HEYTEA (Hostetter) — Restaurant in San Jose

I’ve given HeyTea multiple chances over the past three days, but each visit has been worse than the last.

On the first day, I was on the outdoor line and noticed someone who seemed to be the manager. You’d think a manager would make sure things were running smoothly, but she completely ignored all the customers. When I finally got her attention to ask about the drinks, she had no idea about the menu or the ingredients. How does someone in a leadership position not know the basics of what the store serves?

On the second day, I went back hoping things would improve, but I was met with disappointment again. This time, the cashier was a girl with bangs who spoke Chinese and clearly had an attitude problem. I tried to ask her some basic questions about the menu, but she acted like she couldn’t be bothered. She seemed annoyed with every word I said, and the whole interaction made me feel unwelcome. Then, when I went to the drink pick-up station, a guy handed me my drink and said “thank you.” While his interaction was polite, the bar area didn’t look clean or maintained. I couldn’t help but think about calling the food and safety department because the condition of the area left me questioning the overall cleanliness of the place.

On the third day, I decided to give it one final try, but it was the worst experience yet. The person handing out drinks was a girl wearing glasses. When I asked which drink was mine, she rolled her eyes and gave me a sarcastic response. I asked again politely, and instead of answering, she shoved the drink toward me without even looking at me. When I tried to ask for her name, she ignored me and walked away to focus on getting paper bags and organizing them instead of addressing customer concerns. It was clear that she had no interest in helping or providing service.

Three days, three chances, and each time I’ve been met with rude staff, unprofessional behavior, and a complete lack of care. This location clearly has serious problems with staff training, customer service, and basic cleanliness. The drinks might be decent, but they’re absolutely not worth dealing with this kind of disrespect. I won’t be coming back until they fix these glaring issues—and I’m seriously considering reporting them to ensure they’re held...

HeyTea is Bay Area's latest and greatest tea shop with its opening met with significant fanfare and long lines. Although new(ish) to northern California, HeyTea is actually a well-established chain with multiple locations in New York, Los Angeles, and even around the globe in the UK, Australia, and Malaysia.

HeyTea was first founded in 2012 born from the desire to revitalize tea culture with high-quality ingredients and unique flavors. With a slogan like "Drive Quality, Spark Joy", HeyTea definitely aims high to offer great tasting drinks that everyone can enjoy.

As with all new and shiny tea shops, HeyTea opened to long lines of adoring fans wanting to take a sip of their creations. The interior of the store is very clean and very aesthetic, although there isn't a ton of seating inside so you're probably better off taking your drink to-go.

I highly recommend ordering from their app and to pick-up in store to cut down on the long wait times (both for ordering and pick-up). I placed my order on their app around 5:30pm, and the app gave me an estimate of 11 minutes until pick up - not bad at all. Indeed my drinks were ready for pick-up at the promised time and I was able to waltz right in the store (past a significant line of patrons still waiting to order at their in-store kiosk) and grab my drinks for the road.

This time we got their (1) yumberry boom, and (2) passion fruit tea. As before both drinks did not disappoint in the slightest. The yumberry boom is a comeback drink (as noted on the app), and I will say that the taste/flavor of the drink reminded me a lot of their mulberry - so if you like their mulberry strawberry boom, then this one should be right up your alley. The passion fruit was crisp and refreshing, a perfect pick-me-up if you're looking for something light to enjoy.

If you're wondering if HeyTea is worth the excitement, then I'm happy to share that it is! Whether you plan to go in the next few weeks or the next few months (when hopefully the lines die down a bit), you'll always be in for a...

AWARE! This is the actual amount of grapes you’ll get in the Crispy Grape Boom at HEYTEA San Jose.

I’ve been a loyal customer, ordering from HEYTEA San Jose at least 3–4 times a week. However, this time, they gave me noticeably fewer grapes than usual in my Crispy Grape Boom. I wasn’t asking for a completely new drink—despite their sign stating they’re willing to remake any drink if a customer is unsatisfied. I simply requested one more scoop of grapes, not an entire cup, just one scoop.

Instead of addressing my concern, one of the staff interrupted the conversation and outright refused to help.

After sharing my experience on Red Notes, multiple staff members pretended to be customers, leaving comments insisting the portion looked normal and even suggesting that I should just buy grapes from 99 Ranch instead of expecting HEYTEA San Jose to do anything.

It’s obvious that the portion of grapes was reduced compared to usual. On top of that, the store supervisor handled this poorly, encouraging staff to leave misleading comments rather than addressing legitimate...