MATCHA CAFE MAIKO — Restaurant in Walnut

Please do not take children here! They play horrible music with curse words! I visited here on Thursday, morning July 18, from 11:00am- 11:11am. Unfortunately VERY loud music with the “F”- word several times in it played while I waited for my drink. There were children inside and I did not want them to have to continue to hear this music, so before I left with my drink, I asked the people working there to change the song. The young lady working there asked a young man named “Dar” to help me (it seemed she didn’t have the authority to adjust the music but she was very polite). I told him “I just heard the ‘F’ word 5 times in 7 seconds in that song and there are children here.” He gave me a dismissive look and walked into the back and changed the song. When he came back out, I said “why would you have that music here when children visit your store?” Then Dar said “you asked me to turn off the song and I did.” And I said again, “But why would you play it in the first place?” Then Dar said, “it’s just a song” and rudely walked away and disappeared into the back of the store again behind the curtain. No apology. No concern for customers. I am willing to bet - due to his attitude about the whole situation - he played it again as soon as I left. As I was leaving, I asked the young lady if I could speak with an assistant manager or manager about the situation. She looked for a manager’s phone number but could not find their business cell number. I said “it’s ok, I will write a review so management knows about this.” Right after leaving, I sat in my car and took notes about the whole situation because this is one of the worst employees I have ever encountered in customer service or retail. As someone with 10+ years in management, i can make some assessments about what might be happening with this particular employee (“Dar”) at this store and hopefully management takes this opportunity to mentor and train this individual. 1- He behaves differently around management so they do not know he is a problem 2- Management knows he is a problem but will not address it, because he might be senior 3- He might be related to the manager or owner so he can do whatever he wants ** People who care about their job and care about losing their job do not act like this. People who care about customers do not act like this.

In other news, the young lady working there was very polite and professional. I was impressed with how I saw her interacting with a kiddo when she had to tell her they were out of one of the ingredients they needed for her drink. She treated that young girl (she was probably 8) with the same amount of professional courtesy she would an adult. And she made me a fantastic drink. But obviously I cannot go back here because at 11am, when getting tea or ice cream, I am looking for an experience that does not feel like 11PM walking into a night club, with LOUD music containing “F” words and rude workers.

For the record, at no point was I loud or unprofessional. I believe in being diplomatic and giving the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. And as I said, there were children inside, so all the more reason to be...

Been wanting to try this cute little cafè since I’m a fan of all things matcha flavored. Photos and reviews of the place seemed enticing. Visited around 9PM after dinner at one of the other restaurants in the plaza. There was a long line but the wait time after ordering wasn’t bad at all. We received our order in less than 5 mins. There was not much room inside the cafè to chill or “dine in” but there were a few tables and chairs outside of the café that are shared with other surrounding establishments nearby. My husband and I tried the Matcha with Matcha Soft serve Float and Hojicha with a Vanilla + Matcha Swirl soft serve Float. They gave us a generous portion of the soft serve. The Matcha soft serve and Float were perfect. Nice rich matcha flavor. The Vanilla+Matcha swirl was nice and sweet, which is what I would recommend for those who may not be used to the deep earthy strong matcha flavor since it was a nice sweet balance with the vanilla. However the Hojicha was very watered down so I didn’t really appreciate the flavor at all. Perhaps it can be attributed to the large amount of ice that they put into the cup for the “float” effect. Would probably only come back for the soft serve rather than the drink versions. A friend of ours tried the hot matcha version (not pictured) but she said it tasted more earthy like grass as compared to the...

I am quite disappointed. I first tried Matcha Cafe Maiko at their San Francisco location and was blown away by the silky, creamy authentic matcha flavored soft serve. So smooth, it’s like licking a slightly tepid melted tablespoon of butter (think of a melted stick of butter texture- not the richness guys). As this establishment is a franchise, I was fully expecting the same quality in the Rowland Heights location; however, was met with an extremely unsatisfying experience.

First off-soft serve should be smooth. Like omg, my tongue is moisturized with shea butter for multiple weeks smooth. Instead, you can taste the icicles within each bite and can also see speckled green clumped matcha dots in the soft serve. Not a good sign guys. The only thing I can say was consistent with the other location was the size of the swirl + flavors. Not sure if the machine was operating under standards on this particular night, but I ended up tossing the cone since I felt like this dessert was truly a waste of calories for me. And knowing me- I never waste my desserts.

Rowland Matcha Cafe Maiko- please fix your machine. Or fly up to SF to revisit the recipe/machine making abilities to learn from the masters of creamy soft serve. My tongue still hurts from...