OMTea Boba & Bites — Restaurant in Raleigh

Geeze, I never known boba to fail me, but this place is horrific. $4.75 (thai milk tea) +$.75 (herbal jelly) +.$75 (almond milk) for a drink that was undrinkable. For one, the lady taking orders -- who was alright, not esp friendly but busy -- hit small when I asked for large (not complaining - would have wasted more money if she heard me right), hit "rainbow jelly" when I asked for herbal/grass jelly, didn't hear my request for less sugar at all -- but it was insanely crowded, she was probably stressed and doing her best, and luckily I caught the rainbow jelly thing & she corrected it.

It was hectic in there, but I don't think this drink would have been any better on a good day, as I watched them make it - everything stored in cloudy plastic bins, the boba coming out soupy and full of syrup. Milk stored in plastic jugs with gross looking pumps. It was offputting, but I don't think that was the problem.

The problem was, when it showed up, the "milk tea" was neither tea -- which is light & refreshing -- nor a "milky drink" which would be creamy and smooth. It was more like if you have ever frozen almond milk and then let it thaw half way and just taken out the watery part while all the solids are still in a big frozen chunk. Or if you've ever ran out of cereal milk & added water. Terrible consistency. Have gotten milk tea around the country for years, never had anything so horrendous. What was more, is it was INSANELY sweet, but in a super artificial way - not with honey or molasses or anything, but it just tasted like Caro syrup? So it was just this awful sugar water, but then the herbal jelly was a lie, as well - I've never tasted such awful herbal jelly. It was evident that they weren't using anything close to the real thing; this must be some kind of Jell-o Pudding mix equivalent, because it tasted 100% artificial & made my throat burn. I tried a drink and grimaced, like a child had attempted cooking for the first time and I was eating it to be polite, but secretly planning to doctor it up when I got home -- maybe I could add some coconut cream, or almond milk at home, and brew a cup of tea to dilute the awful sugar - I hated to waste all that money on a stupid self-indulgent thing, but my friend wanted to go, so I went and figured at least it would be tasty, but then it was also awful. It was too crowded or I would have asked for a refund. I tried another drink but my throat was really hurting with every sip because of whatever Chernobyl waste they had tried to pass off as "grass jelly" and "sugar". Ended up just dumping it out. So bummed. What a waste of money.

But there's no way this was just a problem of them being too busy & overworked. I watched them make the drinks all the same way. This isn't an issue of the staff screwing up, it's an issue of the place having low quality ingredients & then price gouging despite skimping on quality. In contrast, Champloo Desserts is slightly more affordable but about 100% better. We actually went there first, that's our usual place, but they were inconceivably out of boba today, so we thought we'd give this place a try. Never again! This is the price of...

Please. Stop, stop, stop the false marketing. This is how their family lie in ALL of their businesses’ stories. People are not stupid, (well at least not everyone). I went on their soft opening because I saw the Lion Dance when I was eating at store nearby. I Tried their drinks- geez can you have any more syrups and food coloring in a drink?? Train your staff to not show them at least LOL. I wasn’t going to say or post anything because people gotta make profit margins wider somehow, but I got very angry reading their About Us section on their website. Seriously, you guys look at their product, drink their product, and believe in this bull..s? I feel cheated. I would’ve felt better if they did not write all those fancy words, it is 1000% not true and they know it. Even the best and premium tea shops around here don’t dare to post such thing. Ridiculous. (Pictures are from their website).

Edit: it seems like the picture didn’t get uploaded, on their website as of the time of the review, it says: “ We take pride in sourcing the highest quality ingredients whether from local farmers or from exceptional purveyors in Asia and bringing great care and intention to the preparation process….. Our tea leaves are cultivated in mountaintop farms, where plants soak in the essence of the sun and absorb the nourishment of the misty,...

I had high hopes for a boba place that served quick bites but I'm not sure now after visiting. The service was quick, the greeting was none, the suggestions were short, the taiyaki was unimpressive. I got the Boston creme taiyaki (OK so fish shaped waffle filled with vanilla-ish not very sweet creamy filling that arrives piping hot). I feel like it was lacking major sweetness. It needs icing, glaze, or powdered sugar. (She DID recommend the nutella). The Rose Milk Tea tasted unbalanced. It tasted like 85% tea and just a dash of milk for appearance. The boba was unimpressive and way too soft, not alot of chew. I luckily got my drink redone for 50% sugar and their mistake I got two taiyaki for the price of 1, but still not worth returning. And from the reviews, It's true The tables are SO sticky. I recorded a video of the paper container stuck to the table and left residue on the table. Cons: there was a GUY worker who kept announcing how BORED he was. He could've been wiping the...