ALTEA Viet Coffee & Boba — Restaurant in Wheeling Township

If you are looking for unique coffee, lattes, or a fruity drink, I cannot recommend Altea enough!! I truly believe there is something for everyone on the menu. My favorite drink is their “Tiramisu Coffee” and I find myself ordering this along with another drink every time I visit. Their motto “Not too sweet” is very accurate – I am quite sensitive to sweets and typically avoid ordering fruit teas from other boba shops, as the syrups can be overwhelming; however, their fruit teas/drinks are light and refreshing without leaving behind a sticky, artificial taste in your mouth. Their coffees/lattes have a strong flavor without being overly sweet. I noticed that you are able to request your coffee to be on the stronger side. Their drinks come in 2 sizes, but I usually get wired from the regular sized coffees. I have been able to substitute regular milk for oat milk, which is nice if you’re a hot girl with tummy issues lol. If coffee is not something you’re interested in, I highly recommend their fruity drink, “Summer Sunset” or their “Ube Matcha Latte”. I’ve ordered different matcha drinks on many occasions, and I found the matcha flavor to be plesant, consistent, and not watery.

Altea has many unique drinks and pastries worth trying out. They have a rotating test kitchen menu that comes out every month (?) and you can see what’s new on their Instagram and website. They previously made Durian Viet Coffee and Tiramisu Brulee Coffee, which were absolutely delicious and I hope they’ll bring these back one day!! If Vietnamese coffee itself is lackluster to you, I think it is worth trying out something from their regular menu or test menu.

There is plenty of parking in the surrounding area, as it is a shopping mall area. I usually park in the AMC parking lot and walk over (it’s like a 1 minute walk). There is free WiFi and several outlets along the wall as well. I have frequented Altea many times and have not been disappointed. I typically come here for a quick coffee date, but I have also gone with 4+ people comfortably. During busy periods, it may be difficult to find a table for a large group. When it’s not so busy, we’re able to push two tables together to accommodate a larger group. Whenever I come by, I see a lot of different groups here – there are people doing [home]work, there was a DnD group playing at a table, there are families, couples, etc. As previously mentioned, I believe this is a space for everyone and I’m sure there’ll be something...

As much as I love this shop and it’s innovative food and drinks, it is subpar compared to other places I have gone to.

First of all, the quantity of the drink really sucks. I have to be straight up about this, you can get delicious drinks that is triple the size of the drinks here for a lower price. Their drinks are 90% ice and 10% liquid. I finish my drink in 2 sips,,, there’s too much ice in the cup that I can’t drink most of my boba or drink the flavored foam through the straw so I end up having to throw it out.

I also want to add that if I am getting a straw I want a fully covered straw that I open myself and put it in the cup.. I feel that it is unsanitary that I have to drink from a straw someone touched the tip of. Some workers leave part of the paper on but most don’t.

As much as I like the drinks here, it is never worth it to me to drive here to pay like $10 for a drink that’s 90% ice. And if you ask for no ice they just fill the cup half way. If you ask for less ice it’s literally the same like I see no difference.

As much as it disheartens me to say this, I’m disgusted at how cheap this place is in terms of service. Every other boba shop I go to will pour drinks full to the brim when I ask for no ice, and with no additional charge.

To be asking customers for a tip on top of the overpriced drinks is outrageous in my opinion… like if you’re going to charge high prices for tiny portions please pay your employees better

I used to come here frequently for the Banh mis but now with that gone too I don’t really have a reason to come here anymore. I can most of their innovative drinks in other places too, just with different names for a lower price.

In this economy where prices are rising and our wages stay the same, I’d rather find a place that doesn’t...

It’s no doubt the drinks are fantastic here. The matcha great quality and the viet coffee is authentic. My only issue is how unaccommodating they can be to make any minor changes to a drink.

The viet coffee is made in advance in batches from my understanding- however they refuse to add extra condensed milk if you ask. Honestly this is strange to me because ANY other viet restaurant/home you go to, you can always add more condensed milk.

For the matcha, my friend asked to have the coconut cream/milk and no mango purée in her matcha- again she was told it’s not possible. She just asked for an ingredient to not be used? And we could visibly see the coconut cream/milk sitting on the counter separate from the mango purée.

Just generally speaking - yes I will continue to come back here as the drinks are high quality. My only feedback is if you truly are a drinks cafe- minor tweaks of omitting or adding should not be such a major issue, Especially for the drinks that are NOT premixed in batches. The workers there also can sometimes have a bit of an attitude and not the...