Kung Fu Tea — Restaurant in Sterling

I used to visit this bubble tea place a lot, but my most recent experience made me think about exploring other options, even if it means driving a few minutes further.

Specifically for this store/location, the quality of the product, speed of service, and convenient location are above average. However, the employee working last 7/10/2023 at the time of my visit at 12:19 PM (as indicated on my receipt), changed my whole perception about this store.

From the initial interaction we had when I walked up to the counter to place my order, I can tell he wasn't happy about needing to prepare the drinks (i.e. his job description). I wasn't expecting a bubbly personality, but having a negative demeanor and body language while a paying customer orders something from the place doesn't exactly invite repeat business.

I ordered two drinks and picked the items from the options/add-ons indicated in the menu. As I was doing this, he kept reacting like I was making his job unbearably difficult. It made me feel like I was the one being unreasonable that I almost need to apologize. There was literally no one else in the store during that visit, and as far as I can tell, no online or phoned-in orders also because the attendant was just sitting there when I walked in. If one customer placing an order causes that person so much stress that he starts huffing and puffing and banging cabinet doors in the bubble tea bar he works in, then maybe the job fit might need to be re-assessed? I hope he realizes that without customers, he wouldn't have a paycheck.

One other thing, after I paid, I chose the option to have a paper receipt printed out. This location's machine prints out the receipt facing the cashier. I called his attention to please hand me my copy and it just added to his negative demeanor. He even went "you couldn't just grab it?" I never reach over store counters because it is rude, I don't want to be accused of stealing or breaking something, and it is just not the right thing to do.

After this experience, I don't think I will return to that location until I can verify that the person isn't on shift. Because there's no way for me to know that unless I'm casually passing by when I'm already in the area, and I definitely don't plan on going out of my way to drive there to find out, I might just as well go...

I normally don't have much issue with this location, but this time, I feel like I need to speak up.

I had ordered a mango green tea with boba. This drink usually comes with jelly unless you request to not have it. So my drink should have jelly and Boba. The girl who made it forgot to add the jelly, which I only realized after I left the store. I went back in to inquire about the jelly (thinking if it might be a new policy), and the guy who I spoke to (not the girl who made my drink) was kind enough to offer either to make another drink or add the jelly. So I just said to give me the jelly in a separate cup is fine. As he was about to do that, another guy, whom I supposed is the store manager or at least higher position than the first guy, just kinda pushed him to the side and asked me what I already told the first guy. He sorta had an attitude and made me feel like I shouldn't have even have asked about the jelly in the first place. First of all, I did not mean to cause any trouble. I went back to inquire to see if it's a new thing with the toppings, and seeing that is not, I was just getting back what my drink should've had. Second of all, I feel like the second guy was rude the way he pushed the first guy aside, was so uncalled for. The first guy was already helping me, why did he have to do that? And with his whole demeanor, it was just unpleasant. The first guy was very polite, he has good...

This is the best Kung Fu tea franchise I've ever been to. The boba tea was good but the service was absolutely exceptional. It is run by a family, with two young teen daughters helping their mom and dad make the drinks. I wanted something milkshake like and the young daughter recommended the strawberry milk smoothie. I added tapioca pearls to my drink. It was very good. The dad actually said I should have tried the taro boba tea but taro is a potato like sweet starch so I declined. While my friend and I were enjoying our drinks, the dad actually made some taro boba tea for himself and went out of his way to give us a sample because he was sure we would love it lol. He even brought a side of sweet mung beans to add to the taro boba tea.... to my surprise the taro smoothie was delicious and adding the mung beans made it taste even better. When he saw that we were enjoying the taro boba he smiled and said, "See, I knew you'd like it!" He was right, I loved it. I very much recommend this Kung Fu...