THE BOBA COMPANY — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

This review is solely based on the customer service & safety risks of an employee named, Manasa.

We came here having a perfectly good day & just wanted to try this company’s boba. At the counter we received no greeting or inquiry as to what we would like, in fact, we were totally ignored by Manasa, who only provided a dirty look and nothing more. This was not only unsettling, but highly unprofessional & downright rude. After hovering at the counter a moment, during this awkward interaction, we eventually initiated the conversation with a hello & asking how HER day was, to which she ignored (creepy). We had to repeat the question for her to finally give a curt reply. She didn’t follow up by asking the same if we were ready to place our order, so we just had to ask: Thai tea with brown sugar boba. She did not confirm or ask if we wanted anything else, rather stood there staring once again, so we had to ask for the second drink as well. Didn’t tell us the amount or when to pay, just stood there. Yep.

I get it’s probably not the best job out there, but it’s certainly not the worse! Besides, your job is only as good as you make it. As a barista, tips can make or break you— your job is entirely founded on good customer service— so, it was actually laughable when she gave us more attitude over not leaving a tip.

Then she took some guy’s order and went in back.

This is where it gets even worse.

After playing on her phone for a moment, Manasa then took the hose from the sink, sprayed her hands real quick (note, she did not wash them), then reached into the sink, retrieved 2 random cups from within the tub, sprayed them out lightly and filled them with the drink…with the cups still soaking wet, she put them under the cover machine then placed them on the counter for us.

You guys ever hear of botulism? Firstly, fungi and bacteria may attach themselves to unclean dishes and since she just arbitrarily grabbed at random cups in a sink and sprayed them with water, well: botulism. IF it was a used cup, any bacteria, viruses, and intestinal parasites would have been marinating, and absolutely pass onto us, thus resulting in possible stomach ulcers (courtesy of Helicobacter pylori bacteria) or projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea (courtesy of norovirus), etc.

What Manasa did was endanger the life, health, and safety of our family through reckless, and dare I say, deliberately toxic actions.

A member of our group became distressed and told her she was a horrible person, because she was, and that her boss would be hearing about the situation at which point, she proceeded to follow us outside where she first feigned ignorance, before finally admitting to taking the cups from the sink, but, “They weren’t used or nothing, so.” Then she offered to remake it, but why would you want something from a person like that?

We asked for a refund and left.

As the receipt shows, she failed to admit the real reason for the refund, stating we saw her rinse a cup out— that’s a lie, and she admitted in public what she did. This is genuinely disgusting behavior.

Therefore, we will never recommend or come here again, and strongly caution anyone else from going as well, for their own...

I’m having a really hard time coming here. I’ve loved this place ever since I found it, however recently the last 4 times I’ve came the employees are on the phone making phone calls and making drinks. It’s disgusting. All other 4 times the drinks have not come out tasting right. This time we ordered a honest slush a little extra tapioca, a peach slush, and a strawberry slush with strawberry pearls. The peach slush perfect loved it. However the honest slush was horrible the cup was filled 3/4 with brown sugar pearls and just 1/4 of the cup was the honeydew “slush” it was disappointing. There was no actual honey in my slush and I was disappointed and on top of mixing it a little it did not help, the brown sugar boba was too warm that the drink became mildly warm and I absolutely did NOT enjoy it my drink I am very upset about this. The strawberry slush came out as an ice cube and there was no flavor. I love coming here however I cannot justify coming here anymore after the last 4 times I have been here. Every other time before these 4 the drinks were amazing! I am not sure what’s going on but it’s unacceptable that the employees are talking phone calls and holding my drink and phone in the same hand and speaking over both of them. Something needs to be done here because the employees are ruining the experience every had before. :( I love this place and I hate to speak negatively of it however 7 drinks out of these 4 visits have been inconsistent with its quality or just plain made incorrectly. I also once asked the employee what milk is being used so I can just be safe about something and she looked at me stupid and said “milk?” Clearly it’s made of milk therefore I asked again and she said “ I don’t know milk”. I’m not sure if I justify coming here anymore. 😔

May I also add that I’ve filled out two reward cards before to prove my loyalty to...

I love boba tea and I have been trying to get my mom to try it for a while now. We live in Davenport in the middle of nowhere so if I want boba I have to go to Orlando. So we decided to go to the OBT location yesterday. I've never been to this location before I have only been to the one on Colonial Dr. So I walked in to the store and quickly noticed that I was the only customer there. I also noticed that there were three employees behind the counter (two girls one guy) who were in the middle of a conversation. I expected at least one of them would come and assist me, however, that was not the case. They didn't even look up. None of them acknowledged me at all for an entire 2 minutes. If that doesn't sound like a long time, go stand in a corner stare at at a wall for 2 minutes. It feels like an eternity. When the guy finally turns around to assist me he acts like that kind of customer service was normal. No apology or sorry about the wait. Nothing. Needless to say I was highly offended and upset. So upset in fact that I left without even getting my tea. I drove all the way to Orlando for boba and left empty handed. I came as a patron to spend money in this establishment and was treated like the red headed step child. These employees were so rude and disrespectful I really wanted to let their upper management know how I was treated. I've been trying to speak with a supervisor all day but apparently they have no idea who that is so my only recourse is to write this bad review and NEVER go to this...