hot and fresh. You get a good serving and it is very tasty. So far I have tried 4 different dishes and all of them were very good. Chinese food has a bad reputation for being greasy, but being that is made to order, you isn't heavy at all. If you want something on the light or healthier side, they do offer vegetarian, chicken, and seafood dishes as well. It is really surprising to find such good food at this place that focuses on boba teas. They do offer a combo special if you order a dish and a tea together. Even though it is made to order, the wait time is minimal. The staff are all friendly when taking your order despite the busy tea preparations they are whipping out constantly. So if you are in the mood for some Chinese takeout and are in the mall, go check out this place. It isn't like going to Chinatown for the good stuff, but is sure beats Panda Express any day! read more

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First time trying HiTea at The Lanai! You can't beat the convenience of having these tea/smoothie spots on every corner these days, and better yet if they have tons of food options to go with​ as well! They have an extensive menu of milk teas/teas and smoothies, and prices are really reasonable for the size. I wanted to try their tea and decided on the Peach Jasmine. Most places ask if you want any toppings and how sweet you want it, but the cashier who took my order forgot to ask about the sweetness level and my drink came out too sweet. Not a big deal if you like sweet drinks but since I personally like the taste of tea, those flavors didn't come through this time. The wait here is quick and I'd like to try out some of their food items the next time I drop by. Overall a good place to stop if you need a refreshing drink or bite to eat while visiting the mall. They have a lot of options to choose from, so you'll probably have to keep coming back to try it all! read more

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Pretty authentic Cantonese cooking: Singapore rice noodle and chicken chow fun are exceptionally good. Beef isn't tender so recommend avoiding that. Requested less oil. All dishes made without msg. read more

Good Chinese food. I got the salt and pepper pork chop. It came with salad and 2 scoops of white rice. The salt and pepper pork chop tasted exacting like it should, fried tenderly, with a bit of crunch. When you don't want to sit down at a restaurant, but craving for Chinese food, here is the place to go. read more

My husband and I were looking for a quick bite to eat in Ala Moana and came across this place while looking around. Since we both like Chinese food and noticed they had dishes we like, we decided to try this place out; the best part is they had teas for $1.99 if buying food. I ended up getting the beef chow fun and my husband got the minute chicken with crispy noodles, and both dishes were delicious the food was freshly made as it came to us steaming hot.. I hate it when my food comes out room temperature or cold! As for our drinks, I got the honeydew melon tea and my husband got the milk tea- both drinks were really good also, not too sweet, just enough to satisfy our sweet tooth. read more

Wanted to eat noodles for dinner and ordered 2 cake noodle dishes, one broccoli beef, one minute chicken and ended up throwing both of them away although we love both of those when done well. Both sauces seemed identical and overpowering, and the noodles were a soggy mess underneath which made the whole thing unappetizing once we unpacked them at home. Had Bobas, which were okay, but I will say this restaurant did not cut it for us. read more

Looks can definitely be deceiving. When I first saw this place, I didn't think much of it and never got around to trying it. Then one day, I had some weird craving for Chinese food and sandwiches after the gym and the Lanai was the perfect place for that. We did quick research on Yelp and decided to split Ike's and the Minute Chicken Crispy Noodles and WOW it was such a huge plate that we still had enough leftovers for the next day. For Chinese fast food, it was surprisingly delicious and filled us up to the point where we felt like we ate back what we just worked off haha sigh.... Their food quality was almost just as good as a typical restaurant. I definitely would like to come back again to try their other dishes. Don't knock it 'til you try it folks! read more

HiTEA Cafe - Minute Chicken Crispy Noodles (good) - Bubble Tea Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii