Ding Tea Fashion Valley — Restaurant in San Diego

Went today to grab some boba, the reviews here are right and here’s are some of the pointers:

Overpriced for only milk and sugar at the bottom of the cup and no other flavor for a boba.

The service was decent when going to the register, but after that is where everything goes down the drain, a friend of mine accidentally popped his cup; no employee offered to replace it even though he only took 2 sips from it and the whole thing spilled which he had to throw away.

No employee did their job by stepping in and giving a hand helping out to clean it as they’re supposed to. He had to use a lot of napkins just to clean it.

The only help he got after was a simple black towel, after he had to ask them for something for it, which by the end the employee said “hey, are you done? We need that back.” Even though he saw he was struggling to clean it with only napkins.

Side note: A lady who didn’t even work there gave up her napkins to him to clean with, SOMEONE NOT WORKING THERE, I remind you!

No “have a nice day!” Or “please come again!” After we left the store.

Honestly, as a barista myself, this behavior and service is unacceptable. It’s understandable it can be a long day for them, but that’s not an excuse to not do their jobs right. Compared to a place like downtown where I work, fashion valley does not have anything like what we have to deal with, which is 3 times worse; maybe more.

Do better.

P.S: Their bathroom smells...

The drink they made was below average but that's not why I'm leaving them a negative review. It's what we witnessed while we were there. This was on a Sunday, July 30th, 2023. A little boy came in from outside and asked the male and female behind the counter for a cup of water. Mind you, it is a scorcher in San Diego today. Hot, humid and the sun is brutal. The kid was selling candy outside at the mall and by the looks of it has been in the sun all day. He clearly needed that drink. He did not ask for a hand out, just a cup of water. Both servers refused!!! Some tap water in a plastic cup. They shooed the boy away. We asked them to give the poor kid some water and they refused us as well. We then asked for some water for ourselves, paying customers so that we could give it to the kid. These two terrible, awful human beings working there deliberately took 10 minutes to poor some water in a cup, huffing and puffing pissely the whole time. Because they knew it was for the kid. By the time we got that water the kid was gone. We looked around for him but unfortunately couldn't find him.

It is so sad to see the world we live in where people would refuse a child in need water. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this place. Plenty of great placed in SD but this one does not deserve...

Ding Tea is one of my favorite boba shops, and we recently got to check out their new location inside Fashion Valley mall.

This location is so cute! We love how it's set up and decorated, very clean and inviting with pretty plants and the "LOVE" sign.

This location has a lot of different drinks to choose from, as well as bubble waffles and brick toasts. This time we tried:

Burnt Thai Tea Brulee - the brulee custard they top this with is so creamy and eggy, pure heaven.

Mango Macchiato - the base is a refreshing mango green tea, and they put a lot of fresh mango pieces in there too- one of my favorite drinks here.

Creme Brulee Monster Boba - you can really taste the notes of brown sugar in this one. Kind of on the sweeter, milkier side if that's your thing.

Ube Bubble Waffle with vanilla ice cream cream, strawberries and oreos - loved the texture and flavor of the waffle! Nice toasty outside, chewy mochi-like texture on the inside.

They also have super cute merch here- we got this reusable bag and drink coaster to use at home!

Next time you're doing some shopping and need to take a break go get a treat from Ding Tea on the 2nd floor by JC Penny and Bath & Body Works,...