805 Boba — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Wondering why this place has so low reviews?! Because they are literally awful!!! I am surprised anyone manages to like this place. The business almost solely survives off of stupid tourists who don’f know any better. Their boba tastes like plastic, is either half of the time over cooked (mushy) or undercooked, (hard). Their milk tea recipes are 100% lacking in flavor. This place is certainly the mcdonald’s for boba, even Spudnuts has better boba. The ambience is cool, which is sad. The owner claims the recipes are authentic Taiiwanese, but an amateur boba person could taste the difference between say, Hochaya (in Goleta) and this yucky garbage. Staff is insanely unprofessional, but that’s because the owner is as well. I’ve heard way too much personal information my couple times stopping by to give it a chance. After 3 times, I never went back to this place. Hochaya just opened in Goleta and they are DELICIOUS and a much better option. 805 boba is simply a waste of location & branding. Hochaya serves brown sugar boba, their recipes are amazing, the quality is unbeatable in the county. Hochaya staff also ensures the boba is cooked properly. (Boba must be cooked a very certain way.) Anyway, I’d stay away from 805 Boba. The owner of 805 boba is a caucasian american man who literally knows nothing about boba and is completely closed off to feedback.

Anyway, if you’re a boba tea lover and wondering about this place, stay away and don’t waste your time! Wondering why it’s rating is so low... this is all why!!! Go to Hochaya in Goleta. You will not regret it!!! Even Hochaya’s homemade egg pudding is bomb, honestly better than most places even in LA!!!

Just avoid 805 boba at all costs and if you have a similar experience, make it known! The owner of 805 is incredibly rude, unprofessional and out of touch with this industry. I tried giving him some pointers and info, but he was “too good” for any feedback. It was a joke, really! I feel like puking thinking of the nasty plastic tasting boba I’ve had there on 3...

I really miss this place. I really like boba, so I’ve been to a lot of boba places across the country and this one is always my favorite. I used to come here every weekend and the staff was always nice. They have the most drink and customization options of any place I’ve been to. You can pretty much pick any flavor under the sun and mix and match as well. I used to get a peach, passion fruit, guava, milk tea with strawberry boba, or a “cactus cooler” smoothie (which I think might be orange and pineapple?) with strawberry boba. I miss the strawberry boba the most of anything I think; I haven’t been anywhere else that has a kind of chewy fruit boba like this place. (Any other place I’ve been to that does have fruit boba only has the “popping” kind, the strawberry boba at this place is the usual solid/chewy kind and I...

The absolute most disgusting boba & tea I’ve ever had!!! Doesn’t taste authentic at all. Hopefully the worst boba tea I’ll ever have to experience as I’m definitely never going back. The boba tastes poor quality with bad sugar... the tea is vomitable & the service is sub par. I’ve been there many times and last night was the final straw. I was blessed enough to have the experience of working at an authentic boba tea house, where the boba is fresh, the tea is fresh and everything is authentic and copied from Taiwan. So I learned and got to taste REAL delicious Chinese boba tea. Honestly, 805 boba and tea tastes like plastic, it’s so disgusting. I wish I didn’t go there and serve myself that terrible experience. Goleta has the best...