Royal Tea — Restaurant in Sparks

I'm always looking for new places that serve Thai Tea because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Thai Tea! With or without boba, iced or blended; even just straight up- warm tea mixed with cold milk & sweet condensed cream, no ice. I also love {most} milkteas & boba drinks🧋 plus I'm a bit of a hot tea snob, so im always interested in trying new specialty green, fruit & oolong teas. Lastly, I'm a total glutton for steamed Bao {my favorite are the steamed creamy egg buns and taro buns from Hong Kong Diner.+I used to get red bean paste buns &melon buns@a bakery that's now closed} so I'm always down to try new places & treats I've never tried before. I was sleeping😴 on this place for a while, judging it based solely on the types of people I'd heard mention it in passing. So i expected another garish hipster poetry slam joint staffed by super bubbly high school girls with fake smiles 🙅🏽‍♀️ But I was very pleasantly surprised to walk in & see my presumptions were completely off base! Upon walking into a small and very clean storefront, i was confronted with a super chill & relaxing atmosphere🧘🏽‍♀️ with unpretentious minimalist decor. Nothing overbearing to the senses. A few tables & chairs for customers, an adorable covered & cushioned flower woven wicker love seat, & just 2 staff members who -to my delight- seemed to be a mother&daughter matching the nationality of the cuisine. {When i find a little hole in the wall offering an international menu with staff who hail from the same region as the cuisine they offer, I'm much more trusting of the quality & authenticity of the recipes} The staff were friendly, helpful, welcoming, & very professional without seeming pretentious or unapproachable. The LCD menu above the workstation was too blurry wout my glasses, so i was only v ɓ able to see the items posted on the walls, the brochure fold takeaway menus, & the online menu- but 1 thing i was looking forward to was nowhere to be found: Steamed Bao🥺 So I ordered my favorite drink- a large whole milk base Thai Tea w/brown sugar boba & light ice {saved for dinner} as well as the delectable looking item in the photo i saw online- a Blueberry & Cherry cream cheese tea {forť lunch at home} and lastly, a small whole milk Raspberry "SmooTea" w/whipped topping {for the hot drive home} All 3 drinks were DELICIOUS! & despite my sensitivity to overly sweet things {& my ignorance of being able to adjust the sweetness} W/my drinks all being prepared @100%sweetness, none of them were overly sweet {the raspberry smootea was ALMOST too sweet for me tho & tasted like a high fructose imitation raspberry flavored syrup rather than actual fresh/frozen raspberries} the Blueberry Cherry CreamCheese blended tea was as delectable as i imagined it would be. The berries tasted more natural, -frozen, not fresh- But still amazing! & as for the Thai Tea, honestly, I'm preferable to a much sweeter recipe than what I had today, I feel like maybe this recipe @125%sweetness would be perfect!👌🏼 As i waited for my order, I texted a friend who had boasted the quality of the Bao offered here. They assured me of it's availability, even if i didn't find it on the menu. As i was grabbing my order to go, I asked about the rumored bao. The server grabbed a laminated menu from behind the counter that was separate from the menus laid out for the customers to look thru. Unfortunately I didn't have time to discover the ingredients in each bun, & none of the pics looked anything like my streamed creamy egg buns, or even red bean paste or taro steamed buns. But im still going to have to return to try the Bao. As well as...

I was craving banh mi and wanted to try out this new place. I didn’t try any boba. Overall, for $8.50 the banh mi was pretty decent. I got the banh mi dac biet/special cold cut combo.

The size of it was pretty big. The meat they use is legit, but I would have liked more pate and mayo since it tasted a little dry. I ate mine at home so I just added more mayo lol. I do want to come back and try their other ones but might ask for extra pate and mayo when ordering next time. It would be nice if they had the option to have it toasted. I ordered mine for takeout so I just toasted it in the air fryer at home for a minute or so. It makes the baguette taste better :)

This place has potential and I’m glad they have good banh mi (and hopefully good boba, will have to try some other time). I know they’re still pretty new so the interior doesn’t look quite cozy but maybe they’ll start adding more things or change up the...

I came to Royal Tea this week because of its proximity to my home! I was greeted by a really sweet young woman and I ordered my drink. When I asked her to stamp my punchcard she was eager to do so until, her manager urged her not to. Her manager was an older woman who stated that since I payed with a credit card and not cash, she would not allow her employee to punch the card. I had never heard of this rule in the few times that I have been to Royal Tea. This manager spoke to me as though I was an aggressor in this situation. I felt so uncomfortable and genuinely discriminated against. She looked at me with distain and I couldn’t understand why. I think it’s important to let others know that if you don’t look a certain way, you will not get proper customer service...