Saru Tea Bar — Restaurant in Lincoln

this is my favorite boba place in lincoln and after coming here frequently since it opened in my neighborhood (and getting another delicious drink today) i felt i should finally drop a review!

the staff are always so friendly and provide great service. if i stay inside too long i start to smell like food, which is a personal pet peeve, so i usually wait outside and watch through the window for my drink so i can go grab it when it’s ready, but they often bring it out to me before i have the chance, despite only having a few people working at a time! i love all of the teas i’ve ordered, and usually get them with the much-appreciated 50% sugar option (or sometimes 25%). they don’t have ice levels on the menu like some boba shops, but you can request less or no ice. i tend to stick with classic milk teas with tapioca, but i’ve sampled their fruit teas and milky’s, which are also great, and a snow milk is lovely on a hot day. i find their tapioca to be the perfect size and texture: not too soft or too firm, but wonderfully chewy. they’re also generous with their serving so i have some leftover to chew when i’m done (some may find these proportions annoying but i love chewing tapioca as a pastime).

the croffles are amazing, though pretty sweet so i don’t get them often. they’re best hot and fresh, so i like to eat it right away before walking home with my drink. they also tend to put the toppings on the side when it’s made to-go, which is great if you’re waiting a while to eat it so it doesn’t get soggy, but if you want them to put everything on themselves, best get it to stay.

i enjoy saru’s other food options, though i don’t usually choose it over other restaurants if i’m craving sushi. i prefer their basic sushi rolls over the specialties, simply because most of the others are fried and laden with sauces and get to be too much for my taste. but i’ve never had a roll i didn’t like, just some i can’t eat much of! the couple times i’ve ordered edamame, it’s been to-go and has seemed either over-seasoned or dried out, but that may not always be the case, especially if you’re dining in. the gyoza and crab rangoons, on the other hand, have consistently been delicious.

i would highly recommend saru, for their teas especially, but also if you want to grab a bite! the spot they occupy in clocktower has had some great previous owners over the years (along with some bad) that unfortunately went out of business despite seeming popular (phinway 😭), which i attribute partially to the out-of-the-way location. please support this wonderful place and its kind staff!! i want it to stick around for...

When ordering from this estabishment know what you want, have knowledge about different types of boba, don't let the girl at the register put words in your mouth when asking for boba to be added to your sweet fruity drinks. I requested boba to be added and asked about different flavors. She said tapioca boba, I said boba that has fluid in it. Her response is that they dont have different flavors and its sweet, so I trusted that she understood what we were wanting. We got our drinks and was far from what we were wanting. It was disgusting, chewy hard balls in our drinks that did not go well with what we ordered. They agreed to fix one of the drinks but not the other drink. They took my drink to throw away, we threw away the other drink and I had to pay for another drink to be "remade". The girl at the register was easily annoyed by this. She had a drink remade for me, a drink that I didnt order, I requested blended drink with chunks of fruit. I got a blended drink with boba (that I originally wanted) I tried telling her that's not what I requested and she raised her voice, pointing at the menu and said I requested some mango drink. I told her I did not say anything about mango then the guy making the drinks made a loud huffing noise towards me. I gave up, no point in arguing with her or the family shall I say. I'm not one of those people that come in to cause a stir, hard to please, however the customer service right off the bat was rude the second I opened my mouth that the drinks were not correct. Next time take the time to listen to your customers on what they are wanting instead of assuming and putting nasty tapioca balls in customers drinks. Definitely not impressed with the customer service that we received today and the girls tone of voice sarcasticly telling me have a great day as we walk...

Great milk teas. They ask if you want boba. Jelly is also offered. The iced dark mocha was dark- I rarely see restaurants do that well.

In my opinion, some recipes just taste better with dairy, but there are non-dairy options: almond or soy for 65 cents extra.

I can’t tolerate a lot of milk, but when I asked about the amount of milk in something, he was very accommodating. He showed me the drink once he made it, and asked how much milk I’d like. I took less milk to suit my stomach.

Had appetizers, rolls, and croffles. They were delicious! Totally hit the spot. I didn’t see any utensils/chopsticks available to grab for my order but they included chopsticks with my rolls.

Because the order was so big, it took some time but still tasted fresh and hot! (Minus the rolls- they weren’t meant to be hot.)

The croffles came with a side of the fluffiest whipped butter. Perfect with the croffles. Definitely try some.

I’ll probably try other drinks...