Boba Bear — Restaurant in Walnut

Came in at 4:45 and the guy told us he won't be able to help us unless we wait 5-10 minutes even though there was no one in the store 😭. There was also a little bug on the "bell" they have to ring for service so my boyfriend grabbed the bell to kill the ant and the guy came and said please stop playing with the bell... lmao. We weren't even ringing it. He went right back into the kitchen after that. Still couldn't place our order. He came back out at 5:00 to tell us "Oh and by the way we are ready" AND WENT RIGHT BACK IN THE KITCHEN. I was so confused because I had cash and didn't want to order on the screen. I had to call them and say excuse me to get their attention about whether they had iced coffee or not. He came back 5 minutes later at 5:05 and said he's going to check. He never came back and I ended up just ordering what they have on the self-kiosk screen. Super weird guy lol. I like to have fun with my coworkers during work but this guy was just lazy and out of touch. We got there at 4:45 and got two boba drinks at 5:15 😂😂😂😂. Anyways I used to love this place the employees...

Long time hookah enthusiast, but since global world events disrupted my social life, I have fallen out of the scene. Since I wanted a chill enviornment to go out I chose Boba Bear, a lounge I have been too plenty of times.

My visit was in the night, and I loved the service I recieved. Pudgy kept the atmosphere at peak energy, Veronica was very friendly and made my hookah perfectly, and I am picky. Brian crafted the delicious drinks, and they all had quick attentive service.

My only complaint was the price, which for an upscale hookah lounge is pricey but not out of the range of being reasonable. Drink minimum is noy unheard of, but annoying.

The most heinous thing though was the 15% surcharge. We were a party of two, and I tip cash. On top of tax, that adds heft to the tab that isn't explained. The fact it's listed as surcharge is sketchy, because it seems like a weird legal loophole to charge more without guaranteeing that the charge goes to the staff. I rather tip what I would like then add vague charges to a tab that isn't cheap by any means.

Otherwise, the...

This place went from booming to down horrendous. I used to come here every time I visited California because the staff was very flexible and accommodating. I understand the place has a new owner with new staff, but the reason it has no business lately is due to the “by the book” mentality. We had a party of four, 2 which didn’t smoke, but they wanted to charge us for two hookahs for the unmentioned rules of 3 to 1 hookah, as well as “you can’t drink inside without a hookah”. Not only that, but as soon as we said we didn’t want a hookah due to the rule, they straight up just handed us the bill as to get us out of there at 11 pm on a Sunday with barely any customers.

Do not waste your time or money. This place needs to go on Bar Rescue...