Taichi Bubble Tea Downtown — Restaurant in Chattanooga

I brought my son in for a shared experience of poke and boba tea last night in celebration of his birthday. We arrived at 8:20, noticed that the workers were already nearing their closing time procedures, so we hurriedly penciled in our selections on our little menu ticket, deciding 'who' would get 'what'- so we'd get a great blend and variety of things we both loved, and decided which drink option we'd choose on reverse side of said ticket. He's a little more experienced with this whole process and all the intricacies,; I've only been here once, 4 years ago. I try to figure out which drink is closest to a brown sugar tiger drink,,, just to be sure, I asked the employee first before ordering. (My son had already chosen his mixture of 2 smoothie flavors on his ticket) They did confirm the "original" style would be what I wanted, I hand them our completed menu tickets, and pay for our to-go meals. The food came out very quickly, and while I did think the price seemed light for what we ordered, I really didn't think much of it since the buzzer was already ringing before I could barely sit down. I returned it to the far end of the bar, receiving our order bag in exchange. We planned to wait to enjoy our meal since he really couldn't wait to show me his favorite store downtown; Rocket Fizz- next door. We leave there right at their close time of 9 pm, and head back to the vehicle to eat (before I had to rush him home to get in bed for school) He was already digging into the bag and I hear a crestfallen exclamation, "where's my drink?" .... Oh my goshh it's not in there? I checked the receipt; only my drink had been rang up, and the smoothie he ordered definitely wasn't in the bag. The restaurant is now pitch black, deserted. Had I seen evidence or the presence of any individual, I would have spared no effort in finding a resolution to this regrettable scenario. However; a single person to be found behind those translucent glass windows. I don't know what protocol I needed to do to make sure that everything we marked on the paper as our order would be rung up and paid for and then also received by us; I suppose I really should've paid more attention and checked receipt much sooner than I did. It's not a huge deal, of course he rolled with the punches, but man, you know how bad I felt for not even getting him his special drink for his birthday. He didn't even eat the poke bowl, not sure if it was related to this I got him back to his dad's and kissed him goodnight feeling much like a failure 😞. On a positive note my thaichi(?) was great as well as my poke bowl - I chose as many veggies as I could stand and the flavor was great, the fish was palatable and maybe next time I'll get it right...

We were visiting Chattanooga and walked past this lovely boba shop. First of all the entrance to this shop is very awkward and inconvenient. There is no proper way to stand in line without being directly in front of the booths where patrons are eating. It’s very cramped and uncomfortable. A young couple in front of us had a baby in a stroller and were ordering their boba drinks. The woman with short blonde hair at the cash register was so rude!! She seemed annoyed and frustrated at this couple for taking up space with their stroller and asking about their different drink options. This restaurant is in a very touristic area, visitors need a minute to look the menu and see what options there are. The cashier was constantly asking “are you ready to order” in a very passive aggressive tone. When I ordered she was also very dismissive and rude when I was asking about their tapioca pearl options. I ordered a papaya milk tea and when my order was ready I received a different drink. The cashier rudely said “you can come pick your drink” when it was ready. I told her that drink was not mine and she responded saying “oh well, that’s what I heard you order.” She then turned back to remake my drink as I had ordered it the first time. The milk tea was DISGUSTING! The boba was so stick and had a rubbery chewy texture. It simply tasted like watered down milk with a 10% papaya flavor. I threw my drink away soon after waking out. A word of advice for this shop and its staff : kindness is not hard. A simple gesture or kind words will make a persons day. Kindness and respect will make people feel happy and valued. Please teach your staff to help guests and make your customers feel good about being and ordering from your shop. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated. How would you feel if this was the way you were treated at a shop you were visiting for the first time?

The drinks were very pretty and picture worthy! But the taste and customer service is A BIG NO! Please don’t waste your time and money at a shop that does not value and treat their customer’s with patience...

This restaurant is by far the best Ramen restaurant in Chattanooga. The food is flavorful, they have several smoothie and bubble tea options, and the atmosphere is great. Typically, I go to the location in Gunbarrel because there’s less of a hassle to find somewhere to park. But, my sister and I were in the area for a graduation, so we figured we’d pick up a bite to eat at my favorite restaurant as she’d never been there before. Need I remind you, we arrived right at 9pm (as we’d just left a graduation). As we walked through the door, we instantly began looking at the menu and the cashier watched us the entire 15 minutes we studied that menu to figure out what we would order. He continued to watch as we picked out our bubble tea flavors and waited all the way until we walked up to the register to order to inform us that the kitchen was closed and that the only thing we could order was were drinks. Mind you, we were understanding that it was closing time. Both of us have worked in the restaurant industry before, so we definitely get it. But, I found it inconsiderate to wait until we began putting in our order just to tell us it wasn’t going to be fulfilled. Of course, we were both upset. I asked they guy why he hasn’t explained this to us when he watched us walked through the door. All we got was a snarky “Well, it’s on the menu”, not an “I’m sorry ma’am. I assumed you guys knew”. He was unprofessional and it was a total let down because I’ve never gotten that kind of service when visiting the Gunbarrel Rd location. On our way out, there was a guy sweeping and he, too, gave us a snarky “Well I hope you come again”. But at this point, I don’t think we will. If you’re thinking about visiting this location, do so. But go to Gunbarrel Rd. It’s better...