JJ Tea House — Restaurant in Columbia

We came here for a late dinner on a very brief evening visit to Columbia. It served its purpose -- not a ton of stuff open after 8, especially on a Sunday.

Maybe something worth noting: street parking only. We didn't have trouble finding a spot up one street, which seemed fine. However, as we were getting out of our car, a homeless (or drunk, or maybe both) person came up to us and asked us for a ride. We declined and went on our way. Unfortunately, the individual followed us up the street and eventually followed us into the restaurant, again speaking to us (this time asking for money) right as we were finishing placing our order at the counter. He was very persistent, again asking for money and insisting he could show us an ATM when we said we only had credit cards. After we refused that, he left the restaurant and didn't return.

Now, I do not blame the restaurant for what happened at all. However, I felt very uncomfortable with this occurrence and just want others to know to be on their guard in the area just in case. The restaurant itself currently isn't visible from the street -- there's facade work being done on the large building in which it is housed -- and the construction face (which you must walk through to enter or exit the restaurant) is very dark and very cramped, which is further unnerving. Keep your eyes open just in case.

At any rate, the restaurant itself is bright and warm. Not a ton of tables or decorations, but it has a sort of homey feel and I was comfortable there once the man left. The service was friendly and attentive.

We ordered crispy chicken dumplings, orange chicken and General Tso's chicken, and a Thai milk tea. All our food was brought out at the same time.

Overall, everything was just okay. The chicken dumplings were pleasantly crispy and we liked the soy based dipping sauce, but they had a pretty oily/greasy aftertaste. The orange chicken and General Tso's were about what you'd expect, although a good enough representation of each dish if that's what you wanna eat. Crispy, sweet but not cloyingly so, etc. The serving size was ample. I will say the menu said each dish was served with broccoli, which I was looking forward to, but our plates came out with fresh green beans instead. Lastly, the Thai tea was...not very good. Extremely low on flavor of any kind. Maybe too much milk? I'm not sure. It was a bummer, though.

This place may fit the bill if you're looking for quick service and large portions of American Chinese favorites. There are a couple other dishes on the menu that also look appealing. Give them a go if it sounds...

On Monday, September 15, 2025 some college kids had agreed that they'll pay for a meal on my behalf and a tea. The college kids gave me the tea after they walked out and the order wasn't up yet. So because the order was in the college girl's name, the foreign lady who works at JJ Tea House was looking for her. Until I told her that the girl made the payment on my behalf before she left. The lady yelled out at me in front of all the college customers there who watched. This JJ Tea House is not the store I would recommend even if it's the last store on earth. All those foreign people that works there cares about is who coming in to pay for food not those who lack funds to buy food. There's no humanity anymore especially from human beings. Just the love of money and showing phony, friendly, customer service to those college kids who rushes to them passing various hungry homeless people on the streets to spend money where they wouldn't even be hired at for a job...

What happened to this place?? It was my favorite food in all of Columbia for the longest time until about 2 months back. I understand cutting your costs but not at the expense of serving MUCH worse food. I got my go to about 2 months back and it tasted, let’s say, ‘funky’. Whatever. Bad experiences happen at every restaurant from time to time. Well then I went back the following week (I’m telling you, this place used to be amazing) only to have another dreadful taste experience. I mean the food doesn’t even look the same anymore, much less taste it.

I waited about 6 more weeks before returning again, and then tonight I finally decided to brave it one last time. Not only are the portions now smaller (even the to go box has shrunk) but the food itself was unbelievably horrid.

After all this time, I’m very sorry to say, it’s time to find a new ‘favorite’ Chinese place in Columbia. Goodbye JJ’s and thanks for...