Guanyin Tea House 月露茶屋 — Restaurant in West Covina

2/16 Update: My wife talked to the owner, who was very understanding and apologetic for the poor experience. We do really like their drinks and mistakes do happen, so I’m changing my review from 1 to 5 stars.

Summary: The drinks are really good, but there's been a very consistent stream of mistakes every time we've visited recently. On our most recent visit, my wife asked the staff to fix her drink since she ordered it with no ice. This is also the first time that her drink tasted like water. Coincidence?

When my wife and I first discovered this place, we were really excited. We love boba and we regularly go out to get boba milk tea, usually around 1-2 times/week. Typically we would drive to Rowland Heights, where all the quality boba spots are, to get boba. But we really liked the tea and Guan Yin and were happy that we didn't have to drive 15+ minutes to Rowland Heights for boba.

So this place has been really solid for us and we've been stopping by at least once a week for the past few months. Although the drinks haven't failed to disappoint- the customer service has been pretty bad recently.

Normally I don't mind bad customer service and wouldn't be bothered enough to write a review, let alone a 1-star review. However, over the past month or so- there has consistently been some sort of mistake every time we visited.

First, we tried to use a 20% off coupon which was supposed to be applied to the entire order, but it was only applied to 1 drink. Ok fine- I don't really like to be overcharged, but this was only a few dollars. We asked the cashier about it and left our number behind so she could ask her boss later. The owner reached out later, sending us a $5 gift card. This was really nice.

During our next visit, we wanted to use this $5 gift card. The cashier seemed confused and had no idea how to apply it. She told us to pay with our credit card and an option will show up to redeem it. I paid with my credit card and there was no option to redeem the gift card. Ok fine, we'll come back eventually so we'll try to use it next time.

Finally on our most recent visit is where the straw breaks the camel's back. We had also had 15% off coupon that was expiring soon, so we brought it in to redeem it. This time the worker applies the coupon to the entire order, instead of just one drink (yay! we made some progress here). We ask to use our $5 gift card, yet again, and were denied because we can't use a gift card in combination with a coupon (like what? how does that even make sense. a gift card in practice should be equivalent to cash). Anyways, whatever. We'll come back eventually so we can try to use our gift card next time.

So we pick up our drinks and there is a mistake. I requested light ice and my wife requested no ice. There is obviously ice in my wife's drink, so she requested that the ice be removed (I might be biased but I think this is a pretty reasonable request since when my wife ordered her drink she asked for no ice- this was even stated on the order tag). So the worker brings the drink back in, removes the ice, does some other magic behind the scenes, and brings the drink back out to us.

On our drive back home, my wife drinks her drink and it is noticeably off in taste (she always gets the taro jade milk tea). I try it as well and it tastes disgusting. She was contemplating forcing herself to drink it but after she took a few more sips she couldn't bear the taste. We eventually drove back to the store and gave them back the drink for a refund (it was barely touched). The workers offered to remake it, but my wife explicitly wanted a refund since she couldn't trust them to remake it.

Now it could completely be a coincidence that the only time my wife's drink tasted off is when she also asked the workers to fix her drink by taking out the ice- or it might not be a coincidence. We don't know what happens behind the curtains, but what we do know is that her drink tasted like flavored water,...

The staff members are very nice here. It’s a good place to come hangout with your friends. We got their yuela fruit tea, mango jade milk tea, and brown sugar guanyin milk tea and they were all good. The tea leaves they used to make our drinks were fragrant and light. This is our new go to place in town!

My go to is their jade taro milk tea with pudding 75% sugar.

Edit: I come 1-2x a week ever since I found out about this place, but I’m sad to say that ever since the owners hired new workers, I’ve just been having bad experiences. For example, I’ve been trying to use a gift card that was sent to me by the owner, and each time I’ve tried to use it, I’ve just been told that I can’t redeem it. This isn’t the reason why I changed the 5 star to 1 star.

I came in today and ordered my usual with no ice. When I received my drink, there was ice, so I asked if they could take it out, which they were happy to do so. However, when I got my drink, it tasted as if they just poured water to fill the cup back up after taking out the ice.

Edit 2: After my last review, the owner has reached out to me. I was on the phone with her and had explained why the update to my review. She was very apologetic and offered to compensate for what happened. I really appreciate her taking the time to understand the situation. From the call, you can definitely tell that they value their customers and want to provide the best customer service possible. I'm glad we were able to clear up the...

Buy 2 get 1 free summer deal!!! Not sure how long itll last but its still currently going on as of 9/24/23.

Guanyin is located in a tiny plaza with a good amount of parking. When you enter from the back, there are plenty of tables and seating for studying. Theres even free wifi but the password was kind of ineligible so you may have to ask the worker lol.

Was not really a fan of how they did not have the basic milk tea options (black mt, green mt, oolong mt). But they had a Mango Jade Milk Tea so I just asked the worker if I could do a simple jade milk tea with boba and she said yes! I was pleasantly surprised with how it tasted, similar to omomo's oolong milk tea. The boba was sweet and chewy too. Their lemon mango iced tea was also good and refreshing as well!...