Their railroad bento is really tasty and flavorful! I personally prefer chicken nuggets or pork chop. It comes with either green tea or black tea. Sometimes the rice is cooked just right, sometimes it's too sticky. Overall ok place to eat! read more

I have continued going to Tapioca express over the years and quite honestly it has decreased on service and drink quality especially when you compare it to local competitors IE ( Happy Lemon, Sharetea, Oasis). While Tapioca Express remains the only Boba shop on the Eastside (to my knowledge) with later hours they have consistently failed to make drinks correctly during my visits, and ultimately provided poor service. While I work in the Boba industry and I understand the struggles of running out of Boba, Tapioca Express has ran out of Boba on more than one occasion, made a drink half assedly (not ensuring the texture of blended drinks etc) and ultimately just not provided very warm or friendly customer service. Additionally I find that high quality boba places make most drinks in shakers, a simple process which ensures the quality of certain drinks, while Tapioca express simply mixes some drinks in the cup which had led to a syrupy mess which I often have to mix myself. Luckily I still recommend this place in some regards. Like I said it is the only place with late hours on the Eastside, and creates a great atmosphere to hang out with a group of people, one on one, or any occasion you are just looking to have a good time. Also many of the food items are quite good, namely the popcorn chicken which is as good as any boba places Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken IMO, as well as the Curry Katsu which is executed well for a good price. So in summation I would say if you are looking for your next chill spot late night on the Eastside, Tapioca Express is hard to beat, however if you are looking to impress that one Boba loving babe you have a crush on take her to a sexier boba joint. read more

Tapioca Express - Popcorn chicken is always a must. - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

I come here for the popcorn chicken. Sometimes I'm hesitant when it comes to popcorn chicken because there's too much breading and not enough chicken. However, this is not the case here! You can pick how spicy you would like it. Sometimes the 4 or 5 star is spicy and other times its not! The times that it was spicy it was SO spicy that we were struggling a little bit, and I LOVE and can handle spice. I like a good 2-3 stars so I can actually it when it comes to ordering here. I can't drink a whole thing of bubble tea so I usually take a sip or will share with someone else. The taro- they can't make like a smoothie, it turns out a little more icy. I haven't had a favorite or go-to bubble tea flavor here yet, but then again I come here for the popcorn chicken. read more

Priced well and great taste. Glimpse of where Asian kids hang out after school, with the comics/books.

They forgot my order !!! Omg... what kind of service is that?! We are waiting so long and when we ask, they just said forgot and when they finally made our order, they did it wrong. We asked for 50% sugar and less boba, yet they gave us full sugar and full boba. If we were happen to be in the area, we would never try this horrible bubble tea place. One bad experience and bad customer service is enough for us. Don't come here if you don't to be disappointed. read more

I really like their fresh fruit boba! They actually use real fruit! Why do i believe this? Because they have the fresh fruit visible in their fridge. YAY! Had their watermelon fresh fruit juice. Yum! Friend had their Avacado fresh juice.. thick! but YUM!. haha Other green tea/regular boba's are mediocre. Nothing special to write home about. Price for their fresh fruit is actually pretty reasonable. Hopefully they don't go raise it after they see this comment. That would be a :( :( :( Haven't tried their food.. so this 4 stars is strictly on their fresh fruit boba! :) Finally a decent bbtea place close to home, thats open late! mmm might be bad for the diet tho. read more

This is a bubble tea shop coupled with a Taiwanese snack shop. I liked how there were two sizes for the bubble tea - I don't need to drink 32oz of tea each time thanks! The tea was great flavor and the bubbles were big and chewy. They charge you a fee if you try to use a credit card and it's not over $5 so I would be mindful of that and bring cash for your smaller items. read more

Horrible food and boba please save yourself the time and stomach. Only good thing going for this place was the fact that it was open past 10pm. read more

My go to bubble tea place. The boba texture is nice chewy but not too soft. Excellent drink flavors and lots to choose from. They also sell really good food from small snacks (like crispy tofu ) to meals ( a bento box ). read more

I tried the railroad bento with chicken steak, katsu curry, popcorn chicken, and milk tea snow bubble. MILK TEA SLUSH is a first for Washington, after experiencing the wonders of a milk tea slush in Canada. However it was ok, I believe that they put too much coffee powder but it was still ok. The chicken steak was also average, the flavor wasn't too amazing but it was well fried. The railroad bento was kinda small so I wouldn't really recommend it. The katsu curry was really crispy and they gave a lot of curry to go with the rice. It tasted good. Overall the food was ok and it's a bit confusing on getting to the location. I would probably not go back because of the distance. read more

They just have a long menu but they don't know what a coffee taste!! We asked for milk they looked at us like we are asking for ketchup!! And the coffee?? Who serve a sweet coffee without asking..definitely not a place for coffe read more

This is a nice place to grab some bubble tea, although the times I've tried their drinks, I've been slightly disappointed with the boba. I've had their Taro bubble tea as well as their Matcha snow bubble with boba. Evidently, the snow bubble drinks are similar to a thin milk shake. It's almost like a smoothie, but with some milk in it. The flavoring of the drinks were good, but the boba were inconsistent - some were soft and nicely cooked, while others were hard in the middle (a big no-no for me). I also have tried their Crispy Chicken, which were pretty good. I had them add some spiciness to it, which I would recommend. There is a pleasant, clean ambiance to the place, and the outdoor seating is great when the weather holds up. Overall, I'd recommend it for bubble tea. There were just some issues with the boba when I went. read more

A pretty solid place if you're looking for bubble tea and food late night. It's pretty standard and I would probably come here more often if it were closer to where I live. I've been here a few times and it satisfies my boba cravings. I've gotten some milk teas and bubbles and it's pretty standard. The food is Taiwanese and at a decent price! The bento combo I got with pork over rice with popcorn chicken was about $8. I definitely had leftovers. It's not the best minced pork over rice, but it satisfies my cravings. Solid place overall, but not a destination restaurant I'd come to. read more

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Made a pit stop here and sampled their bubble tea and cold noodles. Compared to other bubble tea shops, the interior is spacious and clean. Taiwanese Cold Noodles is my all time favorite, but not from here unfortunately. The noodles had a hint of distracting taste that I can't name. As for the bubble tea, I would only rate a three out of five stars because the tapioca used doesn't have that sweet flavor. If they would switch the vendor where they get their tapioca/bubbles, I would definitely revise my stars. read more

Tapioca Express - Exterior - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

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Great place for bubble tea or food.. So many flavors to fit anyones taste. I stick with the simple Jasmin milk tea but with a twist. Adding Grass Jelly instewd of Tapioca.. They also serve food that is pretry good. Extra bonus to them for being open until 11pm and Midnight on Fri-Sat. read more

Tapioca Express - Menu of choices.. - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

Visited this place a few times. The fruit drinks are too sweet for me. I could not finish my drink. FOOD: I haven't tried their food so can't review that right now. SERVICE: Service is okay. Sometimes the server are not that helpful. PRESENTATION: Store is average size. It tends to get busy and the atmosphere is loud. It's hard to have a conversation unless you are yelling or speaking really loud. LOCATION: There is parking. It's located on a Main Street so it's easy to find. Would I come back? Maybe if my friends are planning to go but I don't know it I would go out of my way just to get a drink. read more

Tapioca Express - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

I used to love this place but not anymore. The quality of food and service are getting worse. I went there few days ago ordering railroad bento box to go. I was so disappointed when I opened it up. First, they forgot adding minced pork over the rice. Second, the pork chops was very thin and dry. For the service, the staff seemed tired and lack of smiling. I'm guessing the employer might not treat them well. I used to be a regular but I don't think I'll go back there for a while. read more

Tapioca Express - They forgot adding adding minced ground pork sauce over the rice and pork chops were very dry. Very disappointed! - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

Tapioca Express is a fun place to hang out, but their bubble tea is not very good. I ordered a lavender milk tea (they use non-dairy milk powder, yay!) with 30% sugar. It came out at a reasonable time and the bubbles were decent. The tea itself, though, tasted watery. The lavender flavor was very weak, and when I mistook my friend's jasmine milk tea for mine because they just tasted pretty much the same. That aside, I like the atmosphere and the service was good. They have a TV playing anime in the back, lots of tables, and a wall of manga on the right wall with several great series. read more

I have a Chinese class on Saturday. After this class ends me and some of my friends go. Other random people also go. The people who work there are very kind and helpful. I always get the oolong milk tea w/ popping boba, rainbow jelly and tapioca. I have been coming here for quite a while now, both on bike and car. My favorite food is the popcorn chicken with rice combo (Get black tea with it) Honorable mentions: Calamari, popcorn chicken, passion fruit slushee. Totally recommend this place 10/10 Go here when you have some free time read more

Yummy and fun Railroad Bento, tasty Popcorn Chicken, great selection of tea and juices. I recently came here during lunchtime on a Sunday with a group of 6. When a friend suggested we go here for lunch, I was surprised that a place called Tapioca Express would serve food since it sounded like a bubble tea joint. But we gave it a shot! The cafe is located in a plaza with a parking lot, so it was pretty easy to get to. The inside was spacious with plenty of tables and booths. Service was straightforward, as we ordered at the register. Drink menu was pretty big, but food menu was small. However, the food they offer is good. After placing the order, we sat down and waited for about 10-15 minutes, not bad considering it was weekend lunch rush. Railroad Bento with Popcorn Chicken: Comes with white rice, some pickled veggies, cucumber, egg, a meat sauce on the rice, and the popcorn chicken was served on the side. The presentation was cute in a little silver tin. I thought the portion was decent and the taste was good. Although other Yelpers rave about the popcorn chicken, I thought it was kind of dry on the outside, and my husband thought the chicken looked a little undercooked on the inside. Then we both got sick after the meal. Sadness. Oh well, at least it tasted good lol. Iced Black Tea: Small, came with the Railroad Bento meal. A straightforward drink that was well made with lots of ice. Cantaloupe Juice with Grass Jelly: I liked the concept that it is fresh squeezed. It was a bit expensive for the amount. The juice took forever to come out. I got my food, then had to wait another 10-15 minutes until the drink was ready. Then I discovered that they didn't put any ice in my drink, and so it was served warm. The flavor was sweet, but the warm juice with grass jelly was not a very good taste. I was too lazy to tell the staff to change it, so I ended up removing the seal and then adding ice from my husband's leftover ice tea. It was much better after that. Overall, great concept of Taiwanese cafe, decent food and drinks, but a couple of hiccups during my experience. I think I would consider giving this place another chance, if someone suggests going in the future. We'll see. read more

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There was a sign at the counter reading "fresh papaya", so a friend and I decided to try the fresh papaya snowbubble. We both agreed that it was very underwhelming... There was almost no papaya taste, just ice. We debated for a while whether to tell the staff. I'm glad we did, because they responded well and offered to get us a new drink. We both got the honeydew snowbubble instead, which was tasty as usual read more

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ordered two teas. Both taste off. The original tea I wanted was taro which I asked for the black boba balls. The cashier claimed they didn't have any boba. changed my drink to the passion fruit ice tea with the popping balls and I got small cut up fruit on the bottom. the Worse part was, a couple walked in less than 2 minutes after me and ordered next and they suddenly had the black boba balls for them. read more

Decent bubble tea place with a lot of flavor options on the eastside. Another plus is they have regular and bigger size! Downside is I don't like their vanilla tasting original milk tea but my niece loves it. This place also serves some Taiwanese food at decent pricing (some may even say cheap). Food is also decent in taste so probably a good place for lunch or dinner and getting your bubble tea fix at the same time! Yes, convenience is nice. read more

Tapioca Express - Hot honey black tea and original milk tea with tapioca - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

This is like the Eastside's "Oasis" because it stays open late whether you are actually craving boba or just want a place to hang out and chat, they are open until midnight on weekdays and 1am on weekends. They have a huge variety of choices to drink with 2 sizes to choose from unlike most places that only has large size. They also serve food which I'm not exactly sure how good it is, but there's also a lot more choices to choose from and some are actual meals, not just snacks like popcorn chicken although they do have popcorn chicken. There's shaved iced and other desserts. It's located in a shopping plaza, parking shouldn't be too hard, but then again I've only gone during nights when all other stores are closed. There's ton of Manga on a cute bookshelf, unfortunately it's all in Japanese which doesn't make sense because boba is a Taiwanese thing. If there's provocative Mangas, I wouldn't complain because I'll just pay attention to the graphics, but there isn't so I actually need English subtitles to be able to be through the stories. Tell me about your experience if you've been here or is going to after reading this review:) read more

Solid popcorn chicken, if you want a quick light meal. Very much Taiwanese street-food style, but delivered in a suburban strip mall format.

Haven't been back here since winter, so I was happy to stop by to fuel up before my evening class. It wasn't packed, but wasn't dead neither. I got a mango ice with mango jelly, which was nice and refreshing, not too sweet. I love their jelly/tapioca selection! I also got Fried Squid Balls and Spicy Popcorn Chicken. The squid ball were "ok". I asked for a "4" of a sauciness level between 1-5, and it was definitely very very spicy! Would be ok if there was more flavor to it, not just the chili pepper. The popcorn chicken, also a "4", was perfect though! Spicy enough and flavorful. Also very crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Not chewy like at some places. Overall, it a great spot to grab a quick bite or have lunch at. The service is friendly and quick. The restaurant looks clean and nicely designed. I think there are comics available for reading too, or something of that sort. Will definitely be back soon! Update: wow, I don't know what happened to this place. As far as food goes, it's always great, that is the only reason I still come here. But what happened to the "service"?! The last several times I came in to grab some yummies before class, but there was a good minute of awkward silence before I was given attention and asked what I wanted. The lady behind the counter always seems to be too busy with doing whatever it is she is doing, it seemed as if my presence was bothering her. I'm not sure if she's the manager or the owner, but a simple "hello" would do it if you're so busy. I guess I last time I came in, I named my drink wrong out of excitement that I finally got her attention and could now order. Might have said "green tea" instead of "green apple" by accident. She proceeded to give me "looks" and telling me about the green teas they have in an annoyed way. Once I realized my mistake, I apologized for the confusion and told her the correct name of the drink. All to a super annoyed face and no smile. I was going to order some food too, but nevermind, not with that attitude. The other time I was in she acted the same way with having to give me a bag for my to-go order. I'm sorry lady, we all have bad days, but don't act like that towards your customers every time they come in. So disappointed, because I really love the food and drinks here. read more

Tried the Tropical Fruit Tea with tapioca; it was good, had good flavor and the tapioca texture was good. I heard the food there was tasty, but I had just had dinner, so didn't get to try any. This place is far from me, but if I'm ever in the area, I would want to give this place another chance and try another bubble tea and their food. read more

Tapioca Express - Tropical Fruit Tea - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

This place was pretty nice, I got the jasmine milk tea and I thought it was one of the better ones I've had. The total for jasmine with boba was 4.25 so it was on the pricy side but it's pretty worth it. The topping choices weren't too extensive, but there were a variety of drinks. There are also games and the environments. They let us move tables for a big group too! read more

Tapioca Express - Jasmine tea - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

They didn't put whip cream on my drink when I specifically asked them to. I even asked again after they made my drink and they told me they couldn't do it. Service was slow and they also didn't greet me when I walked in. read more

Gonna have to downgrade this sucka a little bit. The first reason why is the popcorn chicken. While the flavor is still awesome, the dark meat and large chunks of fat and cartilage have made this less and less appealing, to the point where we don't order it any more cuz it kinda grosses us out. The smell is still addicting, but we've learned better. Reason number 2: many of the drinks are just not that good. I still really like the juices. The taro snow bubble was ok. But the caramel frappe blended coffee thing was kinda gross, their thai tea was a little gross, and their green apple slushy is kinda gross. My favorite bubble tea to get at other places is either thai tea or a green apple green tea slushy. Here they wont make a slushy with green tea, so my only choice is to just do green apple green tea (which is good), or the green apple slush (which I already mentioned was gross). My friend tried an almond milk tea here, and she said it tasted super artificial. The hubby seems to like his lemon slush. This place is really hit or miss. As much as I like their prices and the consistency of their boba better, I think if i want my faves i'll have to go wait in line at drive-thru boba for an hour, or go down to Cozy. read more

Pretty good watermelon juice. Nice cashier/service. But.. not so yummy popcorn chicken- it tasted like left-over bits of the chicken diced up and fried. read more

Here at 11:20am on a Saturday. Nobody in front of us, so I thought we'd get our drinks fast. After waiting 15 minutes, I asked where our drinks were. The restaurant said that they were waiting for the tapioca bobas to be ready. What the heck? Shouldn't that be something that is prepped beforehand? After more waiting, we got our drinks. My husband liked his, but mine was overly sweet. Not going back. read more

Disgusting service and food quality! My family and I have been going to this restaurant for many years now since it opened. We have noticed that the service along with the food quality at Tapioca Express has significantly dropped over the past few years. Most of the workers here are extremely rude and unhelpful - often miss orders and have long waits even if I am the only customer there for the period. One worker in specific has been rude on multiple occasions: -When ordering I asked for multiple sets of utensils, after waiting for almost 30 minutes with customers with larger parties of 5-7 who had ordered after I got their food before me, our packed food didn't come with any utensils and they had already started to tie the bag, after asking for utensils they sighed and rudely dropped 1 single chopstick into the bag and walked away. -They also didn't accept customer complaints (not only my own). On a couple of occasions I noticed around 2-3 people complaining about their drinks or food, they refused to remake/compensate for said item(s). -Once I ordered a food item and after around 20 minutes of waiting they walked up to me saying they didn't have the needed ingredients to complete the order which they could have mentioned during the order showing how they don't care about the customers and how careless both the staff in the front and back are (lack of communication between the kitchen and front of house). The food quality is also on the same page as their staff reflecting their negligence to the matter. An establishment famous for its drinks (milk tea in specific) couldn't make drinkable milk tea. When I mentioned that the milk tea tasted off they tasted their batch from a container (pre-made) of milk tea and said that there is no difference between the batch they had served me and what they had tasted, stating that it was normal. Having tried multiple forms of milk tea I know that when someone serves you water mixed with a pinch of powder and sugar (of all things) doesn't qualify as milk tea, tasting just like water with extremely sweet boba also coming at a price of nearly $7. They later offered to add MORE sugar which wouldn't help as there was no flavor at all. My recent visits to Tapioca Express have been extremely irritating. On my last (and perhaps final) visit, I was served a Taiwanese Meatball with absolutely no sauce (?!??!?!!?) which is almost always smothered in a nice savory sauce. The chicken is almost always dry or burnt. Along with the milk tea incident I mentioned before. I specifically created this account to make this one review as the quality disgusted not only me but also my friends/family. read more

Pretty yummy. Had the railroad bento with popcorn chicken. Seriously good stuff, and very filling, at a ridiculous reasonable price! Staff were quick. read more

Drinks are good. And they have decent food snacks. Which many of the other Boba places lack. One of my favorite spots for Boba drinks on the Eastside. read more

very yummy boba, but i got food poisoning and they have messed up my order entirely before :( i want to recomend it but i definitely don't. read more

Pretty good, but almost CHOKED! Other than that, super great!!!!! I recommend Mango flavor.

The food here is good. But they don't have enough waitresses, which means you have to wait for some time.

FOOD and PRICES: Oh they are great for pork lovers. But even for chickenaterians like me they have decent choices. I like their Katsu Chicken. The sauce is very delicious and the portion is decent to satisfy a hungry appetite. Their prices are also good and they are open late nights on Fri and Sat. I like their Milk tea but I also like the snow bubble because it is not as sweet as the milk tea. INTERIORS: The interiors are spacious enough to seat about 25 to 30 people. The colors are peppy and lift your spirit in this Seattle weather :) SERVICE: You have to order and pick up your food. The wait time really depends on the crowd but I haven't waited too long to complain ever so it's pretty reasonable. It is longer for the food than the drinks though. OVERALL: A place you would visit over and over again for the late night hours and plenty of choices in food and drinks. read more

Tapioca Express - Large milk tea with Litchi jelly, tapioca and boba :) - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

Good place for teens to hang out and cheap eats and drinks for adults. Service from the cashier was good, but she didn't understand "can you put the custard on the side?" They put it around the side of the bowl... We ordered the shaved ice with these toppings: mango, coffee, lychee, and custard on the side. $3 base price for shaved ice and $.75 for each topping, making it $6 and it came with a side of condensed milk. The custard was put all around the bowl and wasn't good, it tasted like plain tasteless yellow jello. I even had to ask what that was... but the waitress saved it by offering a taste of the other toppings, so I asked to try the pineapple, crystal, and tapioca jelly. That was very nice of her and we will be back to try other items on the menu. We also had the sesame balls, they were 8 for $4.25. Good price and satisfying. 3.5 stars, keep up the good work and keep your place cleaner. read more