TNL Boba Tea — Restaurant in Oceanside

Although this has high ratings, I couldnt bring myself to have a good experience at this place.

First off, the vibe inside the store is just weird. The entrance is limited to about 3 people inside max at once from covid which is fine, but I had to crank my neck up really high to look at the menu which really hurt. But the cashier who took my order was starring at me as if i was doing something wrong while looking at the menu.

Second, I tried asking about the size of the large cup and I pointed to a group of 5 different cup sizes and said, "Are those the large sizes?" (Knowing that they are different sizes and knowing she would have to look behind her to see what im pointing at) and she knodded and said, "mhmmm" - without even turning around? How could she say that when i pointed to 5 different sizes? So I thought okay maybe she cant understand my English very well so I instead said, "how big is the large?" - using my hands in the air to measure different heights. She said, "24 ounces".

So I ordered a large thai green tea with almond milk and lychee jelly and it came out perfect, so no complaints on the quality of the drink. I did ask for no ice and she told me that they can only fill it up 3/4 way if I dont put ice in it, I was sort of confused but I still said okay and didnt want to make a big deal about it. But when she finally brought out the large drink, it was in a completely different cup than the ones I pointed to. And it was so little drink that I drank my entire boba before I even drove out of the parking lot. So I went back home to test if it was actually 24 oz like she said. My sister got a regular size and I got the large "24 oz" and you see the photo of the scale and how that even without zeroing out the weight of the cup, the total fluid ounces is less than 24.

Not my first time going here either! Ive been a few times and each time the vibe is just so off I would rather go to Tapioca Express by Barnes and Noble.

EDIT 2 years later: this tea shop deleted my photo of the real weight of their "24 oz" cup which when filled to the top with water only came out to 18.5oz - however they kept my photo of their small "16oz" which had a true weight of 16oz. Instead of addressing this discrepancy they tried to cover up the truth and that is why I cannot rate them any higher. If there is anything I am getting wrong please tell me, if not dont sell drinks listed as "24 oz" and then give customers...

TNL just happens to be near my LBS (local bike shop) so I tend to come in here randomly.

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by their mediocrity, but that is more due to my access to high quality offerings elsewhere.

Taro milk tea tastes synthetic, honeydew milk tea is basic and to be honest with you they taste like they were made from powder instead of fresh brewed.

Their juice varieties are decent and they rely more on pineapple, honeydew to sweeten versus the overused apple. They fall more in the jamba juice methodology versus the cold pressed style. I hoped they’d lean more towards the local, organic juice cleanse sort. The menu does them no favors being all over the place, like 10 pages for 100 items, smh. They have cool straws.

The house combo sandwich is a poor excuse for a bahn mi, the giardiniera (pickled daikon, carrots) is huge chunks with a quick pickle bath (just a remnant of acidity) and tons of pepper. Nope, nope, nope, No pate, no house cured meats, no butter, just some weird mayo. Do not eat here, despite them only have 4 sandwiches I’d only come for liquids. They gotta make use of that kitchen somehow right.

Décor is lackluster, small, but great light, seats are uncomfortable both couches and chairs. They need some white noise like a TV to keep it from being utterly stark boring inside.

Service is ok, slower than I thought they would be. Prices are a tad high considering the rent in this center is cheap. Your better...

Update: 2 years since our first visit. It's the only place I will buy taro from anymore, and we go as often as we can even with it being a 40minite drive for us. Still fantastic, not a single item has been a letdown.

We stopped by on an absolute whim when driving through the area. Our favorite thing with boba shops is being able to control the sweetness. We weren't too sure how it would go since they didn't offer sweetness levels. I got the taro smoothie and my partner got a cantaloupe slush. I was warned that they use actual taro instead of powder so the coloring, flavor and texture would be different, but I was intrigued. We waited for our drinks only to receive a bit of a shock when this giant mountain was placed in front of us. We got a good laugh out of it as the worker explained that they do not joke around with their boba. We each took our first sip and were elated. You could taste the freshness of both drinks. They were certainly not too sweet and instead had a perfect balance. There was also plenty of boba as they had put in 2 different layers. It was really nice to have boba from start to finish. We will be making sure to stop by here again anytime we're in the area. Great service, great people and...