Luxe Boba — Restaurant in San Diego

This place took over the former Saigon Bliss Pho restaurant. We were saddened because we wanted to get pho and then boba. But glad to know it runs in the same family since the Pho was owned by the mother and now the daughter owns the boba. She’s super nice and friendly when taking our order.

The menu and concept reminds me of boba shops in Orange County due to the drink flavors, serving snacks, and concept. Unlike other SD tea shops that are Taiwanese/Chinese, I am happy that we have a Vietnamese inspired shop that offers flavors like durian, penny worth, sugar cane, pandan, mung bean, etc. I also love that the menu offers picture with description and not just a list of names and you don’t know what to order.

We got Mr. Bean which was a mix of mung bean and infused with pandan leaves along with crystal boba. The texture is there but not as rich if I were to compare it to my favorite place in OC but it’s just as good because of the infused pandan which probably took away that mung bean richness but overall, two thumbs up. I’m also not a fan of boba but decided to keep it original to stick with the crystal boba. Which is way better than regular black boba since it’s like crunchy jelly not chewy starch.

We also got Jade which is Hokkaido milk tea with crystal boba and butterfly pea tea. This drink has caffeine, you can taste the strong tea and it’s legit. We got no boba for this drink.

She didn’t ask me but the person before requested their sugar level to be half sweet. So that’s a suggestion if you want to adjust your sugars and perhaps ice level. I kept it normal for my first time to see how the original tasted before any adjustments.

We ordered popcorn chicken, chicken wings, and dynamite fries. You get the most bang for your buck with pop corn chicken, it’s a large portion. The wings came with 6 so it’s like $1 a piece. I got spicy but it tasted like it wasn’t even mild. Although it was nicely breaded and meaty. The dynamite shoe string fries was yummy but the sriracha and spicy Mayo was only squirted on top and not evenly throughout underneath. So once you finish the top layer, the rest is just the saltiness and furikake. Still good but I would recommend to scatter evenly throughout. My favorite would be the pop corn chicken.

I wish there was outdoor tables for dining. Inside is available for sit down. Outside is just a white ottoman.

We came before sun down and the place started to transform from day to night as they rolled out the VIP red velvet rope and turned on the LED neon lights, club-like environment.

In my opinion, Luxe is comparable to OC boba shops and now we don’t have to drive 1.5 hours for...

I have actually never in my life returned a food item back to the kitchen but this was the first time I did because this was the first that I've encountered something that was completely and entirely inedible. The boba itself in all the drinks were also really mid. I've had better $3 blended drink bobas at neighborhood donut shops made with those florescent colored flavor powders. My drink specifically was so so bad, never get the panda. I was with several friends and everyone that tried it agreed with me that it tasted like perfume was poured into the cup. If you scroll on Yelp, you'll see multiple people saying the same thing. Guys, it ok, just take it off the menu already. Someone on here called the boba here a headache in a cup and I feel like that was so poetically accurate that I wanted to give them a shout-out. The fact that my large boba cost me more than $11 was also crazy. I was super nice about returning the drink because I felt really bad and awkward but they refused to replace it with a similar item, like a plain black milk tea since I got a plain earl grey milk tea. They said that earl grey just tastes like this, which I promise you it does not, bergamot is extracted from the peel of the fruit, not flower??. The only thing they said they could do was take my drink back and dilute it. I've worked in food service and editing a food/drink that's already had my mouth on it has always been not allowed due to health code regulations so I don't know why that's allowed or if it's allowed. Just super weird. I think the servers were just doing what they were told to and I don't blame them but whoever owns/manages this place?? The nail in the coffin is how butt ugly the interior is. It's actually so horrendous. It's Texas tufted glam meets LED gamer aesthetic. The chairs are so uncomfortably hard and mostly backless and the tables barely reach your shin?? There was also Christmas music blasting. I can't think of a worse place to hang out with friends. We literally left with our drinks and bought fries at jack in the box just to sit there instead. You're by convoy, next to a dozen amazing boba places....

This local boba tea shop has become a new favorite of mine to visit! I first learned about it because of a BTS cupsleeve event that was hosted there, and have been visiting ever since.

I’m still new to boba/tea so I can’t really compare the drink qualtiTEA (haha get it? Quality? Quali-tea? Never mind). However, I can comment on the staff and interior!

The staff are very friendly and helpful if you don’t know what to order! Service is quick, too. I always tip :)

The interior (and exterior) are BEAUTIFUL. It’s a shame that indoor seating isn’t available yet, because I can imagine this being such a cool, fun place to chill with my friends. Or even just to chill and study! The decor is super pretty and they have some fun photo op spots inside and outside (like the greenery bush wall, the logo painted wall, etc). Props to whoever decorated this place!

Oh, It’s also VERY clean - Inside and out. I can tell that The staff here are very conscious of maintaining cleanliness of the space - which is appreciated.

Attached is a photo of a drink I’m trying today. It’s this “aloha” one with mango and other fruity flavors. It normally comes with fruit bits, but I asked them to add lychee jelly and basil seeds (something I learned I really liked after my...