Maichilin — Restaurant in Bellevue

If you want to have your blood boiling and be aggravated the rest of the day, Maichilin is the place for you. This place literally has no business sense and apparently is not in business to make money. We drove all the way over to Maichilin on our weekend Bellevue adventure per the recommendation to try the bubble waffles from several friends. Upon entering the place was quiet and the staff was cold. We wanted to place our order but the cashier gave us an irritated look that insinuated for us to shut up while she enters an order that must've been placed online into the computer.

While gazing around waiting for the cashier to be ready, I noted a sign that stated that orders may take up to 30 minutes to complete. I thought, "no problem."

When we finally got the go ahead from the cashier to ask what we'd like our party of four wanted four different flavored bubble waffles. After placing the first two orders and about to say the third we were rudely informed that our order was limited to two bubble waffles. I took the initiative to stop the order there and have my friend order the other two. There was no sign stating this superfluous limitation. We were refused this opportunity to give more of our hard earned money to this business for more goods in exchange as we were told the limit of two orders is per GROUP, irrespective of the group's size. So you want to come here with your class or work group for a snack? Too bad, hope your group can share two waffles.

Overall the waffles were fine but nothing exception or to write home about. I personally find the Happy Lemon bubble waffles better in overall texture and taste.

TL;DR If you want to order more than two waffles, pretend to enter the storefront as separate groups/parties/individuals or place an order online and in person. They won't know the difference.

If you want to be irritated by how dumb people/arbitrary rules can be try to order more than...

Very dirty, shady place. First of all, the sign does not say their name, it says "Hong Kong Tea." Second, they're open when they please without any explanation. There's a handwritten sign taped to the door that says they take a break from 3 to 4 every day, but you'll find them closed at random for weeks on end. If you ask about this, they act like you're weird for asking, laugh nervously and try to change the subject and avoid the topic. Shady. The inside is tiny and very grubby and grimey on every surface, the whole place needs to hosed down with a pressure sprayer. They also don't speak English well, or at least they pretend not to. I sent my niece in, too and they gave her the same treatment. The girl who's at the register most days will literally laugh at you instead of explaining anything, as though you're being silly to ask questions. She acts like she doesn't know basic words like "boba" or "green tea," and asks you to repeat them several times before she laughs at you or says "I don't know," like it was a silly question that doesn't even matter. We love our "diversity" in Bellevue, but this is ridiculous. They either don't speak English -which is a problem, you're in America, you need to learn the national language- or they're racist against white people and they're having a laugh at our expense. Maybe a combo of both. I would AVOID and go across the parking lot to SomiSomi where they're nice, professional, and speak to Americans normally.

Maichilin also doesn't have the items that are listed here and will do the same ditsy act if you try to show them that they advertised...

The quality of Mai Chi Lin went downhill over the past year which is very disappointing. They used to have one of the best HKstyle milk tea in the greater Seattle area. The staff was always mediocre, but at least the drinks were good.

Over the last year, they randomly close down for the day. I used to make a trip there just to get the milk tea but now I only go if I happen to get groceries nearby. More recently they changed their staff and the milk tea quality has gone down drastically. They also can’t speak English, so one time I ordered a hot milk tea but they made me a cold one, and I couldn’t get explain to them their order was incorrect. Now coming back 3-4 times their drinks continued to be very watered down.

It sucks that what used to be a great milk tea shop with HK nostalgia is now a...