Happy Lemon — Restaurant in Austin

I've been waiting for this Happy Lemon to open for MONTHS. I'm a huge fan, and prior to moving to Austin I would find myself at Happy Lemon at least once a week. While I'm not such a fan that I would wait 2 hours in line on opening weekend, I thought that the rainy Monday that followed would be a great time to finally satisfy my craving. -Side note: to whoever runs social media, it's not a great look to encourage more people to come on opening weekend when your line was clearly already too long and your employees were struggling to keep up. It's a terrible situation for both employees and customers.

Wait: When I entered the store, there was no line (2:15 PM) and my order was taken immediately. However, I did take note that there were five groups of people sitting at the tables and standing against the walls waiting for their drinks. Based on my previous experiences, I usually estimate two minutes per party and figured I'd be out of here in ten minutes, maybe fifteen if they had ordered a lot? While most groups only had 2-4 drinks, I was clocking about 6-10 minutes per number called and my overall wait time was 40 minutes after paying. If they had given me a heads up, I would have hit up the HEB instead of waiting in the store.

Customer Service: Everyone did their best, and were as nice as they could be. I was greeted right away, my order was verbally confirmed with me and there were no errors on the receipt. While I was waiting, I did witness another customer ask for a refund as their wait was too long, and the person helping him was apologetic and gave a refund without issue. However, I did experience a huge issue after I left, and it's not really clear what I could do since there's no phone number listed. I had a pretty big order - 12 drinks. When my number was called, they were in three cardboard cupholders, but after realizing it was just me, the employee offered to put my drinks in bags. That's great, except whenever that has happened in the past, the cardboard cupholder goes into the bag, and then the drinks placed on top (this helps keep the drinks upright). Unfortunately in my case, the employee put four drinks in a bag by itself x two bags(these were the sealed drinks), and while I hung the bags in my car on hooks to try to keep things standing upright, by the time I made it home three of the drinks had popped and made a mess all over my car. There was no way to save any of the drinks that popped, so not only was I super sad, but I was also out $17.50 in drinks. I'll bring it up the next time I'm back, but I mean, no guarantees that I'll recover any of it =[

Taste: Have you ever been reminded of something you love, but it's just not quite right? I'm hoping things will get better over time, but every drink I've tasted so far is a little off. The milk tea was too milky, the pearls were too hard, the mango matcha didn't have enough mango or matcha, the tea wasn't strong enough (both freshly squeezed and salted cheese).

Overall: I'm very happy that Happy Lemon has finally opened. I hope they do well, and clearly I have an addiction so I'll be back. I'm excited for some of the pending infrastructure to be established (online ordering, rewards program) that are TBD, but in the meantime there is still a LOT of room for improvement.

Edit 12/13/22: I came back and explained the situation and they were super nice about it. Looking forward to...

here is what you need to know about this location

Tiffany is probably the most friendliest professional greet you at the door make you feel like family get an idea for your pallet and make recommendations as she explains how they work while having your funny looking music stereos playing music Pop style with lyrics I couldn't quite make out because I was too busy paying attention to the dice popping along with the beats which was hilarious at the register

this place was spotless and her and 200 employees were working there to make sure Diana area is spotless with a whole bunch of kids together there chilling

here is what I would describe it as basically a waffle House meets a Asian tapioca lounge but with a unique combination of flavors I have not encountered before

so of course they had me at a waffle combined with boba tapioca with UBE cream dipping

And I will definitely say it was worth every dollar you get a hospitable person size for the price and thoroughly hit the spot

others were grabbing all various different kinds of smoothies and of course lemon-based teas

And just as their mascot gives you a clue they do drinks well they'll take an entire lemon and shredded into your drink with all the health benefits

Elsa do fresh squeezed lemon juice and just about anything you can imagine and more

For those in the morning they also have caffeinated beverages as well as tasty smoothie combinations with everything pretty much being between 6 to $7 of serving

also super long hallway to the restroom which was also spotless One restroom for men and women though

And I made note for next time they have some pretty tasty combinations of waffles to choose from including some I've never...

3.5 ⭐ Maybe it was just the drink I got (Passion Mango Green Tea) but I thought it was a bit bitter. It got better during the day when the ice watered it down a bit. I also got egg pudding and it was really nasty. It was thick and chewy nothing like pudding. Maybe they cooked it too much? But it honestly felt like I was slurping pieces of rubber at times. The waffles were just meh. Just a basic waffle you can make at home. Nothing to brag about. I guess it would be better if you had it prepared with all the fixings like ice cream etc.

I think they still have quite a few ways to go. The interior design isn't the best. They need more tables. They have one bathroom and it is a struggle to lock. There's a very small thin latch at the top that's supposed to make the door lock but it's so hard to move and it just doesn't work. The door knob lock won't work. Maybe they can put a Vacant/Occupied sign outside the door for customers to use when they're in the bathroom. They have a sign that says to knock before trying to open it but people don't knock.

I will be back to give this place another try but so far it's way down on the list of boba places in Austin I...