Tea Break — Restaurant in West Hartford

I have been coming here regularly for years, daily every time I am in town. However, they seemingly close 15 minutes early, so I'm disappointed in their service.

I am giving a one star review since I have been denied service 2 times in the last 3 days, before 7:45pm because they were either "closing soon" or "out of everything". No apology or "I'm sorry" either.

I traveled to the town center specifically to get my bubble tea from here, but the first time the staff said they were "out of tea". Since I had a gift card, I asked what they were not out of, and they said out of "literally everything is out". It was about 7:45 that day. (Update: later they confirmed this was not the case, they did have other drinks on the menu that could still be made that were less popular. I don't know why that was said)

Again today, they said that they wouldn't be able to serve me since they had a group of 4-6 people waiting in line / ordering already, but it was 7:44 and they close at 8pm. They have made my drink in under 1 minute almost every time I'm there so this is surprising.

Update: I asked today for a manager, and got quite a bit of sass in response to my questions. Notably, "If you come as late as 7:45, theres no guarantee we will have anything to serve, we often run out. Theres nothing we can do, and you shouldn't expect to receive anything if you come that late." I have worked in the town center and went at 7:45 for 2 years, but only now am I having repeated issues. It's specifically this newer person who I have had a negative experience with in the last 3 interactions, and...

Temporary store hours due to COVID-19 as of 8/11/20: 12pm-8pm

As much as I love this place for their bubble tea, I'm a bit disappointed with the wait time during the pandemic. Every time I come here, I had to wait at least 30+ minutes in line. They only do one order at a time and you can't order online. I find that really inefficient with the amount of staffs they have and hope they will implement a better system.

One time I stood in line an hour before they closed and one of the staffs came out and said that at 8PM they will close, so if you think we won't make it to you, leave now. Luckily, I was really close to ordering, so I don't have to worry about that, but I feel bad for those who waited 20+ minutes and they wont serve them cause they close at 8. I think it would be nicer if they told someone at the end of the line to tell others that the line ends here instead of letting the line continue to form. It prevents people from wasting their time waiting.

Anyways, I don't come as often anymore and if I do, I would recommend going when they just open since there is no line.

I just wrote this review in hope that they read it and implement a new system during...

I've had bubble tea in Amherst (MA), NYC, New Haven(CT), Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Berkeley (CA)... This place honestly is my favorite out of all of them (Berkeley had one with sea salt + cream but it was a special). The bubbles are not soggy bread (if you're unfortunate, you know what I mean) nor are they tough on inside. They are good chewy and bounce back when squished. The tea too!! Their honey milk tea is so good it made me cry in the car first time and I had to call a friend to tell her how good it was. The Lemon Green Tea yakult is a nice sourish lemonade like taste and super good. The staff are SUPER chill/friendly and casual. Environment is clean and welcoming. Even when there's a lot of people, the shop still is very relaxed...