The Bep Teahouse - Iowa — Restaurant in Iowa City

Edit: Look at their rating distribution and trend on Google, there's no way that the majority of these reviews are real. 80% of the reviews have nonsensical AI writing and obvious bot names.

Edit 2: Since the owner wants to be petty and threaten legal action against a customer for an honest Google review (LMAO), I'll be informing others of this action as well. I am not an employee of Bep, nor have I ever been affiliated with their business. I'm just another customer who was disappointed with my experience there and disappointed in the other concerning things that I have heard about management of this business.

Edit 3: The only response ever directed to my review was threatening legal action under the assumption that I was a former employee. Nothing else in my review was addressed until this point. The edits were:

To provide more context that pointed out what other reviewers (whose comments now appear hidden) had mentioned; i.e. bots and fake accounts leaving dozens of reviews as well as reviews from employees. Because you threatened me with legal action and your potential customers should also be aware of that risk if they also choose to write a Google review.

I've been here a handful of times since they've opened and it's so horribly inconsistent.

Each time we've ordered the exact same drinks with the exact same directions (minimal, just adjusting the sugar level which has still been the same every time), but the end result has somehow been different every time.

Some drinks by default come with toppings, while others don't. This isn't particularly clear when you're ordering on the kiosk. Or maybe it is, but either way, my order has not changed and yet my (exact same every time) drink has come with toppings on some occasions and without on others. Similarly, sometimes 0% sugar will be painfully sweet whereas other times it'll be straight water.

Prices are higher than all of the other boba places in IC as well. I enjoyed some of their snacks, including the Korean corndog, but at $8+ for a snack (and another $7 for a drink), it is hard to justify. I thought that the chains generally had better prices, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. I do like the variety of drinks and toppings and food choices that are available. +1 for that.

Ambiance is fine. Feels like any other chain boba shop in 2019. It's in the old Blaze Pizza spot in the mall, so a HUGE space. 1 hour free parking in the ramp makes it convenient.

Not much to say about service since you order at a kiosk. No interaction with a person at all. Speed of putting orders out is also very inconsistent. Sometimes drinks are made in a few minutes, other times it has felt like forever, even when there's no other customers.

Initially I thought it was still worth trying, but after seeing the large number of fake reviews on Google and hearing about other unethical (and questionably legal) business practices, I cannot in good faith...

Walking in here the first time you will be looking at all of the cute decoration. It appears that it would be a great place to chill and study if you are a student. Walking up to the counter you encounter two ordering kiosk, because there is no reception or cashier. The sign let you know that they will not take cash, but that’s okay with me since I only use credit or debit card. I tried their organic milk tea which was very light and it is easy to drink. I tried the Jamaica sunrise is like a refresher and it was good. Sour soup tea and it was pretty much the same not sweet as a standard drink. Overall the three drinks were pretty good, but if you like it more sweet you need to tell them to make more sweet.

Popcorn chicken was decent and the taste was pretty good. Lobster ball was okay for me and I didn’t care too much and the sauce was not that good. Fried tofu was on point but I feel like the dipping sauce is the wrong sauce for dipping these fried food. They have several different type of French fries, but they are quite standard. Their mochi bear paw was really good and my wife and I did enjoy the bear paw mochi. I think this standout the most for food item we ordered.

Service is non existence at this place, because the staff are busy making drinks or making food. Seems like two staff per shift. But when I did talk to the staff they were super nice and they were pretty helpful when you interact with them at the counter.

If you needed to use the bathroom, you will have to ask for a key to go every time since it is locked. This is really inconvenient since you have to ask for the key all the time. The bathroom and the lobby is dirty and not vey clean. We encountered many tables were dirty and it wasn’t clean. At least the kitchen and the area they make drinks were clean.

I gave the overall 5 stars because the staff were nice and the atmosphere is cute. The food was okay and the drinks were good. I think this works for college town place.

Need to improve on a few things:

Cleanliness of bathroom, lobby and tables. Staff need to acknowledge customers when they come in and make them feel welcome.

Overall it was a positive experience at The Bep House. Great place to...

If you had asked after my first visit, there may have been a couple more stars. I agree the kiosks can be a bit confusing. My son and I got the corndog and it was the star of the show. The drink we got tasted perfumey and our filled mochi paws had little to no filling in them.

However this review is for my second interaction. I placed an online order on Sunday, May 26th. Shortly after I received a call that they were out of the batter for the corn dogs, the main reason I had returned. When asked if I wanted to trade or get a refund, I opted for the refund. Mind you I never stepped foot into the actual establishment.

I knew it would take some time for a refund, no big. However, around 8 am the next morning I received a text from the ordering system saying my order was ready. Odd since they aren’t even open until 11. At that point my transaction had been pending on my card. The next day it had went through as a charge. So I called to let them know hey I didn’t receive anything. The employee took my name and number to pass along. Yesterday (May 28th) I got a notification that my refund was put through so I assumed that would be the end of it. Well that was wrong thinking.

This morning (29th) I received an email that my refund of $14.50 was being processed. Which was odd considering my original order was $23.85. Upon calling and speaking to someone who claimed to be a manager, I still am not clear on their solution. I will say the manager was extremely unprofessional and talking to others around him , and at one point laughing as I’m trying to explain my situation. He is supposedly relaying the message to the owner but I don’t have a lot of faith that it will get done. So I thought this could be a way for someone to see it. Yes it’s only $9 and some change. But why only issue a partial refund when I did not receive anything from my order. I hope they attempt to make this right but in my eyes they have stolen from me and they can add me to the line of customers that will...