Avalanche Bubble Tea — Restaurant in Niles Township

I would give service half a star or less. Anywho I recently visited Avalanche for some bubble tea and had an unfortunate, deeply upsetting experience that I feel compelled to share. I was having a hard day, so I decided to treat myself to a drink and drove 45 minutes to Avalanche, only to be treated like I was nothing.

I specifically requested EXTRA tapioca in my drink and paid an additional 75 cents for it. However, when I received my drink, it looked no different from the regular tapioca drink my family members had ordered. Naturally, I was disappointed and went to the counter to very politely inquire if there had indeed been extra tapioca added. An elder lady assured me that there was.

Still feeling perplexed, I shared my concerns with my older sister, who is significantly nicer than me. She kindly offered to speak on my behalf. When we approached the counter again, this time there was a young man who was EXTREMELY rude to us, despite our polite demeanor. My sister asked if they could add more tapioca to my drink and even suggested, "You can give us extra in a little cup if it’s too much work," but he still refused.

We tried to explain that my drink had the same amount of tapioca as the regular ones, but he insisted that if we wanted more, we had to pay up. His attitude made us feel as if he thought we couldn't afford it, which was incredibly insulting. When I mentioned that another drink we ordered seemed to have more tapioca, he retorted, "Well, you're lucky then. I gave you extra in the other drink. If you want more, pay up!"

I mentioned that I had driven 45 minutes to get this boba and that I am a very loyal customer, asking if they could make an exception just this once. He refused to even listen to me, repeatedly cutting me off and dismissing my concerns with "pay up," treating me as if I wasn't even human. Despite my continued pleas for a reasonable solution, he remained disrespectful and unyielding.

I don't care about paying an extra 75 cents; it's the way he treated me that was so upsetting. I thought, "I'm not spending any more money in a store like this."

I understand if he was having a bad day, but is that really how you treat someone? The experience left me feeling deeply disrespected and unwelcome. How can people hire someone like this who clearly does not care about their customers?

Avalanche seriously needs to train its staff in basic customer service and sensitivity. This kind of treatment is unacceptable, and I will not be returning.

P.S. I got the watermelon and my...

Decent tea, but bad service. My wife and I used to like stopping by this place on the way home from work, because she loves milk tea and this is close to the highway. We would order one or two extra every time so she could freeze them at home to drink later.

This time after ordering 3 milk teas, we received two green teas and one milk tea. She asked for the milk tea she ordered, but the cashier insisted that she ordered a green tea. Her and her Thai friends order these milk teas all the time, sometimes a dozen at a time, and she has never ordered green tea. I can't fathom how "green" and "milk" can get confused.

I don't know if the cashier misheard her or gave us someone else's order, but he was unwilling to correct the issue. It was surreal watching my wife argue with a teenager about what she ordered for longer than it would have taken to just correct the order. She even offered to pay for the miscommunication and reorder the milk teas and keep the green teas, but were told to go to the back of the line and wait another 40 minutes if we wanted milk teas.

I am in still shock at such a rude employee, and we have never seen such bad service. My wife is still upset, and she feels cheated after giving a generous tip and not getting the correct order. We couldn't even finish the tea, neither of us...

This past April was the very first time trying this location which is obviously the original location. First time in general was at the Vernon Hills location which sadly closed shortly after the pandemic hit.

My family and I were leaving Old Orchard Mall and exploratory me loves to trek out and try new restaurants and bubble tea parlors so that's how we ended up here and glad we tried it.

The bubble tea is really good here and exactly like the other location as I remember the great taste. My son who's now 9 years old has been drinking bubble tea since I introduced it to him just before he turned 3. He only drinks Taro and if any bubble tea parlor we visit doesn't have it then he won't drink anything.

Boba is definitely a growing trend and keeps on becoming more & more popular with parlors sprouting in various cities and towns across the country in particular large metro areas. I hope for continued success & prosperity for...