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Bubble Zone - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
1115 Clement St(between 12th Ave & Funston Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94118
Neighborhood: Inner Richmond
(415) 752-0618
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
About This Business:
We make authentic, fresh, flavorful, and delectable Schezuan and Mandarin dishes, using traditional recipes from our home region. Our cold appetizers… read more »
49 reviews for Bubble Zone
Review Highlights
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"4) Spicy Tofu over rice (it's similar to Ma -paw tofu." In 5 reviews -
"the side of relish and ground pork is yummo too." In 3 reviews -
"1) the egg pancake ( i love the sauce that comes with this." In 3 reviews
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49 reviews in English
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Review from Belinda C.
San Francisco, CA
7/12/2008 3 photos
I love the decor of this place. Everything here is so cute, from their plates, to their cups. There are a few dishes i highly recommend.
1) the egg pancake ( i love the sauce that comes with this!)
2) fried tofu (fried to the perfection! the inside to so silky smooth, and the dipping sauce is good)
3) Ground Pork over rice (i love this dish, i always want to lick the food off this plate)
4) Spicy Tofu over rice (it's similar to Ma -paw tofu)
I am close to trying almost every drink here. So far my fav drinks are their Plum green tea, ginger tea, and their Yogurt Snow drink. If i lived close enough to this place, i would stop by everyday to grab one of their drinks.
by the way, the parking here is not hard at all, but one major let down, is that i wish they took credit cards.. Be Aware- it's CASH ONLY! -
Review from M'ia K.
San Francisco, CA
12/15/2006
Been there three times, at around the same time.. (10-11PM "ish".)
(+) Good selection of tapioca drinks until late at night...
(+) The MAGAZINES! I could pore over those Japanese magazines for hours, for more shopping inspiration and fodder...
(+) Service is polite and kind. Sometimes I think they give me the same drink as my DH even though we asked for different things, though....
(-) Why do they play the same DVD/Music video over and over again? I *know* there has *got* to be a better pool of music videos to show... right? The tunes are pretty catchy, though, I admit it (I have no idea what they are saying, but what the heck.)
(-) Kinda dark...
(-) Only open @ night, not in the early afternoons. -
Review from Christy L.
San Francisco, CA
5/22/2007
This is one place that I don't go to for the boba. Don't get me wrong, their boba is good - it's just not what draws me to this place. I love their food!
They have awesome spicy steamed dumplings that comes out in a bowl with a wonderful spicy hot oil sauce. I also enjoy their soy sauce egg and egg pancake. Both are served with this breath destroying garlic sauce. The sauce is totally oralgasmic, but seriously leaves you with a bad case of the dragon breathitis.
Plus, they stay open late and play lots of Jay Chou DVD's! What more can you ask for!? -
Review from kevo m.
East Bay, CA
4/7/2007
One of my roomies and I went here for dinner one night. He knows the owner from college. The service was excellent as it should when you know the owner. The food was especially prepared by said owner.
Aside from the biased review, the place had an Arnold's Drive Inn from Happy Days in a Y2K AZN flavor kind of feel.Listed in: My Best of the Bay Area List
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Review from Frank B.
San Francisco, CA
10/4/2007
After being told about Bubble zone by Lolia S, I finally got a chance to drop by earlier today and sample their pearl tea. Luckily, unlike Lolia S, when I arrrived, they were not out of tapioca. I enjoyed the pearl tea but found it pretty average. It wasn't too sweet, which is good, but the pearl balls consistency was on the soggy side.
The name of the restaurant implies a classic pearl tea cafe, but Bubble zone is really more of a restaurant that happens to serve pearl tea. I didn't sample any of their food, and it was deathly quiet at lunch time on a weekday. I suspect this place - like every place on Clement - gets mobbed on weekends, however.
Bubble zone is located close to the "end" of Clement street, near Park Presidio Drive. If you know this stretch, you know then that the main mess of excellent sticky-table establishments are located more in the center of Clement st., say, around 5-10th st., or thereabouts. As a result, Bubble Zone feels a little detached from the main drag.
I will be back at some point to try their non pearl tea cuisine, and re-sample the pearl tea. -
Review from Lolia S.
San Francisco, CA
10/1/2007
I've always thought of Bubble Zone as a pearl tea place. Imagine my surprise (and even outrage) when I stopped by for a tapioca drink only to be told that they didn't have any tapioca (it was still cooking). It was Saturday afternoon at a PT place. There's no excuse for not having cooked tapioca on hand. I deducted a star for not having tapioca when I first stopped by. You're called Bubble Zone, so you'd better have bubbles/pearls/boba all the time!
The red bean tapioca drink was pretty good. The pearls were fresh and chewy though still not as good as Eggettes. They used real beans in the drink though I like mine with more beans. The drink wasn't too sweet and didn't have too much ice. They also give you plenty of pearls, so the drink is very filling. It was $4 for some reason, which is the most expensive one I've had in SF. Ice House used to have the best red bean PT, much better than Bubble Zone's (more red beans) but it is no longer in business.
The large menu of Taiwanese dishes looked interesting (and authentic) and the place looks more like a restaurant than a pearl tea shop. Cash only. -
Review from Natalie l.
San Francisco, CA
11/26/2007
HUGE disappointment
The spicy wontons..................ARE NOT what they're supposed to be, and everything was just all bad at this place. Pickled cucumbers...........huuuuuuuuuuuuuge disappointment. It was shredded cucumbers with salt. WTH!
"A place that's trying to serve Taiwanese food but isn't"- SKP
NEVER EVER EVVVVVVVVER coming back here again -
Review from scott y.
Sunnyvale, CA
5/20/2007
It's authentic but it's not. The kind of place you wish was open at 3 a.m. because it's pretty reasonable. I get antsy though when i hang out in a place and see 2 couples walk and play hearts for over 2 hours. I am not hating but I wanted to scream, "GET A ROOM!!!!"
I do think though that I may have to consider holding a poker tourney here. They have beer, food, cute waitresses and don't care if you order a cup of coffee and hang out for 2 hours. -
Review from Kimberly F.
San Francisco, CA
2/12/2007
Cute, very 'HK' place! Good atmosphere to go with your friends and hang out. They play HK music and music videos. They have a small oxygen bar, and cards for you to play with.
They serve small plates of food, serve flavored soju, have interesting flavors of boba, and shaved ice deserts. My favorite desert is the shaved ice with sticky rice balls, lychee, pineapple, and lots of condensed milk!
On the weekends (fri, sat) I think they open until 1 am. Fun place to go if you want somewhere to hang out late nights. -
Review from Alyssa K.
6/28/2006
Sit down bubble tea place.
I went here once and got the Wheat Germ Milk Tea.
I got it because I had no idea what wheat germ milk tea would taste like.
It was delish! -
Review from Courtney P.
Oakland, CA
6/19/2006
The first time I went to Bubble Zone was because it was the only place that was open late (a big plus) and I needed a fix. Glad I did! The environment is inviting, the clerks and pretty friendly (although slow at times, but not entirely their fault).
They have a small selection of books, magazines and games to keep yourself occupied while you wait for your drink/food, as well as a never-ending loop of asian pop concert footage on the multiple television screens.
The food menu is pretty awesome, with its variety of asian comfort foods. Everything I saw looked delicious! But of course, the draw is mostly their array of bubble teas, smoothies and snows.
Interesting drink to try: the Coffee Milk Tea. Coffee with Tea?! It tasted better than I thought, and it's a nice caffeine fix. -
Review from Ardit B.
San Francisco, CA
9/21/2006
I ordered just an apetizer in this place, and it was good. I had never tried simmered Pig's Ears before. Plus for those plasma TV showing asian pop videos -- which is a novelty for a non-asian like me (even thou my chinese friends swear my dad looks chinese to them).
I haven't tried any of their drinks. Right now I will rate it three stars.
P.s. Alan, don't be so down on it. It was late, and maybe the cook had a bad day. -
Review from Cathy T.
San Francisco, CA
6/11/2006
It's Bubblicious! Hehe (covers mouth with hand while giggling.)
Seriously though, this is where I go to get all Azn and drink boba tea and listen to HK pop. I like the fact that it's open late and a good alternative to a bar for those times when you feel like going out but not like drinking your face off. -
Review from Jolin L.
San Francisco, CA
9/11/2006
Summary:
Price: ok
Food: ok
Must Try: Rice plate #1 (sausage over rice)
Dont try the noodles here but besides that are all fine.
the rice plate number 1 is a must try. -
Review from Helene K.
2/16/2008
Stopped by this cute little place today after a long walk through Land's End. Only had dessert here; I was a little disappointed that they were "out" of several menu items and that it was not clearly indicated on the menu. For instance, they were out of the Mumo Cha Cha and fruit crepes.
However, I still enjoyed the place. It's different from most other places that serve boba--you can eat full meals here, too. Their ice cream crepe was tasty, came with a little pirouline (?) cookie stick and was drizzled in coffee chocolate syrup. Bubble tea was also tasty, although mine tasted like it was a mix of flower and milk in the tea. Hmm!
I do want to come back to this place in the future though. They only accept cash here, so be sure to bring cash and not your card. Prices are all very reasonable.
P.S. I would also like to add that it was rather random/surprising (in a good way) that they had some Jpop videos playing in the background. Rock on! -
Review from Jenny L.
3/28/2008
This place has a way of making me feel way older than I am, but I must say, the way they served sago in a martini glass was very cute. Just a reminder to only get the fruits when they are in season - I made a mistake of ordering the mango one and had a sour face the rest of the night.
Oh, cute decor, too! -
Review from Vijay N.
Boston, MA
4/29/2007
Note: I've never eaten the food here so my experience has solely been based on bubble tea to-go.
I love the idea of a "nicer" bubble tea place where you can actually sit down and enjoy your drink with the sound of MTV China courageously blasting in the background.
Had the plain milk tea w/ tapioca today which was yummy as usual (only $2.75). You can actually taste the tea and the pearls are perfectly chewy and slightly sweet. The perfect accompaniment to my bagel & cream cheese for a delicious late Sunday afternoon breakfast -
Review from Justin M.
Castro Valley, CA
4/7/2007
Cool place to have boba/tea/appetizers, but don't go when it's crowded! Went on a Tuesday evening....yes....a Tuesday evening and it was packed! I felt so bad for the waitress. She was waiting all the tables and she was literally RUNNING inside the restaurant to accommodate everyone's order. Then one of the managers starts shouting at her in mandarin/Taiwanese....OMG! I didn't understand, but what he said sounded mean! Every time an order is ready, the cook rings a bell. The bell was ringing every 30 seconds. That poor little waitress!
The selection is rather extensive when it comes to the little appetizer plates. They also have meals too...which look like generous portions.
The decor is modern/contemporary and clean.
Just a little disappointed that they don't have enough staff on a weekday evening especially if it is busy. We had to wait over 20 minutes to get our drinks. It's not the waitress' fault. She was doing a great job. I blame management for running a thin staff. -
Review from Amy N.
San Francisco, CA
5/29/2008
When Bubble Zone first opened, their food was pretty good. I think I came here with my mother who lived most her life in Taiwan and said everything was authentic but a bit modified for Americans.
But through the years, I've noticed Bubble Zone food has steadily declined in quality. Salt Pepper Chicken used to be tasty and spiced properly. The last time I had it (a year ago), there was no pepper!
Bubble Zone is still a good place to hang out with friends late at night, though. I just make sure not to order the food and stick to the desserts, like shaved ice, and drinks, like Ginger Hot Tea.
Well geez, now I'm craving some Ginger Hot Tea. -
Review from Helen H.
San Francisco, CA
5/21/2007
Been here maybe 3 times or so. Its a good place to go because its open late. However, their food is somewhat disappointing.. Oyster omelet was soggy and didn't have the defining sweet sauce. Their boba is also not that great. The flavored milk teas are good though.
However, my friend ordered a rice dish and was very satisfied.
Will I come back? Probably because I always get late-night muchies... -
Review from Sun-Kai P.
Walnut, CA
12/2/2007
Right when I heard the name of the place, "Bubble Zone," I should of known this was going to be a dining disaster!
I have NEVER had spicy wontons where they use dumplings instead of small wontons. I think I ordered spicy wontons, not SPICY DUMPLINGS!
This place deserves 0 star's, cause they serve crap! Stick to just serving tea and stop serving bad Taiwanese food. The only thing Taiwanese thing about this place are the music video's they play.
So sad, TRASH! -
Review from Carolyn K.
South San Francisco, CA
6/22/2008 1 photo
-----June 22, 2008.
Apparently Bubble Zone didn't pass their latest restaurant inspection. Their "business is temporarily closed" :(
-------------------------------------------------- ------
I love the tea, their grilled plates, and italian soda. My friends and I can sit for hours here late at night just sipping on the tea they serve. Their sizzling plate meals are very filling, complete with soup, salad, and a preferred sauce for your meat/fish. The italian sodas are just plain good. The kind where you get random cravings for them in the middle of the night. Yes, one of those (:
I've noticed that the waitresses here are always very polite and nice. They're very sweet and I guess trained very well. -
Review from Heidi L.
San Francisco, CA
3/17/2008
So, apparently they started serving grilled plates.
My mom and I decided to try it. They have a set meal where you order your meat, sauce, and choice of spaghetti or fries. Meal comes with soup and salad too.
I ordered the steak with mushroom sauce and spaghetti.
First came the soup, pretty good start. It was creamy vegetable chowder with corn. I really liked it. Salad was your standard chinese-american salad with iceberg and thousand island dressing. Not bad.
Next was the spaghetti. I was getting excited about my meal, because the spaghetti was jammin. A little sweet, yes, that's chinese style spaghetti.
Then the entree came. Oh geez. WHERE'S THE BEEF???? I looked at my steak and it was as thin as a piece of paper, and the mushroom sauce, I could count the mushrooms i had on my plate, it was ONE.
My mom got the chicken with black pepper sauce. That was a little better. But not by much.
Oh, and they ran out of red bean dessert too.
Basically, i'm not comin back.
Their spaghetti wasn't that good. -
Review from sushi y.
Daly City, CA
11/17/2007
Good food selection for a cafe. Was tempted to order more food just so I could try more then two things! Beef noodles soup was very flavourful, tho a little heavy on the beef fat, but they do say fat is flavour (once in a while wont hurt!) The Oyster with Taiwan noodle soup was thick and homey- was very very hot! still warm after I took the leftovers home- I couldnt finish it because it was so hot!
The snacks and appetizers looked good- got to come back to try more! Not too much distraction which was good- having more than one big TV screen showing pop videos with blaring music can be much. It was pleasant environment- people were reading or talking- very cosy. Had to take a star away as the wait staff seemed more pre-occupied with reading / playing with cell phone than to check on anyone else, which is a shame.
Will try the bubble tea next time, but i didnt see any one ordering any, wait, a couple came in for two to take out.....but I think they did so just to use the restroom.... -
Review from Sir Paul L.
Nassau County, NY
8/7/2006
Bubble zone is gone. It's no longer Taiwanese late night place with authentic food. It's called sizzling plate with menu items like "steak" and appears to be now Japanese owned? They close at 11pm on weekends to my dismay...where else to go late night besides king of thai for some decent food?
Huge disappointment! -
Review from Mike H.
San Francisco, CA
10/31/2006
I am Taiwanese so I am pretty particular about Taiwanese food. Since there is really not a lot of Taiwanese restaurants in SF, Bubble Zone is decent if you are just craving for it. But it is too expensive for the OK food. Don't really recommend it unless you are just dying for Taiwanese food.
My 1.5 cents -
Review from Elaine M.
New York, NY
6/15/2007
This review is only based on my one meal here and does not represent a comprehensive rendering of the Bubble Zone experience. My lychee boba was delicious and fresh, though the tapioca balls were a little over-abundant for my liking. My order was very simple and very cheap: the fried pork noodles. They were good but not life changing. They were certainly a good deal due to my dining their in the lunch special window of time. The cheesy music videos on TV weren't even that annoying. Bubble Zone is worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood but not worth going out of the way for. It's one of many nice, local Inner Richmond establishments.
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Review from Marsha Z.
San Francisco, CA
6/23/2006
This place was a shocker. I've passed this place many a time, and judging from the outside, always thought it to be another boba/tapioca place. While they do offer plenty of milk tea, fruit/smoothie drinks (along with alcohol!), there is an extensive menu of food: appetizers, rice plates, noodles, soup, and vegetarian dishes. I have yet to try any of the food, but so far, I was impressed by the menu, modern decor, the extremely nice service, and my mango boost drink. Bubble Zone proved to be a good spot for a post-run pick me up.
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Review from W. W.
Burlingame, CA
6/2/2006
Pretty extensive variety of authentic tasting Taiwanese "street" food like oyster omelette, egg pancake (highly recommended), etc. In SF, there are only 2-3 places to get genuine Taiwanese cooking, and this is the better one.
Avoid that other Taiwanese place in the Richmond, Taste of Formosa on Clement...dirty and awful. -
Review from Petra S.
10/16/2007
This is my late night go to place (on Clement St. between 12Th and Park Presidio) when I'm craving some milk tea tapioca and noodles. The chow mien here is surprisingly good especially since they add shitake mushrooms to it. I have been going here for the past two years with friends who like me have insomnia and can't sleep and just need a place to hang out and chat late night since on weekends it stays open till 1am. The service isn't all that great which would be my first complaint and my second is that they take only cash, other than other that the food is pretty cheap and it's open pretty late. They also have two flat screen TVs on which they play HK music video's so you've got something to watch while you sip you're pearl drinks.
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Review from shaun l.
San Francisco, CA
4/10/2006
Fun place to hang out... they have cards and other games to entertain as you enjoy your hk style beverage, dessert, or meal.
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Review from Armstrong B.
San Francisco, CA
10/15/2007
They're open pretty late (around 1 AM on Fri and Sat) and serve other items on their menu besides tapioca drinks. I always thought this was just another tapioca place. They serve excellent chow mein labeled as combination fried noodle. Parking is easier on this part of Clement since the majority of the restaurants are between 4th to 8th Ave. Cash only.
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Review from Charles C.
San Francisco, CA
1/8/2007
worked for me
a place with good boba where you can sit and relax is hard to find
bonus for having tons of parking -
Review from Al K.
San Francisco, CA
6/5/2006
Salt and Pepper chicken is great. Flavorful. I suspect MSG, but that's not an issue for me; never has it bothered me. The chitterlings are also pretty tasty. Shredded pork and rice cakes stick to the ribs, yadadamsayin?
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Review from Alan T.
San Francisco, CA
9/21/2006
Food is terrible. Ordered a green peper beef with rice and it was outrageously salty.
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Review from Julie M.
New York, NY
11/7/2006
Very eye popping color place to hang out. This place has been opened for a while. Lots of boba drinks to order. The small plates are alright. I have tried many dishes here and its comparable to the many other hong kong/taiwanese style dishes at other eateries. The non-stop playing of the Jay Chau concert gets kind of annoying. Not once have they played something other than Jay Chau. I like the parking convenience of this place. Right around the corner there's ample parking. The magz and games are cool too. Too bad they don't have the oxygen bar anymore.
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Review from Clar L.
San Francisco, CA
11/5/2006
Cute - the interior, nibble dishes, even the small defunct oxygen bar in the corner. The owner is nice and really put alot of himself into the establishment. Always was a good place for some good bubble tea... and people-watching the hip and cute Asian crowd that regularly haunts this Clement strip place.
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Review from Linda X.
San Francisco, CA
1/30/2008 3 photos
I came here pretty often till I went to Southern California and friend of mine took me this Taiwanese Restaurant (excellent unfortunately I forgot the name of the place). This place is a poser =x ... I hate to say it since I've been coming here so often haha. But found out recently that they're closed? What happened?!
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Review from Fred E.
San Francisco, CA
1/31/2007
My pork kidney and wine soup was so SCALDING HOT that after waiting ten minutes for it to cool down, I had it packaged to go instead; after driving home twenty minutes later, it was just barely tolerable so that it would not cause blisters inside my mouth and lips. The meat and vegetables of the soup were OK, but, overall, I felt that the soup itself was a little too greasy. My drink, a peach, mango, and tomato concoction, was very tasty and was the perfect antidote to my molten lava meal. The bright decor, the TV constantly set on a Chinese pop music video station, the dizzying and lengthy drink menu, and late night hours (all intended with an under 30 crowd in mind, I assume) helps to make this place stick out from all the other Taiwanese food places on Clement Street, which look very staid in comparison.
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Review from Gregg T.
San Francisco, CA
5/28/2007
I'll have to take others' words for it that this place is authentic. I know neither their tantanmen nor their 1000 year old eggs and tofu 皮蛋豆腐 was not what I expected either but both were still yummy so I'm happy to go back.
