Tapioca Express
Categories: Coffee & Tea, Asian Fusion [Edit]
Neighborhood: Western Addition/NOPA1522 Fillmore St
(between Geary Blvd & Ofarrell St)
San Francisco, CA 94115 (415) 346-6600
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 10:00 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat 11:00 a.m.-11:30 p.m.
Sun 12:00 p.m.-10:30 p.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Wi-Fi: Free
- Alcohol: None
47 reviews
Neighborhood: Russian Hill
"Good sandwiches, and various different types of sandwiches, cool location, staff was cool and even brought out my latte instead of shouting…" read more »
45 Reviews for Tapioca Express
Wow! This is delicious . I'm actually in here using the wifi. Try the chocolate milk tea, you'll love it.
Ok haha I think I found my new tapioca store. Btw I'm typing this on my iPod so sorry for the typos :)
EDIT- Now that I think about it.. come here if you have time to waste before a show at the fillmore, perfect!
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There must be something wrong with me. My first time in Tapioca Express and not only do I not get tapioca, I don't even get a drink. Instead, I get the fried cuttlefish balls on a stick.
In my defense, I have been craving things on sticks lately. At work, it's a running gag that, if I'm hungry, I'm hungry for a meat stick. I don't think my coworkers realize the double entendre is true half the time.
Anyhoo, I get the fried cuttlefish balls and it's just the way I hoped - piping hot, nicely spiced with the exterior a light tan of perfection. Unfortunately, -1 star for the slow service (4 balls should not take ten minutes in an empty store/restaurant). But I appreciated their array of sports and gossip mags. It's always nice to catch up on Jessica Simpson's failure in life while waiting for a piping stick of cuttlefish balls.
Mmmmm, balls and sticks.
Haa haa haa haa- I read Amy O.'s review, and I laughed out loud because I totally got the cuttlefish balls, too, the first time I'd ever come in on my own! They were seriously taaaaasty! And hot, too! The girl is right-on! You *know* you can trust a woman who likes spicy balls on a good, firm, woody stick!
My buddy Rodney took me here during our "celebrating my recent college graduation" outing, a follow-up dessert to my first taste of Japanese curry!
I ordered something I thought would be safe: "green apple snow frosty" or something like that, with white tapioca.
They asked if I wanted whipped cream on it- my kind of place!
Who *doesn't* want whipped cream?? Space aliens, that's who, and not the cool kind...
Anyway, the drinky-drink tasted just like gummy bears!!
I freaking L O V E gummy bears!!!!!
The green apple snow drink was a little on the sour side, a little on the sweet side, and the texture was perfect! White tapioca balls are a little firm, and they're fun to chew!
I've tried several other tapioca places in the various parts of the Bay Area, and I am telling you, my lovely Yelpers- I enjoy no other place to the calibre that I love Tapioca Express!
Seriously, I like them so much, I have literally *danced* while waiting for my drinky to be ready! Like, spinning and groovin' and shimmying, so happy!
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It was 5pm and I needed somethng to eat that wouldn't ruin my appetite. I don't do pearl tapioca drinks but went in here hoping they'd have something savory. CALAMARI RINGS! Mmmmm! For $3.40 I got a bag of calamari rings the size of onion rings but much tastier. They were coated in bread crumbs-- not my favorite, but they were nicely spiced. They put two skewers in my bag so I could skewer them and nibble on them in the car. Yum.
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Continuing my lunch adventure down Fillmore st: Awesome place to get a brain freeze on a hot day. The mango icy gave me one hell of a brain freeze when it was 90 degree outside. The lunch menu looked enticing, but I've already had lunch. Will return here again another day to try out one of their lunch combo's.
I sometimes curse my neighborhood (Pacific Heights) for its lack of diversity. Upper Fillmore is very Euro-centric, with the exception of one mediocre Thai restaurant-slash-sports bar and three sushi bars. And yes, Japantown is a few mere blocks away, but come on - let's admit it - Japanese food has already hit the American mainstream - and sushi and ramen are about as "ethnic" as a lot of my fellow neighborhood dwellers would dare to go.
I once had a late night craving for almond milk tea and was supremely annoyed that I had to drive out to Clement Street to get to a Quickly.
Which, ironically, took FOR-FUCKING-EVER.
Which brings me to Tapioca Express. Nestled between a Subway sandwich shop and the Woo Ri Market (the smallest Korean supermarket ever), Tapioca Express is a godsend. Granted, it's not exactly the best bubble tea you'll ever have, but it's better than Quickly's and the girls who work here are actually PLEASANT...no, dare I say, CHEERFUL. They offer $1.99 snack specials depending on the day of the week. And I also like the fact that it doesn't get crazy crowded with a gaggle of afterschool teenyboppers like every single boba place on Clement does. Ooh, and try the "Hell Fire" crispy chicken - it's super delicious.
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How far are you willing to travel for good boba? I was willing to go all the way down to Daly City but this Tapioca Express is much closer and luckily, pretty much indistinguishable in taste from the Daly City location. So if you like your tapioca soft and your milk tea milky, this is your place. They also have daily specials on drinks so check it out when you drop by.
Tapioca Express on Fillmore is awesome. I love the variety of drinks that they have there, and I love that they offer white tapioca pearls. I don't generally like a lot of sugar, and when I complicatedly ask them for half sugar, they are always happy to adjust their normal offering to suit me.
Every time I go in there the people behind the counter make me feel welcome, as far as I can tell not just so I'll leave them a good tip, but just because they're just that way! Many thumbs up.
This place is more pleasing to the eye and palate than Quickly. Granted, your selection of fried squid balls and chicken cutlets are fewer indeed but the drinks are clearly displayed and the staff (gasp) speaks 2,/"-4:! The guy who helped us was super friendly and patient which was soooo nice at 10 minutes to close. We gave him a $2 tip and he was so honest- "you forgot your nmoney" and waving it for us to see. So sweet I swear. Nice decor, nice staff and awesome Jasmine milk tea. Aloe gel is a nice change too. :)
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Yay snow bubbles! There are not enough bubble tea shops in SF for it being such an Asian-filled city. I used to get bubble teas nearly every day in Chicago - I long for them on days when I cannot make it to Japantown or the Richmond.
Snow bubbles are sugar filled delights.
Stopped in the other day after seeing the $1.99 chicken snack. I like me some spicy chicken. Unfortunately, I misread the sign, it was a "daily" special, and I happened to be in on like a wonton day or something. So, it turned out to be a $5.43 snack, because I had to get a side of rice to go with my "hell fire" flavored bites. A tear nearly filled my eye, good stuff.
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I came to Tapioca Express yesterday because it's closer to me than the other tapioca places that seem to be clustered in the sunset district.
I ordered the milk tea with taro flavor. I thought it had the right amount of sweetness. I chatted with one of the workers about the variety of bubbles they offer. I usually order the black tapioca balls. She told me about the white tapioca balls- how they are more chewy. She offered to mix the black and white.
I have to say that I may be a convert to the white pearls. I don't know if it's in my head but they have this lychee flavor. Yum.
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I'm just glad they put in a new, nice and clean business on Fillmore south of Geary. In comparison to other TapEx's I've seen, this one is by far the nicest (have u guys seen the one on Clement?? What a joke!) And it's not run down by middle/high school kids. I hope more places like this open up in the area!
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I went here for a Halloween get together with some friends of a friend. The atmosphere was great, the place is very clean, and they had trick o' treats for the kiddies. Oh the bubble tea was refreshing too. They have a private karaoke room in the back that you can use/rent for a few hours if you buy enough drinks/food. Check it out!
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I like their daily specials...fried tofu, crispy chicken, etc. Good hot tapioca drinks too! The only downside is the location of the place--kind of a shady area.
Friendly owner who always greet me when I enter. Love those snacks. Even though it is a chain store, somehow it maintains great quality and wonderful customer service.
I think of places like Tapioca and Express Quickly as Asian trailer trash food.
This is where we eat junk food, trendy junk food, but still junk food. I do love the Bubble tea and boba. I actually had some unagi rice here (not bad, not fantastic either). I've also had some fried cuttlefish balls. My friend tried the fried chicken. Everything smells like five spice powder.
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popcorn chicken + 1/2 container of the spicy powder
grapefruit juice w/ rainbow jellies cuz they FRESHLY SQUEEZE their grapefruit juice folks!! texas ruby reds (i love my texas grapefruit!!!)
i make my chicken SUPER spicy to the point where you can't even close your mouth cuz you're hoping the little bit of airation will help cool down your palette and so much saliva is now pooled in ur mouth so you have two choices....close your mouth and swallow or just it DROOL...but sometimes you don't quite close ur mouth quite in time...so you do a SLURP *tsffftssfffffff* yeah u know what im talking about...or mayb u don't....
useful info: free wifi
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Pretty awesome here. I have always wanted to try Tapioca Express since I work right across the street of it. Anyways so yesterday when some customers went into my work place and had their popcorn chicken from Tapioca Express it made the whole room smell like it and I craved it! So then later after work my friend and I went across the street to get some food! They have daily snack specials which are $1.99 which is cheap! The manager is super friendly! They have white tapioca balls! Which I wanna try! I love tapioca balls! I think I already tried them since you can get a whole bag of those balls for about $2, I used to just buy a bag of the black ones, boil them and then just eat it. They gave me a extra bag of calamari rings because some guy had taken our food! So we had like two bags of those and one bag of popcorn chicken! I love calamari, but I didn't really like the batter of it. The popcorn chicken was good! It was mostly all lean chicken and no fat which is good! The whole place itself was really colorful and inviting.
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Hun, this ain't your typical boba shop. Tapioca milk tea? Sure, they have it. But I'd recommend trying everything else. The strawberry Snow Bubble (smoothie) is great.
Low prices and good drinks with an extensive menu means I can get my jasmine tea with grass jelly groove on. They also do food -- the curry chicken katsu bento looks nummy.
Kudos for great service and a clean shop in an otherwise ghetto ass hood. I wish they had one of these on Clement, instead of the Quickly or the mom and pops.
(There's only one other boba shop in the neighoborhood. Don't even bother with boba from the place in the Kintetsu mall -- the worst I've ever had.)
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Even though this is a chain, I love this place ! it's like another quickly's but much much better because this is like a smaller chain i think . the drinks are larger and taste better . plus the place is nicer . however, some of their drinks are too sweet such as the tapioca milk tea and the mocha snow bubble . the mocha snow bubble tasted really good like a dreamy chocolate cake but it was way too sweet . the smoky oolong milk tea was not sweet enough . you could still taste the bitter tea . the thai tea snow bubble was really good . i would really recommend you people to try the snow bubbles . they are heavenly !
A true guilty pleasure. They are probably the best in the neighborhood, and yes it's a chain, but it's still good. And well priced.
Their tapioca drinks do come with the bells and whistles -- your typical 20-30 flavors, some with milk, some without, and a pretty rich variety of extras to put in your drink. I like the regular tapioca balls, but they have a grass jelly which is pretty good.
I am not so sure about the food -- much of it is fried, and I typically go there just for dessert anyway, but with some patience and intuition, you too can find the most amazing combination of flavors to suit your palate. In my case, at this time of the year, there is nothing more delicious than the warm almond milk tea with tapioca. You just can't beat it.
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Uhhhhhh
It definitely has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to match the quality of its SoCal brethren. Having gone to college down south....tapex was the local asian kid hangout. Yes...we were cool....we acted tough and rolled together to boba joints together....DON'T MESS!!
But anyways, since I studied for midterms and finals by binging on the sugar high from tapex's down in socal, I thought it'd be nice to experience it again up in SF.
Got the litchi green tea. Looked good....so far so good.
Then....tasted and smelled it.....
wait...wtf?!?! the hell?? *sniff* *sniff*
what the heck is that?!!? *sniff* *sniff*
yes...i can taste the litchi...but what the hell is that overpowering the litchi flavor...
DURIAN!!!!!
hmmmm......i'm pretty sure that's not what i asked for....they must've put the litchi flavoring next to the durian or something.
Still got some catching up to do.
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Service was fine, prices were fine, food was fine, but I can't understand how it took 20min to cook up 3 chicken skewers. At least they were tasty, but I don't think I'll be back.
The tapioca drinks I get here are either hit or miss for me. Some of the good: hot ginger milk tea, banana milk, hot taro milk tea. Very tasty, and I like the wide selection of jellies and tapioca you can add in your drink. I also like how some of their drinks have real fruit in them too, like the banana milk. However, some of the snow bubble drinks I've had have not been very good (too bland), and I had a mango tapioca drink that was too sweet with not enough "mango" flavor.
I've gotten some of their bento boxes to go, and they've been pretty good, plus you get a discount on your drink if you get a drink + entree.
Service: Always very friendly and the drinks are made very quickly for you.
Very not good.
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Hey, finally a clean, updated Bubble Tea place. Decades ago, someone said this was a neighborhood butcher shop, for kosher stuff, but now split into Bubble Tea and Korean Suckshi for the neighborhood alternative to Starbuckeroos. It's still getting the newbies trained, but they were giving out samples one Saturday morning and the place had about seven customers sitting and chatting away. Try the milk tea with tapioca pearls. It's ok, but the best I found were in Taipei.
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Great selection of tapioca drinks and quick 'anthing fried' snacks like tofu and potstickers.
They offer drinks I haven't seen at other similar spots like smoked oolong milk tea, which is deee-lightful.
We found the atmosphere bright and cheery with people watching VH1 on the flat screens and doodling around on their laptops - wifi!
Only thing is if you're one of the few honkys that wander in they sort of treat you like you have no idea what's going on, which is sweet because they're trying to be helpful, but also a wee bit annoying because we do happen to know what most those jellies and bubbles are and what to do with them.
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Beats Quickly's ass
....with a huge menu of drinks, some bento-like food and snacks, impressive, fun, clean interior and fairly good boba tea (boba is good but not all use fresh fruit and I don't care for the syrup taste)....
...a great place to stop before waiting for the Geary or Fillmore bus, after Japantown, a show at the Fillmore, the Sundance theater, or one of smaller jazz clubs...
...and they don't have to bribe a county Supervisor to do it!
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Their first class customer service always makes me leave with a big smile on my face. The store managers are thoughtful and friendly, they try hard to memorize the names and food preference of their loyal customers.
The food / drink is authentic, the wait is short.
The best part is their secret karaoke VIP room, for just $20/hour + $5pp fee, you can enjoy hours of fun singing and food savoring in a private setting. I book all my girls party there and it is never a disappointment.
Your average boba chain cafe type joint. Customer service is on key, but in a very mechanical I just got back from the corporate company team building camp way. I guess I shouldnt complain, nice is nice. Prices are steep. And the free drink at the end of the "buy 15 or so drinks and get one free" doesnt come with boba just the tea. Not so free. I like Yin N Yang in the Richmond...Theyre cheap and friendly in a very neighborhoody family business way.
Just opened!
STORE HOURS
Mon-Thu: 11AM - 10:30PM
Fri-Sat: 11AM - 11:30PM
Sun: 12PM - 10:30PM
Very clean, friendly atmosphere. Nice family running it. Lots of tasty snack foods, and of course good pearl tea drinks and fresh juices. Extensive drink and food menu, and decent hours. Nice little bento boxes and you'll get a $1 off your drink with one. Just what the neighborhood needed!
WiFi available.
Nice to be able to add another local joint to our list of "go-to" spots.
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Clean and bright space. The milk tea here is great! It does not give me a sugar headache as the other Tapioca Express' do. Check out the magno star jelly, perfect addition to any fruity tea. The family that runs the place is super nice and helpful. The bento boxes are thoughtfully put together and generous in portion for the price ($5). They have a full kitchen , so you know everything is being prepared fresh. They even have a private room in the back where you can rent for groups or get togethers. 5 stars!
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This Tapioca Express (TE) is different from the rest of the TE out there. As a general rule TE gets 3 stars because it is a chain, the drinks are typically too sweet, and it can be grimy, but this one is different. It is the first TE in SF, it is brand new and really clean. I talked with the owner and they are reducing the sweetness of their drinks, especially the coffee.
I usually order the passion fruit tea with mango star jelly, excellent. Also their box lunches are great, well priced between $5-$7.
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My new favorite place!
I've been here twice in the past week for boba and have been so impressed each time. It lacks the unease, sketchiness and dirt of the Quickly locations I've been to and reminds me more of Bubble Zone in comfort and style (thats a good thing).
The staff is extremely friendly and ready to hand out samples of whatever you want to try. HUGE variety of drinks and bobas. I've tried the strawberry and taro. The taro was especially yummy. I'd like to try the fried foods sometime.
Really cute place, great location, right next to Sushi Boom. I expect to drop by a lot.
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In terms of quality of drinks, I'd say it's about the same as Quickly. One thing Quickly wins at is price - they offer $.99 milk tea or $.69 milk tea at most locations in SF.
However, when it comes to service and cleanliness, TapEx wins hands down. (This branch is still new though so that they have the advantage on cleanliness.)
Beware when ordering their drinks - they are very literal. Order lychee milk tea and you'll get milk tea with chunks of lychee jelly - not lychee-flavored milk tea. Order lavender milk tea and you'll get milk tea with lavender bits - not lavender-flavored milk tea. They're also a bit skimpy on the pearl/pudding/whatever you decide to add to your drink.
And in terms of snacks, the quality here at TapEx is much better than that of any Quickly's I've been to.
What they need is later business hours, but I might be the only one hanging out there late at night.
JONASAPPROVED!
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It's nice having a boba place so close. Though they really need to open one on Divis.
They have many many flavors, and everything is 'non-dairy' which i took to be animal-free. They have a good selection of tapioca shapes/sizes/flavors as well. It seemed a little chaotic in here but I think that's just because they are so new. Fancier than Quickly (and less bribey), but not as swank as Bubble-Zone.
And now I want boba. dang it.
Food: Never tried anything
Bev: I've tried the honeydew and mango snow drinks which were too sweet for me. I'd stick with my usual milk teas although they tend to go a little bit sweeter than my preference. Do ask for a little less sweet than their standard if you don't like yours too sweet. The price is pretty justified, although quickly offers a much cheaper variety of drinks and absolutely better than this place.
Service: At least they tried to be friendly. They also have a buy 10 get 1 drink free card. I don't know if it still applies. I lost mine a long time ago.
Ambiance: Clean. Music is too loud. Posters and banners everywhere. There's always a bunch of asian students who hangs out there.
I love this place. I've been going there for a long time now. And It's the same thing everytime, they greet you when you come in and they greet you when you leave. They are so nice there. They have a wide variety of drinks to choose from and tasty food! Since I've been there, they always offer new drinks or dessert for free! Ever since they gave me a sample of their hot jasmine green tea, I feel in love with it, and order it everytime I stop by. They've also offered me their jasmine greem tea jello (good and good for you) and a sample of their caramel milk tea..yummmm. Kenneth, one of the guys that work there, was nice enough to show my boyfriend and I the run down of their private party room they have in the back. It's very resonable. I think it's $40 bucks for the first 2 hours and $20 for every additoinal hour. There's kareoke, Nintendo Wii, couches, a table, and food is free because all the money you invest to rent the room out goes towards the food! how sweeet is that?
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The Place is nice and clean, however, the price is kinda high compare to Quicklys in the city, and I heard from my taiwanese friends, there's no such store in Taiwan, and they have very similar(almost the same) logo as Quickly, so they are imatition i guess.
Anyway, This is a good place to chat with friends or study since they don't have too many business, so won't be too noisy. However, If I just want to get a drink to go, I won't come here for sure. it is simply just more expensive.
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