My wife and I went to Sweet Retreat on a Sunday evening. Not very busy, and the wait (I didn't time it) was quite reasonable, and the staff were very pleasant and got our orders right. The decor is plain. We ate in. The restaurant was quiet enough (around 67 decibels) for quiet conversation, even though I'm a little deaf at 84. The overhead menu walks you through composing your own poke bowl or ramen noodles. I had the poke bowl, with sushi rice, shrimp, edamame, cucumber, seaweed salad, and spicy tuna, and several other things. I asked for it spicy, and that's what I got. I enjoyed it all thoroughly. My wife was pleased with her ramen noodles - I should have tried them for this review, but I forgot to. We don't do the sweet stuff, so I can't comment on it, nor did we order any drinks. The two of us got out for $33, including a 10% tip. read more

Sweet Retreat - Part of the overhead menu, how you start. - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

See all

Tonkontsu ramen with pork was delicious and a good price ($13.50) but the plain unsweetened iced tea was $6.50! I'll be back but I won't be ordering iced tea. read more

This is such a cute cafe that offers boba, ice cream, poke, and ramen. I've had the boba tea and ramen and both were really good! In honestly i don't like the boba so i got my drink without but that is an option! Ingredients seem fresh and I enjoyed my lunch. read more

Sweet Retreat - Spicy tuna bowl - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

I am usually in and out of this place in less than 10 minutes because i only order boba. this time it took over 30 minutes to get 2 teas. the first 15 minutes me and my boyfriend were clueless and didn't know why we weren't getting our teas, other people were getting theirs. My boyfriend finally got up and was going to ask about our drinks and the sweet girl that was working there told us they were brewing more. i wish we were told this so we weren't clueless the whole time. The employees were super nice, wish there was communication. Passion fruit tea is my favorite, never disappoints. read more

Sweet Retreat - Passion fruit tea with tapioca pearls - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

Went with my young son to get boba. The store was cute. The boba tea was delicious and I would have been back if it weren't for the young girl with glasses at the front. I don't know where she got her customer service skills from but she wouldn't know good service if it sat up and bit her. She was on her phone the whole time, no greeting nothing. When my son, a literal child, struggled to navigate the tablet she sat there and laughed, saying nothing to either of us. I was annoyed but didn't want to cause a scene so I just helped him myself. If you're in customer service, you help your customers. I was gonna let it go and maybe pick a boba place with more competent staff, until I overheard the girl telling her friend who she had no issue yapping with but couldn't help us that my son was the r word. Seriously??? I wanted to say something but my son was already crying so we just left. Young girl, probably a teenager. Brown looking long hair and glasses. I would reconsider her employment because I've half a mind to go to Maryville Speaks Out and the paper and see what they think about this! read more

Ok place. Disappointed because we stopped by looking for rolled ice cream, which they don't have. They appear to had shifted their focus to poke bowls, ramen, and bubble tea and offer dipped ice cream as well, but only in 6 flavors. They were OK but clearly just bought from a food service vendor, not house made or anything. Run by a bunch of teenagers who didn't really care. Got our orders wrong, and blamed us. We won't be back. read more

Sweet Retreat - Menu board 1 - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

See all

Rolled ice cream and boba tea... sign me up! I'm a big fan of sweet cream mixed with strawberries, throw some bananas and marshmallows on top for added sweetness and my tastebuds are in heaven! Seriously though, give this place a try. You won't regret it. read more

Sweet Retreat - a hand holding a cup of ice cream - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

The poke is great! I also had a brown sugar bubble tea and it was okay. It sort of tasted just like unsweetened milk. I definitely will return for the poke bowl! read more

Amazing food, great staff!!! I love this place!!! A great place to get your Poke and Ramen fix in Blount Co. A weekly treat for our family!!! They also have great boba drinks!!! read more

Yummy ramen and boba tea right in Alcoa! A perfect lunch spot. It's small, with just a few tables and sparsely decorated, but the food was good. You place your order and pay on a computer kiosk without interacting with any staff. The menu was clear and I had no trouble navigating the system, but if someone was new to ramen, poke bowls, or boba, this would be a very intimidating situation with nobody to answer questions. read more

See all

My husband and I picked up lunch to go. We both got the 2 protein bowl, tuna and salmon - both were fresh and delicious. Will definitely go back again! read more

Finally, rolled ice cream near home!! I know some don't get the appeal, but like dippin dots, it's still "just" ice cream, but the rolled texture makes it taste way better! If you've never tried it, you should. They also have several milk teas and boba that we didn't get a chance to try, but they looked so yummy when other patrons left with theirs! My only complaint is that they have the floor sectioned off in a way that you can't watch them roll the ice cream which is a big part of the novelty of it. In an age where everyone wants something interesting to share to social media, I think letting customers watch the process like other rolled ice cream parlors do would help them out! read more

I'm so glad Maryville has a boba place and getting this milk tea delicacy isn't reserved for my trips to Atlanta or San Diego. You know they're an expert place when they offer adjustments on the amount of sweetness. I always get my signature order, medium taro milk tea with regular boba at 30% sweetness. The boba is freshly cooked, not undercooked. It's perfectly chewy. Decrease in sugar option allows me to focus on the light and pleasant taro flavor. Consistent performance in creating high quality milk tea orders at this location. They also offer rolled ice cream, but this item in general is not my preference, so I cannot speak to the quality of that item. Couple of tables outside and 1 table inside. I prefer to stop in and take the item to go. read more

Sweet Retreat - Medium taro milk tea with regular boba, 30% sugar - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

Wish I wouldn't of waited to try this for so long, poke bowl was fresh and big portion. Many options to customize, boba was delicious too. Cute space. All ordering is done via a tablet read more

Sweet Retreat - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

We absolutely loved our first poke bowls here. We will for sure be returning. Everything was so fresh and delicious. Can't wait to go back. It was also very well priced read more

See all

The first time I stopped in I just didn't get it. Rolled ice cream with three added ingredients for $7. I went next door to the health food store and got a Hail Mary mini Key Lime Tart. It was very satisfying and only $3. Tonight I got here at 7:15 and Apple tree was closed so I caved in. I ordered peanut butter ice cream with M&Ms, Oreos and mangos. The girls who work there are nice, service was fine. The place is clean enough, although Covid Barren. The ice cream, because it is rolled on a cold plate, it was hard to distinguish the flavor and the added bits are layer on top, including two Oreos intact, inserted in the top. I think it would be an improvement if they rolled the added ingredients into the ice cream. And I should have let it thaw before attempting to eat. Almost broke my spoon. And for god sake crush the oreos into the roll Just my $0.02 read more

Husband and kids loved the Ramen and rice. They will be back and I will try to eat some next time as well!

I was very happy with my Poke Bowl and BoBa Tea. I did my best to recreate the Joy Classic from Joy Bowl in Springfield, MA as it is my go to. I was very happy with the result. My only recommendation would be for them to have a few standard bowls, like my favorite Joy Classic, to speed things up and make it easier for new visitors. read more

Excellent food and drinks. Good customer service. Try different items each time you go.

The rolled ice cream is so good my favorite flavor is strawberry. It is a very calm environment. Definitely PD and staff is nice read more

Sweet Retreat - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

See all

The ramen was mediocre. The broth did not have the rich, depth of flavor a traditional broth would have. However, the taro boba tea my wife got made her hit me less the rest of the day. Luckily that recovered an otherwise disappointing meal. read more

Omg This is the best ice cream in Blount county! The fact that more people don't know about it or have had a chance to experience this traditional Asian style ice cream is so sad. Taro and Red bean is a very traditional flavor and it's super underrated . Taro has a sweet cereal milk like taste almost a cookies and milk flavor naturally and red bean is a very sweet rich flavor They also have really good bubble tea! So many flavors read more

We love this place. The poke bowls are fresh and filling. The boba teas come in a variety of flavors. I prefer to get mine with only half the sugar but they are delicious. Wait time varies depending how busy they are, anywhere from 10-20 mins, so keep that in mind if you are in a rush. read more

So yummy and even more fun to create it! There are so many mixtures that you can make and none of them can be wrong. I really enjoyed my rolled ice cream and the adorable decor inside. If you haven't stopped here and like rolled ice cream, then you're missing out! read more

Sweet Retreat - Strawberry ice cream, marshmallow bits, whip cream, raspberries, and caramel sauce. - Bubble Tea Near Me - Alcoa, Tennessee

Bad customer service Story time!!! i was with a friend and we went in there to get so ice cream and boba and my friend got very berry and another girl TOOK hers and also the boba that i got was bad.NEVER GO BACK AGAIN! DONT RECOMMEND read more

Over an hour wait. Stained and limited seating. Will never return. Extremely poor customer service. 1 employee only.

The service is just fine, no music to fill up awkward silence while you wait. And I usually end up waiting for quite a while. The prices are good and the bubble tea is fantastic! read more

We visited Sweet retreat yesterday for the first time. We have never eaten rolled ice cream and we were very pleased with our experience. The three of us tried cheesecake, vanilla and chocolate with a variety of toppings. We look forward to returning. read more

Great bubble tea! Strawberry was great and counter person fast and friendly. Will definitely be going back