MILKLAB — Restaurant in Cary

Milklab has some of the best milk teas we've tried in the NC Triangle area. We've been here multiple times, and here are my thoughts on the drinks we've tried:

Purple Taro Latte - Highly-recommended if you enjoy milky snd sweet milk teas. The taro flavor is so rich. Hands down, this is the best taro milk tea we've tried in Triangle NC.

Matcha Latte Milk Cap - my girl loves this because the matcha tastes rich and the "milk cap" gives it a creamy, satisfying taste.

Thai Tea Milk Cap - This was our first favorite. The "milk cap" makes this more than just an average Thai tea. One of Milklab's best drinks.

Dalgona Milk Cap Latte - Rich coffee milk taste. Not bad but I think Milklab's tea drinks are more delicious.

Strawberry Matcha Latte - One of my favorites; I'd rank this slightly higher than the Matcha Latte Milk Cap but my girl -who's more of a matcha lover than me- prefers her matcha drinks without strawberry.

Brown Sugar Fresh Milk + Boba - Not the best brown sugar tea we've tried, and sometimes, we can barely taste the brown sugar flavor but the barristas here in Cary seem to do a better job getting it just right than the Durham location (not the one inside Southpoint Mall)

There are other drinks in Milklab's menu we haven't tried that look delicious. They use quality organic ingredients and fresh milk, and their blends are mostly unique compared to what you can get in a typical milk tea cafe.

However, I would not recommend their rolled ice cream. Tried twice, and for $8+, we were not satisfied. It seems that Milklab is more focused on emphasizing the flavors of the rolled ice cream's toppings rather than the ice cream itself, which is nowhere close to Andia's ice cream quality. It also takes longer for them to serve the ice cream. Wish they serve Taiwanese snacks like popcorn chicken or Korean pancakes instead (like how Tea Hill, Quickly & Tiger Sugar do it ).

Customer service is usually fast here; you can order using the kiosk or via Milklab's website. I'm not a big fan of Milklab's ambiance (just doesn't look inviting inside and out), with its dull walls and cramped space but this particular location has a nice outdoor area with wooden tables and chairs well-lit at night. Most of the time, we just grab our drinks and devour them in the car.

Milklab also has one of the best milk tea containers - higher quality and classier-looking than what most other milk tea cafes use.

Despite its flaws, Milklab is still one of the few that made it to my "Best Milk Tea Cafes in the Triangle NC" Collection here on Yelp because of its various expertly-crafted milk cap teas and high quality ingredients.

Overall Score (Cary location...

This used to be my favorite tea shop in Cary but their prices have gone through the roof AND they refuse to alter their teas for any reason. Today specifically I asked for something off menu and even though I’ve been here more than fifty times they refused to make It even though I offered to pay more. It’s not like I requested something hard. All the other tea shops like the cha house and sweet room moge tea etc can do it. All I asked for was jasmine tea fruit purée and milk cap. Light ice. Here if you get the fruit purée you have to have a blended drink. They say they can’t make it with light ice. They say they can’t add fruit purée with a milk cap either but other shops do it. I just want the fruit to sweeten my tea. And there’s a medical reason why I can’t have ice. And I believe they should accommodate this. As a small business owner myself I do everything I can to accommodate my customers request. So I cannot give this establishment five stars and I probably won’t be coming back.

Edit: Today I stopped in again. After the reply from the owner I thought I’d give it another try. All I wanted was tea with a fruit purée and a milk cap. Light ice. I asked what’s in the mango milk cap? Her reply : tea ice mango purée and syrup. Plus milk cap. Great I said. can I get the mango milk cap without the ice? No we can’t do that. It must be blended. So I asked, can we just not blend it? The answer was no. I’ll pay extra if you are worried about the cost the ice saves you. Still, no. So I again left and drove down to the CHA house where they were happy to do it for me. It’s not really hard. Tea, fruit purée, and a milk cap. It’s nothing crazy. I have a medical problem where I can’t have really cold drinks.So all I can say here is that I tried. It’s not a crazy request. This is a tea shop after all. It’s not like I ordered a soda or...

I love both the rolled ice cream and tea here! A little on the pricey side, though. Nevertheless, I have been multiple times, and it is always delicious. I always get the Yuzu tea with mango star jelly, and it’s a lovely and refreshing combo! As far as the ice creams, I’ve tried many, including the Mango Madness, Unicorn Poop, and Cookie Monster, which are pictured, along with some others like the seasonal pumpkin pie one. They have all been great, and it’s also a nice touch to be able to watch the ice creams being made! The service has also been fairly efficient every time except for once, which happened around a week ago. I saw another review talking about the exact same problem I had on this occasion—extremely long wait time for the rolled ice cream. It was clear that the person making the ice cream was a trainee, so it took ~10-15 minutes for one ice cream to be made (keep in mind they usually are much quicker!). There was a long backup for my order—the tea was quick, only a few minutes after I ordered, but I had to wait an extra 25-30 minutes for the ice cream. Someone else was finishing up the ice cream as well, and I think that it might have been more efficient to let that person jump in to make an order or two to keep customers from waiting, but still letting the trainee make some—just not at the cost of the many customers in line. Either way, this has only happened once, and service has been wonderful other than that. I understand mistakes, and I just hope they learn how to keep the efficiency when there is a trainee in the future! Long review, but I highly recommend this establishment for delicious tea or...