I normally go to TapEx at Convoy or UCSD.. so decided to check this one out since I was doing my banking nearby. Before I came I was talking to the tellers about TapEx and they warned me that this TapEx is not as good as the others like UCSD. I still wanted to give it a shot since I was in the area. Upon coming in it's your average boba spot with some seating area and the cashier was just average. I was stoked to get my crispy chicken and boba! What I usually love about boba places is the laminated sealed covers over the plastic cups. I tossed my drinks in my purse and headed back to work. When I pulled the drinks out there was a spill in my new purse from my milk tea.. yikes! I guess the seal wasn't all there and it had a slight opening on the side which wouldn't have happened if they had closed it completely.. what the heeeezy! =[ read more

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2.5 stars. Just like any other TapEx. The food is meh, the boba is alright, the fruit drinks are pretty good (avoid the milk teas, it's all powders), but there is just something about the excessive number of college students and the decibels of their voices joining the unbearable chorus of drink-blending machines that prevents me from coming here a lot. I'd much rather drive all the way out to Tea Station where it's more comfortable. read more

I first discovered my love for boba when i worked as a barista at a local coffee house. I was amazed at those chewy amazing tapioca balls and how delicious they taste in a smoothie or by the more accurately term for the drink, milk tea. So one night after work, my mum and I stopped by this shopping center to pick up some food to go at a nearby restaurant. I see a kid with a light purple drink and those large straws and immediately thought of boba as well as got an immense craving. I noticed a lot of people walking toward one shop in particular so I follow suit. I find myself inside a brightly lit cafe, crowded with people. I get in line (which moves quickly) and ask the lady for a taro milk tea with boba... few minutes later I walk out and am in heaven! Delicious and just like I remember. I am now hooked again and have to get my weekly bubble tea with pearls. As for this joint... it's a bit pricey for the drinks. The food menu is small and not all of it looks that appetizing, although I have not tried. It is crowded with college kids and it's very loud in there. Free Wifi from what I hear but no thank you, I like to surf the net/study in a quiet environment. Getting your drink to-go is the best bet. read more

Drinks are always good. Love their icy and their chicken. Staff was weird, the guy who worked there was busy paying attention to another customer who was black and I think the staff thought he was going to do some thing bad or stealing because his eyes were all up on that black dude. And it made me mad cuz I was ordering and he wasn't paying attention to my order, (I had to say it again and louder), instead I saw his eyes on the black dude. Geez does he have to be that noticeable, and that kinda seem racist. Or unless he never seen a black guy before. PAY ATTENTION! read more

I asked the cashier what "T.E. Crispy Chicken" was His response was "It's tapioca express chicken..." So I ask "what is that?" He glares at me and says "Have you never had crispy chicken?" This guy was so rude. I felt like I was giving my order to a psychopath. He then glared us the entire time we were there. read more

I feel like this location is better than a lot of others as it's right by UCSD. Parking is pretty easy unlike the Convoy location, and I like that they have a happy hour deal for smaller sized crispy chicken and plain tapioca milk tea. Solid Tapioca Express location! read more

Yikes. I tried to go here even as just getting a boba fix while on campus, but I don't want to go anymore! unless for chicken. That's why I leave one extra star. The chicken here is really good. But the service could be kinder and more understanding of not knowing what you want or if you have questions. I just find the flavors here to have that artificial sweetness. I also had this bad experience where I got the barley milk tea and it was unstrained barley tea. I don't know maybe I haven't had an "authentic" barley tea experience. But I am Asian and enjoy barley tea, but it's never been just loose and floating around the tea. But my barley milk tea had all this barley with this hay-like texture all up in my tea!!! I guess I am a texture person, so I just felt like I would take a sip expecting smooth milk tea and fun chewy bubbles, but NO my mouth was invaded by hard, rough, barley bits and they're not like fun crunchy oreo bits, and they're not casual tea leaves that you sometimes get at the bottom of a tea pot they're like straight up fuzzy grainy, scaly, chaff. read more

Almost all tables were sticky and dirty, yet the employees were up front eating fries in front of the waiting delivery drivers. Food always tastes fishy and milk tea flavors are not very strong. Lack of toppings/add ons read more

Been coming in every few days for my favorite thing the Crispy Chicken Combo XTRA XTRA XTRA SPICY. They used to make it good but now whenever I go they barley sprinkle any spicy powder on it. Starting to get annoying its been like 5 times I received my food like this and I tip them every time I go. Gonna stop wasting my money here. read more

It's finals week. I don't have time to cook. Dropped by tappex on the way home and ordered the Crispy Chicken combo with Green Tea. The chicken was so floury! The crispy chicken consists of this tiny piece of chicken with A LOT OF FLOUR. Flour absorbs all the oil, so when I bit into it, it was incredibly greasy. The corns on the side were also very tasteless. What was even more disappointing was their green tea! I have no clue how anyone can screw up making green tea. -.- It has a weird water-down taste. The service was whatever. I guess there's a table of server's friends, so they were all around the table when there was no customer ordering. When my food came out, they just came and called my name, then put the food down on the counter, and quickly return to their friends. The Tappex on campus is definitely A LOT better. read more

My less than awe inspiring 200th review is a revisit of Tapioca Express. The place has gone down hill... the last 3 boba honeydew milk tea has tasted like crap. For $4, I expect 18 oz of heaven. Three strikes and you're out. I wouldn't go there again. read more

Stopped by one Dec evening around 5:30P while I was in the area running errands to satisfy my boba cravings. I noticed that they had a Happy Hour deal from 4-6P for 2.50$ regular sized milk tea with boba, so I capitalized on that offer. The beverage was pretty standard for a TapEx drink -- the milk tea itself wasn't superbly fresh tasting, decent at best. The tapioca balls were tiny and not very chewy. Lots of indoor seating for those looking for a spot to do work; bathrooms were clean. Parking was easy in the plaza lot. Overall, solid boba experience, but probably only when I need to satisfy boba craving ASAP. read more

Stopped by to this location since I was in the area. Made the mistake of expecting the food to be consistent with other locations. The popcorn chicken usually has a little minced pork, basil leaves and sunny side up egg at the Convoy location. At the Regents location there was none of that. The chicken was so bland and tasteless that I could not finish. Looking around, this location is also disgusting. The furniture, particularly the chairs are absolutely gross. Will not be coming back. read more

Tapioca Express - Gross furniture - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

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This place is average. I'm a serious critique when it comes to boba, or pearl milk tea. If you want better quality boba, tea station is the way to go. The price is good though, and so is the convenient location. Service is pretty good too; I personally ask them to make me my own drink - jasmine yogurt milk tea w/ boba, and they do it even though it's not on the menu :) makes me one happy customer and a reason for me to keep coming back. Another favorite is the spicy chicken wings. Good deals: $1.99 Milk Tea Tapiocas & $1.79 snack sized crispy chicken Mon-Fri before 6PM. Buy 1 drink get 2nd 50% off after 10PM. read more

Still my favorite boba place in SD, I like this one cause it's closer but I like the one in convoy better so minus one star. This location is a lot smaller than the one off convoy. I tried the Peach Milk Tea and it was just alright. A little too much on the sweet side. Strawberry Milk Tea is still my favorite! But I'm still willing to try other flavors. I'll be back. read more

Tapioca Express - Peach & Taro Milk Tea - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

This location of tap ex is near ucsd and in the middle of apartments where students live, so it's expected that it will be filled with students studying, chatting, hanging out, 90% of the time. No problem with that though. This location is a lot smaller than the convoy location, granted this place sees a lot less volume of customers everyday. Went here today to catch up with college friends. We got the spicy chicken combo, all veggies, no rice, with thai tea. For some reason, though, this location charges ~75c extra for the no rice all veggies option, whereas the convoy location doesn't. Their reasoning is that the veggies cost more than the rice. Guess you can't do anything about that. The taste of the chicken and the quality of the drinks are not as good as convoy's, in my opinion. Also, the combo here doesn't come with an egg. Another thing is their ranch. I like to eat my spicy chicken with ranch, and the ranch here comes in plastic containers that they fill with their own ranch. It is obviously watered down, and noticeably thin in consistency. It wasn't good at all. Nice atmosphere here but I'd probably drive down to convoy next time. read more

Tapioca Express - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

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I used to visit Tap Ex when I was in college 10+ years ago. It seems like they recently cleaned up the place bit, less dusty and a more refined menu. I like that I can get my drinks with a variety of sugar level so that I can customize it to how I want. Since it's near UCSD, there's always students that are studying there. Seems pretty peaceful. I've always wanted to try to food but never had the chance since I end up going there after lunch. But the food menu seems to be shortened. read more

I don't think places should close their kitchen before they are actually closed. Why send your cook home? We made a late night run because you're open late. Don't come here late at night because the doors will be open but food won't be for sale. read more

Ordered Mango Black Tea with Baby Boba Not overly sweet and I got regular sweet. Baby boba felt like under cooked pasta. read more

Very mediocre, bland smoothie and not much boba. Not the best but also not the worst. Location is pretty dirty too, chairs are caked in dirt. read more

Tapioca Express - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

Great customer service from Alan the general manager. Very responsive on comments and insures customer satisfaction with follow up emails. Can't beat that. Thanks again alan. I'll visit the shop soon. Hope your new cook crew is working out better. read more

I've been here quite a few times since this location is about a 5 minute walk from my apartment. It's a convenient location for when I have boba cravings! The drinks are just all right. I've tried the peach, strawberry, and chai chocolate milk teas, and all of them had mild flavors. The boba is smooth and a good texture, but there are sometimes soggy boba. I've definitely had much better bubble tea at T4 and ShareTea, but Tapioca Express is good enough for the convenience. read more

This place is extremely pet unfriendly!!! I am understand that COVID-19 is very dangerous, it is reasonable to reject my dog(my dog is a ESA) step into the store. However, they are rejecting the service because I own a dog!!! They are not allow that I leave my dog outside and grab a drink by myself. It is ridiculous!!!! If you have a dog, just go some where else, and the food from here is not very good as well!!! Save you time!!! Bad services!!!! read more

The only good deal is the happy hour stuff: - 1.95 for a small size crispy chicken (which is a GOOD portion for one person without feeling utterly gross) - 1.99ish for a regular milk tea boba. Not bad. Check a Student Dollar Stretcher if you want 20% off your drink! There's nothing special about this Boba place. It's a very okay price too. I'd definitely go for Almonilla (1/2 Almond and 1/2 Vanilla) - it tastes really good for some reason. But other than that - it's your average boba joint. Free wifi is a plus. Definitely will see lots of college students hanging out here and studying. The music is a little bit too loud of my taste. read more

Your average boba place! Not bad, not great, average! There really isn't much to be said. read more

Good drink. Fast service. Clean restroom. There's a special happy hour after 10pm ( buy 1 drink and get the 2nd half off) It's an excellent place to relax and chat with your friends, bust out a laptop and study, or just sit down with a good book. My friend and I easily spent 3+ hours in one sitting, studying and chatting while sipping on our refreshing boba. Earl Grey milk tea- no place does it like TapEx! Honey milk tea- it's good but a bit sweeter than the house milk tea regular milk tea- can't go wrong with the classic! The plum & kumquat tea is good too if you are in the mood for something more sour than sweet. :) It's too bad they close at midnight, what else is there to do in town for a college student who just want a place to relax? I'm too spoiled by LA read more

Ordered tapioca milk tea with 25% sugar because I really wanted to have some milk tea. This... this is just water mixed with some milk tea powder :( so sad because I live very close to this plaza and really wish if I could have a decent milk tea shop around me read more

Tapioca Express - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

I have probably ordered over 300 glasses of Tapioca Milk Tea in the past year from this place as well as the other branch at UCSD. It's my daily stop for a drink. I like this location in particular for its great happy hours ($1.99 Tapioca Milk Tea before 6 PM on weekdays; buy one get one half off after 10 PM) as well as its friendly staff; in particular Amy, who always remembers her customers preferences. My second best drink there is the water melon juice. It's as fresh as it gets. Foodwise, calamari rings and shrimp spring rolls are awesome. I'm not a big fan of the other fried food. The place also has free wireless and a good environment to work, except that in winter it can smell too much like fried food when the outside door is closed. read more

Tapioca Express - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

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I really like the people who work here because even though I ordered drink, they were still positive with helping me out get the right taste how I want it to be, making it sweeter or taste more of the fruit it's supposed to be. read more

Tapioca Express - Tapioca balls are made for chewing pleasure only. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

I forget this location even exists. You have to go out of your way to go here. Though it is closer to my area, I felt a bit difficult to find since it was in a different part of La Jolla that I have never ventured too. I think the menu isn't as extensive as the one in Convoy. I was going to order a Taro Coconut Snow Ice but I didn't see it on the menu. I'm sure they would still make it if you ask. Service is good and place is clean. There's wifi as well. I ordered a crispy chicken combo, it was good. For some reason I still would rather go to the Convoy Strip for Tap-Ex. I think the horrible parking and busy street just adds to the experience and atmosphere. read more

Tapioca Express - Crispy chicken combo - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

Just walked in refused service because I wasn't wearing a mask even though the older Hispanic gentleman in back wasn't wearing one. Won't be coming here again. read more

Wow, i'm going to say they definitely improved. They're pretty much always clean now! More attentive of how their place looks. They finally got rid of their super dirty seats by the TV in the corner and got some clean ones. The people that work there are actually surprisingly really nice and fast. Food has gotten a lot better too. Overall, good improvement! Keep it up. read more

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Everybody is studying here at 5:30 so it's more quite than a boba tea place normally is. I feel kinda out of place. Maybe I should bring a book next time. Teehee This is where you come to pretend to study and people watch. James wrote that read more

Youthful influence, young and energetic crowd. Often student filled. Fun Crew! Can be long lines directly after school lets out nearby, but GO FAST. The drinks are highly unusual and deliciously unique! Sweet milk flavored with great things like almond, coconut, ginger, green apple, honey, jasmine, mango, matcha, pudding, sesame, taro, blends of above too. This is just a partial list too and they have these crazy good things they can put in if you are tired of Boba called jellies. Fascinated by the flavors. NOTE: you can order REDUCED SUGAR on many of them as they can get a little sweet. Can get samples on some flavors too I am happily addicted to this place and love the crew. They are always cheery and laughing even through the interim rushes. Do try this place, but remember I warned you it's addictingly good! Plenty of parking. read more

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Great service and beverages, ok food. The employees are friendly and fast. They have a great selection of drinks. I LOVE both the black and green jasmine iced teas. I'm not a fan of tapioca, but I enjoy the coconut jellies, especially the lychee flavor. I'm less impressed with the food; I guess it's typical boba shop fare. Mostly fried food to go with your sugary drink, so not very healthful. It is great they have a (fried) tofu and vegetables (carrot and broccoli) over rice dish for us vegetarians, but for the few years I have been going here, there have been several times in which they couldn't make it for one reason or another. It was the wrong time of day, or the chef didn't know how to make it. How does the chef not know how to make certain menu items? If there were other vegan/ vegetarian options, I wouldn't mind, but it was annoying to go there and leave without food. The last few times I went, I called ahead and it wasn't a problem. So I'll keep visiting when I'm in the area, and hope they will add other veggie options. Drink prices are typical ($3 on up), while the combo with a large iced tea is a pretty good deal at around $8 after tax. I also appreciate that they offer "rooster sauce" and free wifi. read more

Tapioca Express - Tofu and vegetables, tastes better than it looks. Or at least, it fills me up and I love the tea. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

This place is dank town USA, but this time for some reason the boba tasted like plastic. Every other time I have come here the boba has tasted fine. I think you should get the strawberry milk tea with boba, and if you wanna have an extra good time then try that same suggestion but instead of getting regular sized boba, get mini boba. Then use the straw for the REGULAR boba, it's super fun. Place is clean, well kept, and they usually have cool music videos playing. read more

Tapioca Express - This the place. Mhm. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Diego, California

This place is, like my star rating, "A-OK". For those who bash their crispy chicken - you obviously have not tried the ones on-campus at UCSD. I just discovered their "Happy Hour" menu a few weeks ago - boba milk tea for $1.99 & small crispy chicken for $1.79 if you get them before 6PM. (and their combo during lunch now include either green, black, OR milk tea! if you go during dinner time, you can only pick green or black...or pay extra for milk). Their milk tea is a coin toss sometimes...so beware! I've tried all 3 Tapi in this area (UCSD, this one, & Convoy), and this place & the Convoy store are decent if we're comparing just Tapi stores. If I had to rate these 3, Convoy = #1, Regents = #2, UCSD = #3 (you can read my UCSD review if you're interested). Of course, I live a few blocks away from this store, that's why I still occasionally come here if I'm craving boba or their crispy chicken. If I could, I'd drive down to Tea Station any time any day (best boba in SD...IMO). read more

I really like TapEx. I prefer the one in Clairemont though for some reason and I'm not sure why since that one is much louder and always packed. Warning! When you order food do not do anything spicier than medium or else you will not be able to taste your food. Extra hot is beyond a spicy inferno. Even the medium is almost too crazy to handle. My favorite food with the medium spice is the calamari and the Taro snow bubble is a good pairing for it. read more

Not bad. Like everyone says, it's your standard Tapioca Express. My friend swears that this place has more drinks than the one in Rolando (off El Cajon Blvd). She could be right, but I wouldn't know...I don't really go to Tapioca Express as they've gotten kinda expensive over the years (why is Popcorn Chicken $5?!). It's also small, but not as small as the one in Rolando (and I've been to a couple smaller Tapioca Expresses in the OC). There are nightly Happy Hour specials which is a plus in my book...but I don't live in UTC, so unfortunately, I can't take advantage of that. If I were still seeing my younger guy (who lives in the UTC area), I probably would have. There was only one guy working that day, but he was able to get my friend's and my drinks pretty quickly. We were also behind 3 other guys. I totally give him props for that. If you live close by here, you should come here to get your boba fix. If not, you can probably find another boba or Tapioca Express establishment to fit your needs. :) As for myself, I know the possibility of running into an old flame is highly unlikely, but I'd much rather spare myself the embarrassment of seeing him in his 'hood and go to the ones in Kearny Mesa and Rolando. read more

While the black tea wasn't bad, they didn't make their strawberry snow bubble like they do at the Clairemont location =( They don't put the strawberry puree in there. Sucks, cos that's the only reason why I get that drink. Oh well. They have a deal where you buy one get one free on their milk teas after 10pm. That's cool. *************************** Update: 10/18/17 I haven't been here for a few years and I was craving Tapx Crispy Chicken but didn't wanna drive to Clairemont. Gave this place a try again and I'm sorry to myself that I did. I got the crispy chicken combo, extra spicy with a black tea. The chicken was so dry and super hard! And there were more tiny batter types of chicken pieces than there were of real bites. The rice didn't seem to have been cooked properly either as they were stuck together in clumps. This is by far the worst Tapx location. The meal was definitely inedible. I did call to tell them what crap it was and they did offer a refund but I had no desire to drive back there. Something needs to change, can't you learn from other locations or something? read more