Momo Ashi Cafe — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

Visit Date: August 2, 2021 (Soft Opening)

INTRO: Momo Ashi Cafe was the FIRST official boba tea shop to open in Winston-Salem. With this title comes big responsibilities. My friends and I attended their soft opening last year, and we were all brimming with anticipation. We no longer had to drive 30 minutes to Greensboro to satisfy our boba tea cravings. However, our expectations came crashing down. We were disappointed in their service, and more importantly, the quality of their products. We waited over 30 minutes for 2 boba teas and 2 desserts. I think there were less than 10 customers in the store. It didn't help that they had a little kid manning the cashier either. If I'm being completely honest, this was one of the worst boba teas I've ever had in my life. Winston-Salem is desperately still in need of its own go-to boba tea shop.

DESSERT 1: Matcha Red Bean Slush ($5.25) - The ice wasn't crushed completely. The ice chunks were larger than the ice found in an ICEE, so you can imagine how difficult it was to drink it. It literally felt like I was eating ice rather than consuming a drink. There absolutely no flavor at all. I couldn't taste any matcha. I mean, just look at the drink. It's not even mixed properly. You can clearly see that the huge chunks of ice aren't mixing with the matcha. 1/10

DESSERT 2: Iced Matcha Latte ($4.75) - Heavily watered down. Tastes more like matcha-flavored water. The drink was bland, and the texture of the boba balls were not normal. 5/10

DESSERT 3: Nutella Banana Toast ($6.00) - It's literally a piece of white bread topped with bananas and chocolate syrup. It didn't even taste like they used real Nutella. The white bread was your ordinary bread you can pick up from Food Lions or Harris Teeter. 2/10

DESSERT 4: Brown Sugar Boba Waffle ($5.00) - NOW we're finally talking. THis was the best item on their menu BY FAR. I honestly don't think it's worth $6 for the size, but I get it. They run a business and need to make money. 7/10

VENUE: Cute, pink interior with a few tables and chairs available for dining in. Most people tend to pick up their orders to-go.

PARKING: There is a huge parking lot in the plaza, so parking will never be an issue.

WORTH IT? Based on the more recent reviews, I'm hoping Momo Ashi received the proper feedback and implemented the respective changes to their boba teas, pastries, and food-preparation process. I have not been back since I was traumatized by my initial experience. Based on my first trip here, I would NOT recommend Momo Ashi to anyone. However, I am open to giving them another shot in the future....

Finally had a chance to drop in to say hi to my cousin, who was working here yesterday during Christmas. Glad I did!

A fairly new place, I was pleased to walk into a spaciously pink indoor space with plenty of seating, cute decor, and even a space in front that called out for photo opps.

The menu is also very easy to navigate, not so overwhelming where you get lost in so many choices, but organized in such a way that your eyes can easily navigate their signature items. Should you need help though, the staff is incredibly helpful, friendly, and more than willing to make suggestions. For instance, as a preggo lady, I'd already had my daily fill of caffeine so I didn't know what kind of drink I could have that came without it. They helped me land on the strawberry yakult, a yogurt-based drink. I topped it with star jellies instead of boba. Super refreshing! I enjoyed it lots.

My aunt ordered several other boba drinks for the fam and there were no qualms with flavor or quality. Everyone enjoyed their boba drinks and have become regulars.

Additionally, I got to try a decent sampling of snacks on the menu as well, from mochi waffles they call "WaMochi" to Onigiris they like to call "Mo-Nigiri."

The Pork Floss Mo-Nigiri was a generously-sized portion that came warm in an easy to pull-apart package. It was a nice filling snack that I'll more than likely order again.

The WaMochi was also yummy with a mix of the same chewy texture I love from mochi mixed with waffle. It's not something I thought I'd like, but it was kind of addictive. My two-year-old also really enjoyed it which speaks volumes to me as a little human that can take several tries at eating something before taking to it.

Most excited about coming back to try the other snacks on the menu! Especially the takoyaki which wasn't available when I was in. Supply chain issues hitting...

The packaging is cute, and the staff are great.

The mochi waffle is yummy, but the presentation isn’t stellar—the print is a bit sloppy, and the wrapping is just brown baking paper. Historically, outside of this cafe in particular, I usually go for straight matcha, no sugar, when it comes to tea, but I also appreciate sweet matcha at times. I’m all for salty/sweet matcha snacks or ice cream fish. That in mind—Rating of flavors: original, strawberry, milk tea, chocolate, matcha/redBean, whatever the other one is (it isn’t memorable to me at the moment). I was surprised the “asian”-inspired matcha red-bean mix was ranked so low—the taste is a bit grainy and blurred, and it doesn’t immediately inspire happiness. The original and strawberry, on the other hand, melt quickly and taste great in addition to having that buoyant, novel consistency of rice-infused waffle mix. Definitely more worth it to do the “pick 3” than 1 single waffle, size-ratio wise.

The coconut boba was good, as is the Thai tea boba. 30% sweetness is still quite sweet. The boba pearls are nice and soft, not grainy and not over cooked. The “regular” size is a bit small (depicted), but the convenience of location trumps that complaint. The welcoming nature of the staff far outweigh any atmospheric or packaging cons. Again,...