Most of the time, drinks here are pretty good, but tonight, 11/25/16, I and my gf ordered two Yogurt Green Tea, and there is almost no yogurt! so they taste so bad. The same thing happened to me once before when I was ordering my Yogurt Frost. If you are the boss of the cafe, please make sure some of your employees delivering good quality to their customers. read more

Lack of outlets. Not a good study spot due to the weird chatty customers who tend to sit at the only booth with an outlet for hours on end. Please, dear God, get some extension cords in there. read more

Visited over the weekend. They actually had Tapioca for once?!?!? service was friendly. If you're coming for just bubble tea, I feel like they're pretty slow compared to other places since the servers spend half the time trying to fulfill food orders and the other half trying to make drink orders (rather than someone dedicated to drinks). Anyway, I'll increase a star. read more

I always knew about this place because I live right next to it. I don't know why I never went there or tried it out. But I came here couple of times already with my friends after work. Which is awesome how they open late! First of all, we came here and it was packed! Line was long. All the tables were being used. But noticed how the place was kinda small for how busy it was. So it felt like everyone was being really loud in the restaurant. Took like 10-15mins to finally order. I looked at the menu, trying to quickly order cuz people were waiting you know. Can't be those kind of customer that take their sweet ass time deciding what you want LOL also I noticed the prices of the items they had and the prices are really good! My friend recommended me the popcorn chicken and lychee icee's and other things. But they were out of a lot of items on the menu so we just got curry. Popcorn chicken. It was really good! I was really happy with the food I got. Next time I had popcorn chicken and squid balls and gyoza and pork belly rice. The pork belly rice was okay. The pork belly was dry and it wasn't that tasty. Maybe they didn't make it right that time. But my friends liked it and ate it LOL but overall, I really like this place! It's so yummy!!!! I'm even craving some of the food now! read more

This place is perfect for hanging out!! Definitely recommend. All the drinks have been great so far.

We like the food here (four stars), but minus two stars for cleanliness, which is why I'm giving it two stars. it is absolutely filthy. The floor is extremely sticky. The tables are never wiped down. There are signs on each table telling customers to clean up after themselves, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Disgusting! read more

Tapioca Express - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

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Very poor service. I forgot to order less ice and they refused to remove some ice from my drink. They were so adamant that they didn't even give an extra cup so that WE could remove the ice. Their response couldn't have been more apathetic. Hated the experience read more

Amazing avocado bubble tea made fresh. Can be made with Soy Milk.

The boba barista, (I didn't get her name, but she's got blind highlights and wore a black champion tshirt), along with her colleague made my experience special. I highly recommend this cafe. The space is nice, there is various kinds of seating, booth, table, couch and outdoor seating. :) The boba barista asked if u wanted some lemon to add to my drink given my cold, and I appreciate the special gesture. :) Thank you! Also the sweet potato fries are delicious and come with sticks so you don't have to get your fingers messy ;) read more

Always a long wait for the order to me made - hot grass jelly, grape fruit green tea and a bubble waffle--- waited for over 15 minutes. When I got the bubble waffle it was the ugliest waffle I ever seen and my 5 years old completely lost her appetite. Staff refused to re-make another one. If you haven't gone there yet, don't bother. They just lost my business. read more

Decent selection of drinks. I like their popcorn chicken, however, i would give this place a five if they offer sauces. Learn and take cues from Oasis Tea Zone as they have a good variety of dipping sauces for their fried offerings. This is super important, seriously... read more

I like getting my boba fix and their popcorn chicken and sweet potato fries on my way home after work. I think they have shaved ice and other things which I will try next time. read more

OMG!!! I just stop by to grab ONE drink during my lunch hour today and I had to wait 35 MINUTES!! Who has all that time to wait during an hour lunch. I understand they serve lunch menu but doesn't the name of the business say "TAPIOCA EXPRESS"? They were either under staffed or something, when they realized and started to make drinks, there were more than 20 tickets printed and I ended up waiting so long I asked for refund. Can you imagine if you had to go to Starbucks and wait 35 minutes for your drink?? They need to hire more people or get their priority straight!!!! read more

I've been here a couple times before and the bubble tea was pretty yummy, but tonight I was disappointed with BOTH the drinks I ordered Yes, I got two because the first was so bad. The first that I got was the Grapefruit Green Tea with tapioca and aloe. It sounded super delicious and refreshing and I think that it would've been but the drink was SO BITTER! It must've been the grapefruit they used... not entirely their fault but the tea wasn't sweet at all, so I'm not sure if you're supposed to specify that you want it sweetened? Anyways, the second time I thought I'd play it safe and ordered the Thai iced tea milk tea with tapioca. It was very mediocre, the best part being the tapioca (which was really quite yummy!). The milk tea was bland and again, not quite sweet enough. My friend got the mango blended icy drink, which was also not sweet enough, and when she asked for more syrup the server was a bit rude about it. Hopefully this was just an isolated event! read more

Pretty poor service. I know it's a lot to remember all of the customizations for three drinks but they should be used to it. We didn't ask for anything strange and the menu encourages custom drinks. We ordered reduced sugar strawberry milk tea with small boba, and a honey milk tea with small boba, plus my husband had a plain black iced tea. I had to repeat the order three times and we still didn't get what we ordered. The strawberry milk tea seemed ok, but the honey milk tea was actually plain jasmine (still had the boba at least). My husband's tea was iced and unsweetened as he specified but it contained milk and it also had boba. I'm not sure if they mixed the last two drinks up or what, although I'm not sure where the jasmine tea came from... It's possible we picked up somebody else's order but I even asked if this was ours. We were in a hurry so didn't notice that the order was wrong until later. read more

Unfortunately, I've tried this place twice and BOTH times, the customer service was awful. They have an amazing menu, I hope the owners will hear what I'm saying to improve their customer service. I say this with the experience of working in busy restaurants as a server for 10 years and being a regular patron at places that sell $4-$10 drinks (coffee houses, bubble tea, bars etc.) both domestically and internationally. I went to Tapioca Express yesterday, at about 7 PM and there was no line. Despite having no one in line and seeing me there, the 2 young guys ignored me for a couple minutes before greeting me. When I said I wasn't quite sure, instead of asking if he could help (their menu is HUGE) he immediately walked away. Now, working in restaurants for many, many years, you aren't getting away from me that easily. I told him to come back and we talked through my order. I watched him place my drink ticket on the line while the other young man finished making a drink. Having gone to this place before (see below) and having my drink STOLEN by another patron, I watched my drink carefully. I mean, when you spend ~$5 for a non-alc beverage, you want it A) made well and B) made timely. A WARNING: unlike other beverage places I've been, they do not write your name on your cup or announce your drink to help with efficient pick up. They put a copy of your drink ticket (printed in 8 pt font) on a wet pick up counter (making the receipt soggy and unreadable) and place the drink on the drink ticket. You are expected to know which one of these soggy tickets are yours and take your drink, which can be confusing when there are a bunch of drink tickets already there. They DO NOT announce the drink as they are made to assist you with tracking your beverage. So I watched as the employee put his now finished drink (looking very similar to my order) on the pick up side and a patron came from behind me, picked up the drink and left. Must not be mine, right? Well, both employees just sort of stood around, ignoring my still hanging drink ticket while I stood near the pick up counter, waiting. It was approx. 2 mins later when one of the employees turned around, noticed my drink ticket on the line, and threw it away! Then the other employee saw me, said something to his coworker and you could see their surprise as they started making my drink. It was ONLY then when the guy that originally took my order waved me over to say he didn't realize they were out of boba! You didn't know that when I placed my order?? I finally got my drink 8 MINUTES after I had paid (the order time was on my receipt). Just for comparison, at other restaurants I have worked at, our goal time to have a guest FOOD dish completely created is 8-10 minutes. When I am paying $5 (+ $1 TIP!) for beverage, this is COMPLETELY unacceptable. Unfortunately, a long wait time seems to be the norm at this bubble tea place. The only other time I had been to Tapioca Express (back in March), my total wait for drink pick up was approx 15 minutes!! It was a busy day, about 8 ppl in line in front of me. Production time for my drink was still ~6 mins AND because of their sloppy pick up procedures, my drink was stolen. As there was no names on the cups, no announcing of drinks (and LOTS of specialty drinks that look similar on their menu), and only sloppy drink tickets on the counter that you can barely read, I wasn't sure enough to confront the woman who took my drink (and yes, I'm the type of person who would confront over taking my $5 drink). Those of us new to Tapioca Ex sort of stood around looking confused until, thru a process of elimination, we figure out which were our drinks. Staff was also not tracking drinks didn't realize what had happened until after I pointed out my drink had been stolen then re-fired my drink. Bottom line: good bubble tea and great variety but expect a wait and sometimes condescension from the younger staff. Luckily there are loads of bubble tea places in Bellevue, so we have options. This one is open super late (til midnight on many days!) so that is also a plus. But grab a seat, you'll be there for awhile. read more

Come here for the bubble tea, get suckered in by the food. Everything is priced right (especially for Bellevue) and tastes good. I'll have to come back and try everything, but service is nice, drinks are good, and the prices are great. What more could you ask for? The ambiance is very chill, come with a friend or two and hang out for a bit, or do a grab and go for some sugary goodness. read more

Pros: - good place to meet up with friends Cons: - noisy - machines in use make it impossible to work/concentrate and there are quite a few young children here, so lots of inevitable crying - not actually a good place to work (as is currently stated on Yelp) - no place to put bikes (as is currently stated on Yelp) read more

The bubble tea is one of the best in Bellevue. It also provides food options. In addition to Five Guys across the street, thank God for this place open still around 10 PM! I finished my work late at night and stumbled upon this place because I didn't want to go to the fast food places. Surprisingly they still serve warm dishes like dumplings and rice dishes at night. I ordered a small plate of dumplings, but unfortunately two of them were not fully cooked. They apologized and made a new one for me. Bubble tea is not too sweet and tapiocas are chewy and soft. read more

The milk tea with boba was alright. I love how late this place opens. The food looked really good, so I'll have to come back to try that. This place was a lot bigger than I thought. I came here after dinner around 9:30pm for a boba fix and the line was constantly put the door almost. Long wait to order and long wait for my drink to be made. Only one cashier and one drink maker the whole night. I felt so terrible for them. If it was me, I would shoot myself in the foot. 3 stars for them and the bubble tea but seriously, management could've hired more people to help those poor people. read more

One of my worst experiences. I don't expect good and friendly service at a bubble tea place, but all the girls who work here do put on a shitty faces. One smile or a "thank you" is not gonna hurt is it? Food is ok, drinks are not bad. I just had a dish with spare ribs over rice. it was a meh. Found a one-inch-long hair in the rice so i brought it back. i said "there's a hair in my rice." she did not apologize and immediately said "so what do you want?!" wow is that how you treat your customers?!?! Talking to me like it was my fault?!?! I asked to make me another one but smaller portion. I was satisfied that they made me another one. but still not quite happy about it. I have visited this place a few times but was never given an ok service. it's a disappointment. If anyone is going there be prepared to get served with attitudes. read more

Overpriced. It's a self-service restaurant that you need to pickup food&drink from the counter and also need to clean your own table but the minimum tip is 15%. Doesn't make sense at all. read more

Ok so I've been to different TapEx boba places in CA and was shocked to have found a location here in WA. Even my family who lives here in Redmond didn't know they had one. So we went here and tried to order snow bubbles but they were "OUT" of milk or cream and/or almond so I resorted to tea/milk tea with my next fav go to flavor...passion fruit. They made it taste disgustingly nasty with some after taste like they stirred it with their foot or something! :( I called right after we had drove off and talked to the manager about the nasty drinks and luckily they were able to make us new ones and had us taste it first. I'm giving this place a 2 stars because the cashier was not very nice and because they were "out" of a bunch of stuff. Plus we had to return so that was really inconvenient. When we returned to the store I was also asked a bunch of questions when I felt like they should just re-do the drink since I already explained on the phone why I was not happy. The only saving grace this place got was that the manager redeemed themselves for the re-do. read more

We have become regulars are this location because it's so good! We don't live around the area but whenever we crave some boba this is our first pick and we will drive the distance for it. We often come at night and that's usually when it gets busy. The lines sometimes goes out the door because I think their understaffed which pushes people away. -1 star. The product they make is quite delicious. I come here for the fresh avocado and fresh taro boba smoothies and they make it perfectly. The use real avocado and real taro root so it's quite tasteful. They also have some Manga books for those who likes to stick around and hang out. Plenty of parking and plenty of tables. There's also a barlike sitting next to the windows. If they can fix the long lines that forms this will easily get a 5 star! read more

Ordered two Hong Kong milk teas and haven't finished the order. The lady already made the tea out without listen the whole order. I wanted two milk teas with 25% sugar and one had tapioca. She made one with 100% sugar and went back to remade. But both have tapioca and the tea are too strong with tea and no milk much at all. The quality and services are getting worse than before. Will not go again read more

they have the best shaved ice with bunch of toppings to choose from.Also orfered chicken with noodles which my husband loved. I feel the prices are at higher side but the upside is that its open till midnight. read more

Ask for half sweet on the boba drinks

My favorite bubble tea place at Bellevue area! The bubble tea is great, just enough sweet. The interior design is not fancy, but it offers enough space for you to sit down and relax. read more

Food is good in the "quick, don't expect a ton of quality" manner of taiwanese food. I love that they're open so late at night, but the service could use a great deal of work. One of the guys there in particular is consistently rude. You'll know him when you see him. Just avoid him and you're good. read more

Hit and miss on the bubble tea - but very close to work places in downtown. Highly recommend the lychee snow bubble. :)

I always go there when I miss my hometown food. I like spending few hours there and just chill out. The only thing I don't feel confortable is,  the cashiers give attitudes most of the time. Or sometimes they just w/ no facial expression which makes me feel like the customers are not welcomed.... read more

Many many choices of delicious snow bubble ans Boba teas. Fill up your stomach with katsu curry and pop corn chicken snack. Make it a good evening with some games off the shelf. Nice place to hangout on a boring weekend. And nights. read more

I loooove bubble tea and this place definitely met my expectations! I like how they don't make their drinks with powder. This has officially become my favorite place to go for bubble tea!! read more

Got a large milk tea that was one-third ice. That's some real cheapskate stuff to pull. Come on.

I was really giving this place the benefit of the doubt and came to try it regardless of the bad reviews. I was hoping things could be improved by now but wow I was shocked by how terribly loud it was. I had to ask the server "what's the most popular dish here" about 3 times for her to actually hear me. It was a mix of some big fans and a noisy kitchen and super loud people that just made it a really unpleasant experience from the get go. I had to sit outside just to get away from the zoo. The food was... Sad. I felt like I was eating lord know how many days old food and just couldn't even make a dent in my meal. The popcorn chicken is apparently really popular there but it honestly tasted like lower grade Dino nuggets. I love my Dino nuggets but not when I'm at an actual restaurant! I was just expecting more and today's lunch just failed miserably. I really hope the owner picks up their business sense and takes these reviews seriously and make improvements to it before Gordon Ramsay comes and tells em' what's up! read more

Tapioca Express - I asked what their most popular and this is what came out. No Bueno. I'd compare this meal as the Taco Bell of facing east! Ugh - Taiwanese Near Me - Redmond, Washington

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The Jasmine bubble tea was good. My issue is I paid $5 for a cup not filled to the top and filled with almost half ice. I only had a few big sips and I was done. read more

First time here and I order a drink with green apple jelly. Of course when I get it, it doesn't have any jelly. I noticed this on my way out and backtrack to point this out. The same guy behind the counter says 'No, it's in there,' so now I look really stupid. I retreat to my car, sip, and check very carefully. Nope, no jelly. I return and say there's no jelly. The guy says he asked if I wanted tapioca and I said No. I tell him Yes, that's correct because I ordered jelly. His final reply was that he didn't charge me and that was it, no offer to make it again. I say 'Oh, okay,' and head back a third time. Later, sitting in the passenger seat, I realize how absurd his first and second reply are together and decide to post this review. I don't think I'll ever be back unless someone tells me that guy no longer works there. read more

Boba is average but the reason fo the 4 star is the popcorn chicken! It's good stuff. The service can be slow at times.

So since weather has been awful hot, went to TE yesterday afternoon with out of town guest to cool off. Have been in the past, and noted that they have run out of fruit and food - OK, I can excuse that. But to not have TAPIOCA?!! C'mon, guys, it's in your name! Not only were we disappointed, but you should've seen the sad expression on other customers. Also, put soap in your men's restroom. Still think we should have Dept of Health grades in the window like other "civilized" cities. read more

We've been here before and loved it. Our last visit wasn't as great. We only ordered drinks--no food. The picture menu indicates pineapple jellies, but the server insisted they don't have pineapple and that it was really coconut. Only 2 of our four drinks were prepared correctly. I was given one size larger than I ordered--no real complaint there, except the extra calories, but our 4th drink was completely forgotten. When we finally asked about it, they rushed through it and didn't add the ordered jellies. While things eventually tasted okay, it's frustrating when you don't feel like the servers care about their customers. read more