Tiger Sugar — Restaurant in Walnut

We arrived to the store at 1:15pm and proceeded to stand in line for 2.5 hours in the hot sun. We eventually got into the store and ordered our four drinks at 3:43pm. I asked to speak to a manager. I ended up talking to a guy named Chi. I told him it was completely unacceptable that on their grand opening that patrons were forced to stand in line for 2.5 hours without any water or shade. Chi stood there, nodded, and smiled like a psychopath while I told him how unacceptable this entire situation was. I asked what he was going to do about it and he replied, "Let me think about it." WHAT THE HECK ANSWER IS THAT? Later, he said he would send me a gift certificate via email-- I will be VERY surprised if he follows through on that. I also interacted with a second manager Kent who at least was very apologetic. He said he was really sorry about the situation and talked about how this was their first day, etc. I told him that people understand when things go wrong or are slow on a first day, but it's completely unacceptable to leave your patrons outside standing in a two hour line without any water or even acknowledgement. The least he could do is hand out water to them and explain what's going on or INTERACT with the patrons who are so excited to come to his store. He did end up buying a bunch of water and handing it out to people, but it was 2.5 hours too late. Hopefully nobody got hurt or too dehydrated from this experience.

Here's a list of things that I observed that the store could improve on. It was 90 degrees and sunny. People were picking up cardboard boxes out of the trash to use it to shield themselves from the sun. UNACCEPTABLE! The staff should have been handing out water to the patrons who were standing in line or gotten some umbrellas. After my angry diatribe, I saw that waters were being handed out which was a good change, but it was still way too late The line was extremely disorganized, the staff should have had some people outside working the line and interacting with the patients. The line went through the store, around the store, and then in the very back of the store. They should really have had someone standing there helping with line management, especially since there were cars going back and forth in the back. It would have been very bad if someone got hurt. After about an hour of waiting, I saw some people rushing into the store with bags of ice-- looks like they ran out of ice on their first day. Unbelievable for a beverage store. In 2.5 hours, they ran out of boba. Who runs out of boba at a bubble tea store AND on the grand opening day??? I counted 10 people behind the counter "making drinks". Why were there 10 people behind the counter to make beverages? And each of them were doing one task which was extremely weird. I think I saw one person 'weighing' the boba/pearls. That seems very inefficient. Get a spoon or cup that's the right size, you don't have time to weigh things. One of the four drinks we ordered ended up having a few stray milk pearls, which was also weird.

Overall, this was a terrible experience and I would not recommend anyone to go. There are several bubble tea/boba restaurants within a one mile radius of this place. Honestly, if I hadn't been with a friend who was super excited to try this place, I would have left after...

I've been here a couple of times when they first opened up and just recently came back when I heard about their collaboration with Hello Kitty. The little girl in me could not resist and knew that I had to find a way to get my hands on their cupholders. Four hours into the opening day, the majority of the cupholders and plushies were already sold out. They still had the brown colored bow cupholder when it was my time to order. Since I've been here a couple times, their boba has always been generally pretty solid, perfectly chewy and bouncy. Maybe because it was the Hello Kitty collab and there was just so much demand, but the boba texture was definitely disappointing. It felt like it needed to be cooked more or simmered a bit longer before it was served. I did get to try their Hello Kitty drink which was essentially a strawberry milk with boba drink and it was pretty tasty but definitely for those with sweet tooths. I did like how they added dried strawberries on top.

Parking was a little challenging at the time because they only have a couple of spots in their lot. Although Walgreens is right next to it, they have a sign that says the parking spaces are specifically for Walgreens customers. I did find that there was another parking lot next to it that didn't seem to have those enforcements. You can also park on the huge lot on Batson Ave. and Colima Rd. and just walk over to Tiger Sugar, which is...

Wow! They opened a Tiger Sugar here in Rowland Heights! I believe the last time I had this was over a year ago in Taiwan. Glad to see some of these places that are popular in Taiwan come to the states. It seems like they have an easy online order and pick up system that I will definitely give a try next time, but I wanted to review my experience from walking in for the first time. The place is COVID-19 Compliant, making sure users are social distancing, and it felt safe going here to order. You have to be careful when you come to this location, as its parking lot is not connected to others. If you missed the entrance you would have to come back around unless you park a little further and walk over. Note that they do not take cash (which i find very odd in Rowland, but I feel this is great, to not deal with cash being handed back and forth), but they do have Credit/Debit card and mobile pay!

I ended this time choosing one of their popular drinks, which was the number 6. Black Sugar Pearl Milk with Cream Mousse. I believe this was the most similar to the one I had in Taiwan, and honestly it tasted great! From the drink itself and the boba as well. I only wish there was a bigger size, but the size they have is good, so I dont have to worry about overdoing it.

I want to try the Green Tea Latte next time and also try out their online order system to see how easy it is. Can’t wait to be back!...