enjoyed the drink !! ambiance could be improved but would come back since it is nostalgic to me

Bad service, the guy in the front desk just doesn't care. We went there smiling , tried to put in an order, the guy in the front desk just keep looking at his phone; he just doesn't look at you or respond. You don't know if he didn't hear you or just doesn't care to respond. There are so many choices around here, just pick another restaurant or boba tea place. read more

They only take debit and credit cards and when my card wouldn't swipe I had to go and take out money from the bank across the street. Tea tasted ok. read more

We used to love this place but the staff is SO rude! They have a new self service kiosk so they turn costumers away

Quick service place. The staff were fast and efficient. Not overly friendly but it may be because it was busy when I arrived. There's a huge menu. I ordered a coffee milk tea which was just okay. Heavy on milk. Not too strong on the tea or coffee flavors. Okay spot if you're needing something fast and in the area. No real seating there. They also charge to use your card. read more

Still a favorite local boba place no matter what other people say about "rude service." I'm not dining in, so I could care less about the cashier's service as long as the quality of the food/drinks are good. Cash or Debit ONLY here so come prepared before you wait in the long line out the door. I always crave and come for their Popcorn Chicken, Squid Heads & Lychee Black Tea. Always. Also, their teas here are still brewed with real tea leaves and none of that powder shit like other boba places. read more

I swear we love this place! It is our go to! Their drink menu is endless, I have been so many times and have still yet to get the same drink twice because I want to try so many. I love that they have seasonal drinks posted in the front. Go to food items:: Fish - spice level 4 (lick your lips but enjoy hot) Fries - spice level 1 read more

This place used to be pretty up there for me in regard to boba spots, but since so many other new ones have been popping up, TapEx just doesn't cut it anymore. Their drinks taste like straight up syrup. Just ordered a grapefruit green tea (listed under "fruit juice", with the word "fresh" next to it), and it tasted so artificial. The other thing that irks me is that they put hot drinks in their regular plastic cups with a thin cardboard sleeve. The cup is still hot af, and I'm not trying to drink whatever melted plastic goes into my drink. I would have given 2 stars, but I like the convenience of them being the only boba spot open late late at night. read more

Tapioca Express - My hot ginger milk tea in a plastic cup and thin sleeve.. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

I have to admit that Tapioca Express will always hold a nostalgic place in my heart and that alone will give a 5 star rating. But, that said, I also feel like 5 stars is pushing it if you're not from around the area and trying to find a really good boba place. The drinks are good, but not outstanding. When you come into Tapioca Express, do not expect that you're going to get crazy good quality here. These are the drinks that I usually order: - Jasmine Milk Tea - Avocado Smoothie I think my biggest complaint is that you should never order less sweet. All they will do is water it down. The drink was not that good and I could barely taste the drink when all I wanted was less sugar. Food is decent! So I usually order the popcorn chicken and then just recently, takoyaki. The popcorn chicken is still goooood, but also just really salty. Takoyaki came out really mushy and they put wasabi on top which made my friend and I cry and cough so hard (please ask to take out wasabi for your sake - we couldn't hear the cashier that well from all of the smoothie machines running). Also, yeah, the people that work here have always looked like they hated their lives here. I have never once seen a smile from any of them. read more

It seems like some things I said in a previous review were truly considered! The last few times I've gone back to TapEx, it's been over all cleaner and not nearly as grimey feeling. It looks like floors, walls, and counters are cleaned more frequently. The decor has also been updated a bit, with more clean, modern feeling elements. The picture frames of tea leaves have either been redone or cleaned up! It has been much more a pleasant atmosphere. Still 4 stars for inconsistent quality foods and drinks... last time I went it was DELICIOUS. The chicken was crispy and not too spicy and boba cooked well with a nice chewy texture. If it could always be that good, it would be 5 stars! read more

Please save your money and do not support this store until they properly train their staffs... esp ALICE I've dealt with one of the most disrespectful, rude and condescending cashier I've ever experienced. I've had a bad experience with this lady in the past and for years did not came back but my mom and I was in the area and she wanted milk tea so we stopped by. Big mistake. I went on to order my moms drink first, I told her kiwi juice jelly with 25% sugar pls. This lady said no 25%, do 50% because it's not going to taste the same. We'll, I proceeded to say that's ok, bc my mom wanted less sugar. She said if she wants no sugar get milk tea drink no sugar. We'll lady, that isn't the drink we want so idk why she's being so difficult to adjust the sweetness. We also ask to add chia seeds and aloe toppings to that which she said they don't have. Ahhh then why do you have it on your menu? I proceeded to order my drink.. I told her the passion fruit juice jelly. She said it's with Crystal jelly. I told her no crystal jelly I would like with coffee jelly like the first drink. She said no no, I don't understand what you're saying. I repeated myself and said I want the passion fruit juice jelly with coffee jelly instead of crystal boba. SHe screamed saying, NO! I don't understand, and we don't have that. I said, we'll why do u have it on your menu right there. She screamed and said " I can't help you! Go away! I screamed back and said no, you're going to take my moms order but I'll just won't order mines bc you don't wanna take down my order. This lady thinks she can treat customer whose PAYING, however she likes. You messed with the wrong one. To branch manager.. please teach your workers to have decent customer service, I'm not expecting for excellent customer service but at least they need adequate trainings to not scream and be disrespectful and rude towards paying customers. This is the Second time shes being loud, rude and nasty towards me, imagine all the other customers she treats so poorly who doesn't speak up. This is very unprofessional to have staff not only scream at customers but deny them just bc they don't order how the cashier wants them to. Look at all your other one star, same complaint for this rude old cashier lady. If I could give -10 star, I would. DO NOT COME HERE.. esp dealing with this ignorant woman Alice who thinks she runs the place. read more

Tapioca Express - I end up only ordering my mom drink, she refused to get my drink by screaming and being nasty towards me. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

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Store is closed from 2-10-2021 to 2-18-2021 for sanitation and cleaning Can't wait until they open again to get their chicken and fried fish cake read more

Tapioca Express - Closed from 2/10/2021 - 2/18/2021 - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

Short brown hair lady was so rude I had to hit the no tip so hard right in front of her. I didn't even give her any reason to be rude but ok. I ordered the green apple snow and it was flavorless?? Idk but this is not what it normally tastes like at other locations. I used to go here a lot a few years ago. It's my first time back this time, and yep, very disappointed and really annoyed. i'll do 2 star just because they made the drinks pretty fast (´-｀) read more

This Tapioca Express is one of the first boba tea spots that I remember there ever being, now there are so many different boba tea spots everywhere. I wish there were more locations of Tapioca Express. read more

**PRE-COVID REVIEW** Review is based on Ubereats order for delivery so I didn't have to interact with the supposed rude lady that works there. The rating is purely based on the drinks themselves. Didn't want to give them only two stars but it's justified. Drinks are cheap but still not worth paying for. The Mangonada was very artificial tasting and mangos did not taste fresh. Lacked spice and chamoy. The green tea float was even worse; we tried a sip of it and could not finish it. Tasted nothing like green tea. Instead it was an overload of sugar mixed with milk that tasted spoiled. Entire order was just disappointing. Would not come back because quality of drinks is lackluster, quite awful. Would prefer to get boba from other establishments in the area. read more

Tapioca Express - Mangonada - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

I come here whenever I am in town. It is a fave. I enjoyed the red bean milk tea and popcorn chicken. They are consistent with their drinks and chicken. read more

Talk about having an extensive menu. The entire wall was covered line to line with their full list of drinks and food. Tapex has one thing in common with quickly, the outdated colorful decor of the 90s. Ordering process was quick and simple, name your drink and what you want in it. Taro snow bubble tasted artificial with that distinct taro powder taste. Not going to complain about it, that's pretty much the standard for all boba places. You either love that artificialness or cry about it. Just to be clear, I LOVE that thing! But just because I'm a fan of the purple substance, that in no way earned that solid fiver for the tea shop. read more

Tapioca Express - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

Tapioca Express walked so all the other boba places in the area could run. My BF says "it's the godfather of boba places in Union City". I love the snow bubbles and milk teas here! The snacks are also pretty good! The seasoning on their popcorn chicken is so flavorful and nostalgic. Their spice level is inconsistent though. The service is pretty bad but that's been known for years LOL IYKYK. Also, they only take cash and $1 surcharge for debit. booooo. Overall, come here for the nostalgia factor and the cheap boba tea. Gotta give respect. :-) read more

Probably never returning here. The drinks just aren't how they used to be or maybe it's because I've had better drinks elsewhere that I now know the difference in terms of quality when it comes to milk tea. The customer service is horrendous. Just avoid this place all together. read more

Owner of this place doing some really disgusting behaviors. Shouting on loudspeaker to families to stay 6 ft away from each other or leave. Doesn't even use loudspeaker to call for drinks so people stick around unnecessarily long waiting being exposed to her antics. Staff not observing social distancing. 5+ people crammed into 6 x 10 space. Asking people (including a mother with her young child) to stay 6 ft. away from EACH OTHER. If a child gets hurt on the premises because you told their mother to remain 6 feet away from her you will most likely regret it. Do not be stupid in the name of battling something that is already being dealt with stupidly. No one needs to be humiliating their customers right now. These people are paying you money for a service and look how you are treating them. You should be careful before someone reports you to the County. read more

Tried it during covid to support small local business. Service is very rude. I rather go to other stores when service is that bad. It just eliminate whatever food taste because service is highly valued in this industry. Not to forget that! In terms of food, I think their spice kicks more for snacks like popcorn chicken and stuffs but bad drink. Had strawberry yogurt and I can taste jam. Nasty! read more

Tapioca Express - Low quality drink- they use strawberry jam. Not real strawberry. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

The cashier lady is so rude. Bad experience and not coming back anymore. The management needs to know and check the yelp feedback. Dear Tapioca Management if you want to keep your customers please fire the lady in the front. I bought a fried mushroom and it taste hella old and this lady is trying to argue with me instead of refunding or replace my order. I just gave it back to her. What a bad service! I dont know for some reason all your cashiers has a bad attitude. I dont know if she is hella racist but hello she's in america read more

Tapioca Express - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

Bad customer service here. Hella rude . I wouldn't rate a 1 star at all but to post a review they are rude

I haven't been to this TapEx, but I liked how fast the service was here! I always like how there's plenty to choose from here, but also tend to get the almond milk tea or banana snow bubble. The location is convenient and venue is quite spacey inside! If you're thirsty for a quick little treat on a budget, I'd recommend sliding over here! read more

This is my local go-to spot for Boba tea and from the line at this place, other people love it too. I have been coming here for some time. The prices are reasonable, service is quick and the milk teas are fabulous. On my last trip I did venture to try something new, ChiChi fries. I think they are overpriced, but maybe I wouldn't feel that way if I had enjoyed them. I didn't like the flavor of the sauce/spices. They were about $7. Here's What I Think...I will continue coming here for satisfied boba tea cravings. And every once in a while I might give a food item a try. read more

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Just had a not so pleasant experience with the lady at the front with short hair. I ordered a usual of mine which is guava green tea with mango stars. I've ordered the same drink from many tapioca express many times and I know how the drink tastes. Which is why I order it. When I took a sip of the drink I got an immense flavor of either perfume or soap. Something of a strong bad floral taste and definitely does not belong in that drink. There is absolutely no reason for me to make this up as it was a very specific flavor and just undrinkable. I asked my boyfriend to try it too and he agreed. We drove back to mention to them because it would've been a waste and the lady got super defensive and kept shaking her head and saying no no. She tried to tell me that's just how it tastes and if I don't want that flavor then get another drink. I calmly explained that this isn't the first time I've gotten this drink and maybe they should check on either their teas, syrups, and addons or something to make sure and see for themselves for future customers, not even for me. Obviously they couldn't try the one they gave me but I'm 100% certain something was wrong. Her attitude was upsetting so I just asked for a refund and she gave it. Hope they can work on their service. read more

An overdue review!! I've been going here since my freshman year of high school. Tapioca express has fed me through multiple band rehearsals all four years of the time I was in high school. It is a pretty nostalgic place for me as I am sure it is for others. Tapioca express is one of the OG boba shops of Union City. My older cousins used to come here back when they were in high school too. It never seems to disappointment me. They probably have the best snacks. Other places put too much breaded to cope for the fact that there is not much meat in their snack, while tapioca express always has the perfect ratio. The flavors are also bomb and the option to choose spice levels. I don't really get tea here, but I mainly got the snow bubbles. I've only tried the lychee snow bubble and mango snow bubble, but it's the flavors I like the most so I never bothered to try anything else. read more

We LOVE this boba spot, above all else! The OG! The cashier is always so friendly; she knows my order without asking and the service is quick! read more

Solid boba shop in the UC area. The service was fast. I have learned to come late at night. But the quality of the packaging, cups, etc are not up to par with neighboring boba shops (see I-TEA). Prices were fair and their menu is humongous. Come late at night if you want to skip the lines during daylight hours. We go the popcorn chicken (5 orders) , one green apple icy, one cappuccino, one rose milk tea, one hazelnut milk tea, and one taro milk tea. After clearly asking for no boba in any of the beverages, we got boba in the taro drink whomp whomp. the rest of the drinks were made correctly and our order of chicken was correct. The only negative I have for the chicken was the bag they use for the food products gets soggy really quick not a good way to send food for delivery in my opinion. Thankfully, we ordered our food in house and i opened up all the bags to let some of the hot air out so the bags wouldn't get soggy and drip into the chicken. another negative for them, where. other boba shops have great big chunks of chicken, the chicken here was very gristly and stringy with lots of little chunks of straight batter. We were so late to grab dinner I didn't get to take a picture of all the items we ordered. I would say solid, ok, good etc. The beverages (aside from the one order) were made well and everyone finished them off no issues. Give them a try! read more

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The service is terrible. The employees are rude. I try not to come back but their drinks are good

Five stars because this is the best tapioca express in the Bay Area and I feel cool that I grew up next to here. What makes this tapex different is that it's snacks are always on point. The popcorn chicken here is so good (I always order only a 1 or 0.5 spiciness because it's really hot). As far as the drinks go, they are standard for a tapex. I usually get a Thai tea snow bubble or just plain milk tea. Definitely love coming here every now and then read more

Updated store hours: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday: 12pm-7:30pm; Friday and Saturday: 12pm-9pm and closed on Tuesday Service is good Staff: is at par Quality of food: good Overall the service at Tapioca Express is good, total wait time is maybe 10-15 mins depending if there is a line. As far as staffing everyone is nice, I just wish the woman cashier is more patient when taking your order and not feel rushed. She also needs an attitude check on top of that, you just can't be rude to customers when you're the one taking our orders. Siblings like the milk tea without boba it's not too sweet delicious. Popcorn Chicken is good it has the right amount of spice to make it spicy. read more

I grew up drinking boba and discovering different flavors from this exact tapioca express. I've been coming here for over 18 years and I'm so happy to see the expansion they made with the extra side room for more seating! read more

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I ordered a Plum black tea and pepper crispy chicken. And both tasted bad. Especially the plum black tea. It tasted weird, was very sweet and had had some red spice powder in it. Also they don't accept credit cards and there is $1 surcharge for cash and debit cards. There are a lot of tea places that charge an additional fee for credit or debit card, but this place has an additional fee for cash as well. That's totally insane. read more

Do I agree with the people who say that the cashier's are rude? It's more not friendly as they don't smile or say much. Pretty straight forward as they want the line to just keep moving and probably end. So it's give them your order, pay and wait to be called. I might be bias as I've been ordering from the same lady since before covid days. When she is there it's a pleasant experience. I think it's also because they get so busy esp during school season. I do miss the tables, you used to be able to eat and relax. They used to have more gachapon and claw machine's to keep you preoccupied while waiting. I cut down on the drinks but their tempura and calamari are my favorite. When I do get a drink it's usually mango green tea, yummy! read more

Popcorn basil chicken is bomb af ! Spicy or non spicy are both equally delicious. Drinks are good if you don't get the super sweet ones.

This is probably my favorite tapex! The drinks are always good and the service is really quick. I've been to other tapex locations and they're just not the same - bland drinks and usually the menu isn't as extensive. Everything I've tried here I have ended up liking. Also, the menu is like never ending so there really is something for everyone!! Today I came in around 9:30pm, the place was pretty crowded but there was no line. I ordered the earl grey milk tea with pudding for myself and it tasted really good and perfectly sweetened. I hate when boba places make my drinks watery or overly sweet - so I was glad that my drinks turn out well every time I come here. I've also ordered the honey milk tea here and even with the added honey, the drink still doesn't taste overly sweetened! The drinks came out super quickly - I honestly spent only about 5 minutes in the place. Really great drinks and great service! Not the best boba I've ever had, but it is decent enough! read more

Drinks are great! I went in today to order chicken steak and some snow bubbles. Alice was taking my order. I explained to her the past few times I had came in I felt shorted from the snacks I was order. The boxes have been coming half full when I order 2 but when I order 1 the boxes are completely full. She proceeded to say "it's by measurement" so I asked if it's buy measurement then how come when I order 1 the box is full and when I order 2 it's like the 1 is split into both boxes" she then yells "if your scared then just don't order it" which lead me to tell her she had a bad attitude. Her attitude is rude very poor and I've been coming here for years. She should not be taking orders! Plus the chicken was slimy read more

Tapioca Express - Chicken steak - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

If you are from the Union City area or went to James Logan, you know this is the place to go. It's BEEN the place to go since our Middle School days. The simplicity behind the drinks is what makes Tapioca Express, you know what you're paying for and you know what to expect. They have not had a menu change at all and the knowledge behind knowing what to expect makes Tapex very comforting. They're open pretty late on the weekends which makes it a very popular place to be. The lines can be out the door sometimes and they are usually open even on some holiday days. (On New Years Day, the line was SO long!) I've ordered a number of things here, my personal favorite: the Mocha Snowbubble with boba and no whip cream has been a staple since my middle school days. Snowbubbles refer to a crushed/slushed ice drink. I've had various flavors from honeydew, mango, mocha, etc. They're all good but on the sweet end so if you're looking for something NOT sweet, the snowbubbles aren't for you. The milk teas are standards. I've ordered the Taro milk tea, regular milk tea,the Peach Green tea, etc and you can't go wrong with any of them. I guess it would be a luxury to adjust the sweetness level or the ice level at Tapioca Express. However, all of the drinks that we order at Tap Ex come out tasting exactly the same. There's no variation which is nice because if drinks came out tasting different, then it'd be nice to adjust sweetness level and ice levels. Another staple food is the popcorn chicken and the fried calamari. You can adjust the level of spiciness from 0 and onwards. Being a wimp like myself, I always order a spice level of 0 and get an amazing crunch with all of the fried foods we order. I would suggest not ordering any of the other foods here. A long time ago (maybe five or six years ago) we ordered one of the plates and it came out so gross looking, we couldn't eat it and threw it away. We haven't ordered any other food besides the fried calamari or popcorn chicken since then. Only complaint I have about this place is the cleanliness. All of the servers are behind the cashier area, making drinks or food. The outside tends to get very, very dirty, especially when it gets busy. I rarely see the workers come out and clean the tables. The floors and the bathrooms could do with an upgrade, they look super old and grimy. Upside is that they have expanded Tap and created a newly renovated area with seats and small arcade games. I thought that the little room was cute but maybe they could have gone with updating the main room first lol. read more

Tapioca Express - The newly renovated room with tables and chairs! Cute little arcade feel to it. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Union City, California

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The guy taking the order was super rude. The drink was alright. I won't be going back.