CITEADRINKS | 西風 (San Gabriel) — Restaurant in San Gabriel

CiTeaDrinks is another boba shop in the San Gabriel Valley. Located in San Gabriel inside of the Sunny Plaza, CiTea is a small shop with self-ordering and a self-service fridge.

When I went to CiTea, I initially ordered a drink and noticed that it was only one staff member, but with a few parties inside of the store. After about 10 minutes, she called my number and told me that it would be another 30 minutes since she received a 7-order delivery order. She offered to refund my order if it would be too long. I appreciated her communication and understood how busy rush can get, so I took her up on the offer and decided to come back another day.

I recently visited again and noticed that there were two staff members and no line. As such, I decided to try my luck again. I ordered the Ya Shi Xiang (Duck Poop) Oolong Milk Tea with boba and a Ruby Black Tea with Osmanthus Jelly. When we received the drinks, I was surprised to see that our toppings came on the side. My boba turned out to be instant boba and it came inside of a package similar to the photo. As for the osmanthus jelly, it was inside of a to-go sauce container. We were surprised since usually the toppings would be inside of the drinks already; however, we had to put it inside ourselves.

As for the drinks themselves, the Ya Shi Xiang milk tea didn't have a strong tea flavor. It had more of a milk taste than a tea taste, which isn't my preference. In fact, since I got it with less ice, the drink tasted even more diluted as time passed. The instant boba was also hard, which made it feel even worse since I paid $1 for the topping. The Ruby Black Tea tasted like ceylon and it was okay since the tea wasn't burnt or over-steeped. The tea jelly was much better than the boba since it had proper structure and a hint of sweetness.

Overall, I don't think I would get toppings here again because we need to put it into the drinks ourselves, and the boba comes inside of an instant package. I would stay away from the milk teas since they are milk dominant rather than tea forward, but I am curious about their...

The service at this store is really bad. I’ve been here at least 10 times, but today was especially disappointing.

I ordered one drink and two cups of sweet soup and asked for a store bag. However, the staff told me that I could only get a bag if I bought two of their drinks (sweet soup didn’t count as a drink). I then offered to pay for a bag myself, but the staff still refused.

I asked them to contact the owner to confirm, but they claimed they didn’t have the owner’s phone number. So, I called the number listed on Google Maps (I accidentally called the Rowland Heights location, and they told me I should be able to get a bag). Even after that, the two staff members at the San Gabriel store still insisted that it wasn’t allowed.

Finally, the staff from the Rowland Heights location called this store, and only then did they agree to give me a bag. Throughout this whole process, the two staff members not only refused to solve the issue but also raised their voices at me and had a terrible attitude. As a customer, being treated like this is extremely frustrating and...

If you’re planning to add toppings to your drink, avoid this place! I ordered a milk tea and a yogurt drink here. Since the self-ordering machine didn’t have an option to specify which drink the topping was for, I added my mochi separately and expected the staff to either know to put it in the milk tea or confirm with us while making it. It’s common sense that no one would add mochi to yogurt, so I assumed this wouldn’t be an issue. We waited inside the store the whole time, and the staff even confirmed our order number while preparing it. However, when I got my drinks, the mochi was packaged separately. I asked if they could add it to the milk tea for me, but they refused, saying customers have to add toppings themselves. This was odd, especially since the staff said, "How would I know which drink to add it to? If I take the time to ask you, I wouldn’t have time to do other things." The attitude was rude, and I had to add the mochi to the...