HEYTEA (Columbia University) — Restaurant in New York

Just to preface this review @ HEYTEA staff: please don't try to respond to this justifying why it's so mismanaged/disorganized. save any ai-written responses you have for "negative" reviews for someone more confused.

your product/quality is good. you clearly have a strong customer base that appreciates the quality of your teas. the service at this location though is abysmal. for a place that charges over 10$ for a matcha with boba (we all know you're overcharging btw), i expect the experience to match how much i'm paying. at any point of the day (i've been here multiple times) your drink wait time is never under 30 minutes. even when the drinks are ready, the complete disorganization of the kitchen and staff and lack of urgency amongst the staff causes a huge backlog and HUGE miscommunications btwn customer and staff. the cafe is filled with people waiting for their drinks and you have to shove your way to the front to pick it up (i don't understand why people who order 5 minutes ago wait near the front as if their drink will be ready soon). the employees themselves seem indifferent towards providing good customer service and have a blase attitude towards customer concerns abt slow service. there is simply no reason for a boba shop this popular and trendy to have such an insane wait time. again, the quality is not the problem. you lack any structure/order and honestly any location like this that takes doordash is just money hungry. the food delivery service workers just cause an even WORSER backlog (i don't blame them) and they block the pick up area waiting for their orders since they're on the clock. until these wait times are fixed, online ordering options should be halted and honestly this location should just be under new management.

i don't have any interest in what excuses you may give me. i will change my review if and only i see these changes implemented (i will be watching). a place at this price point should NOT have mom n pop shop hole-in-the-wall service unless you decrease your prices. you can't have your cake...

Today, your store advertised a free drink promotion for Columbia University students across various social media platforms. Many students, including myself, traveled from the 125th Street campus location to your establishment, only to be turned away and told that the promotion was limited to "a few people invited through the Students Association".

Upon verification with the Columbia University Students Association, I learned that no such collaboration existed. This deliberate misrepresentation of your promotion has not only wasted the time of numerous students but also damaged your store's reputation. The fact that you specifically branded this promotion using Columbia University's name makes this deceptive practice...

So all the reviews are 5stars except the 1star reviews bc people didn’t get free drinks during a promo or smth. Don’t listen, this place should have 5 stars! This is the best boba i’ve ever had 🤣 i’ve had lots of boba but it’s all been relatively similar in quality (vivi, gong cha, coco, all similar with coco being the best) but this is SO much better. I got the mango grapefruit bomb it was dairy free with sago and coconut milk and fresh fruit chunks and it was so delicious and clearly really good quality tea and fruit. I was getting a bit annoyed at how long it took and how it was ~1-2 dollars more than the average boba, but it was beyond worth the price and the...