SD Boba Tea - San Diego Boba Tea Cafe — Restaurant in National City

My go-to boba place- SD Boba Tea in National City. I live closer to the Tj border. So, unless I am in no dire need for a boba fix, I would rather make the 8 mile drive to SD Boba Tea. Yes, hands down.

I have gone here for meet ups with my friends, taken family here many a times, have purchased gift cards, done boba run for co-workers, or just sat around for a moment just because I was plain thirsty.

SD Boba is not a very large place, may not have anywhere to sit and wait, so just be patient. Waiting in your car is ok too. You will get a text message when your order is ready for pick up.

Staff at register are always friendly and acknowledges customers that walks into the shop. Good customer service. I like their system as it’s easy and efficient … you go to register and order, pay for order, wait for order, when your names up, you pick up your order on the other side of counter. If you’re dining in, same routine, just need to find your seating area. Of course, if you’re new and need more time to check the large selection of drinks and food that’s posted on monitors, it’s best you allow the next person behind move forward and order. Especially, if there’s a long line out the door, which happens often than none.

SD Boba Tea drinks taste fresh and delicious and boba portioning is generous. I’ve been to other places in southern San Diego where boba was skimped and drinks were watered down. I have tried their chicken wings and crepes before. Also good. But it’s also taro slush with boba for me 100%.

Oh, and they have a rewards program. Try it

The owners are friendly. You will sometimes see them working at the register, passing out orders or in the kitchen working.

Highly...

Not sure why the line here is always long because I didn’t think the milk teas were that good. Maybe because they offer food? They do have an extensive menu.

The line moves fast. There’s two register inside and they take two parties at a time while every one waits outside. When it’s time to pick up your order, they call your name from the outside pick up window.

We got the almond milk tea and pistachio milk tea. Both are super sweet. The almond was more powdery and the pistachio was more milky. It wasn’t consistent and I didn’t taste the tea flavor.

For food, we got spicy popcorn chicken. It comes with sweet and sour sauce but it was missing from our bag. The popcorn wasn’t so crispy, it was more meaty. Only the small broken pieces were crispy. It also wasn’t “spicy”.

We ordered sriracha wings (6 each) and spicy sweet chili (6 each). Both came with ranch for dipping. The wings are actually really good. The pieces were large, juicy, and outer was soft. Wasn’t baked crispy but cooked.

We also got calamari (came with marinara sauce) and vaso de elote bites (came with ranch).

My favorite would be the elote bites. It’s like tator tots filed with corn and cheese. Then the wings. My least favorite were the calamari. It had a plastic string around the outer ring right under the fried shell. Didn’t feel safe ingesting it.

You can avoid the line by ordering on their website to receive 10% off with promo code...

SD Boba Tea is yet another "boba" tea shop with many of the typical milk teas and made to your liking (e.g. less sweet, more ice, etc.).

The jasmine milk tea was good, but a bit on the thin side and sweeter than I like, but that can be adjusted. It lacked the richness found in other boba places like 7 Leaves or Lolicup.

However, they also sell ice cream and different types of mochi ice cream, hot and cold coffee, shaved ice, popcorn chicken, crapes, and a few other items besides boba milk teas.

Masks are not required, but only a few customers are allowed in the store at a time. After you order, you'll need to wait and pickup your order outside at the pickup window. They do have few shades up, so you won't have to stand in the sun.

FYI,... there was another SD Boba Tea shop located in the same shopping mall. I wasn't sure if it was a new or old location....