heytea (Newbury) — Restaurant in Boston

Came by with my girlfriend yesterday, because we had seen advertisements before for the place and thought it would be nice to try. We had multiple issues with our experience, and a lot of it seem to stem from the way the shop operated and lack of organization.

We made our purchase (a single Oat Matcha Bobo) at 18:09 and we had to wait for 40 minutes to receive our order. However, I was standing and waiting by the front of the counter the entire time, and could physically see our drink had been sitting on the preparation table for over 20 minutes. Even customers that had arrived later than us, received their drinks within 2 - 10 minutes of their order. By the time we had received our drink, the ice had completely melted, and the matcha was so "watery" that it tasted incredibly bland.

The cashier/barista running the front/taking in orders was so completely overwhelmed. We could tell they were incredibly stressed, tense, and rushed for time. They kept skipping our drink to prepare other people's, and their hands were visibly shaking the entire time. Despite having two polite interactions with them inquiring about our order, when they finally brought it out and I went to retrieve it, the barista physically pulled my drink back and asked to see my receipt again, which caused it to lean and almost spill on the counter. I don't want to blame them for their franticness, especially with the chaos of the entire situation, but I really think there should be two cashiers/baristas running the front: one to take in orders/speak to customers, the other to help take drinks from the preparation table, and serve them. It would also help to try and serve the drinks in the order they come in (though I understand online orders can make this difficult).

Overall, though we harbor no negative feelings towards the staff working there, unless some improvements are made, we don't see ourselves coming back. I can't even imagine how this operates over...

Just to preface this, I am a huge fan of heytea. I drank it pretty much everyday when I lived in China and weekly in Toronto. I’m writing to complain about an encounter I had with an employee at this specific location.

I made an online order ahead of time and arrived at heytea with supposedly “10 minutes left” on my order. When I arrived I noticed drink in the black cup that they serve the mulberry drinks in, but I didn’t think it was mine since the app said there was still 10 more minutes. Anyways, I waited for a long time, and at some point the estimated time increased, then went down again. It got stuck at 5 minutes 4 drinks left for 5 minutes. So I went up and ask the one of the workers about my drink. I told her the status of my drink was stuck. She coldly said “it’s because we’re busy”, which doesn’t even explain why my drink has been stuck at 5 minutes 4 drinks remaining for 5 minutes. Then she asks me for my order number and realized the drink on the counter that’s been sitting there the ENTIRE TIME I WAS THERE, is actually mine. So I tell her I want it remade. It’s a slushy drink, so a lot of the ice has definitely melted. I came here for a slushy , not some juice. She goes on to tell another worker that I want the drink remade. That worker opens the lid and has the nerve to claim it looks like it was just made. And I had to explain that it’s actually been sitting there for 15 minutes. It’s also a pretty stupid response since all she can see is the top of the drink, which is still icy, but underneath that is likely melted, which u can’t see because ice floats. Anyways, I tell her to remake it and it got remade. I’ve always done online orders in China, Toronto and Allston, and never had any trouble with it. The service was always amazing. This...

I came on like the 3rd day after opening for their tote bag. I visited the Heytea location in Allston often and liked it. While I was waiting the 40 minutes for my 2 drinks, I overheard casual racism. One of the staff, non asian, was working the front and it was either 1st or second day. When the asian worker asked if she knew what to do, she said no and he got mad and yelled at her. When she tried scanning the QR code on the completed drinks, he yelled at her to not do that and to not touch anything. She just stood there during their grand opening rush while everyone else was running around her. I felt bad and hated how the other staff didn't bother to train her and help facilitate the line.

There was also a great miscommunication with the tote. Half the staff knew about them, the other half didn't know they were giving out totes. The staff taking orders was saying the totes are for only online orders. The asian staff is saying it can be dine in orders. A whole miscommunication.

My order took 40 mins which was way too long and I arrived before opening too. When I Inquired about it for the 4th time, it turned out my order was done but the inexperienced staff didn't call or scan any orders so I never knew my order was done.

Overall the management was not coordinated, half the staff who spoke mandarin, chewed out the non asian staff for not being fast or not understanding, and the wait time was...