Miss Cheese Tea Cafe

M L

Nice little cafe with friendly staff. The popcorn chicken was very good. The soufflé pancake was also good and very moist. Portions are big so it’s good to share. Got the taro milk tea with 50% sweet and it was just perfect, not overly sweet. This cafe have classic video games or you can play board or card games. There’s also books. There’s parking but is 30 minutes.

Linda C.

It’s a very cute cafe. We were able to park on the street. There was quite a bit of seating inside and outside. The staff, Denise and Alexis, were friendly and attentive. We tried the Japanese soufflé pancakes, the mango and the Nutella flavor. I had preordered online so that the pancakes were already being made by Alexis when we arrived. There were lots of activities when we were there including a mini pool table, games and books. The soufflé pancakes were very light and airy and perfectly prepared. The drinks we ordered, matcha red bean and boba milk tea were also good.

Alex DeMartino

This place is a little gem. Don't expect quick food but it's worth the wait. We got the popcorn chicken, the crispy cheesey waffle and the Taiyaki with taro and red bean. The popcorn chicken was good, and very filling, although it isn't anything exactly special. The crispy waffle was interesting, starts off as strange and ends up where you want more. Its rice cooked with cheese in a waffle iron. The texture takes a few bites to get used to (starts off seeming like uncooked riced and cheese) but once you get used to the poppy crunches its very good. The taiyaki is exactly like all the other fish waffles out there. We recommend the taro over the red bean.

Bernard X

Quiet place with a simple and clean interior. The souffle pancakes are as good as advertised. A nice selection of unique teas and coffee. Pancakes do take 25 mins so if you are in a rush I'd call in your order.

This was our first time having Japanese souffle pancakes outside of Japan so we were excited to see what we could get here in Southern California after a pretty amazing experience in Kyoto a few years back. Generally speaking, the food was good in a kind of okay atmosphere. They were out of a bunch of things on their menu (including Japanese Omelet and the Air Fried Plant-Based Popcorn Chicken Bowl) which we were really excited about trying...and glancing at the menu today a few weeks after our visit I see these items are still listed as "out of stock." In fact, their menu has 11 items listed that are "out of stock" so maybe they never really have them and should just take them off the menu to not disappoint folks hoping for some of these uniquely Japanese offerings they list. The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired...it's a small space with some cute things to do (like a little pool table) but it does feel a little run down and a bit of a departure from the "clean and cute" vibe you'd expect from a place bringing you Japanese culture. Also, the staff (who may also be the owners) seemed unhappy...never a smile or any kind of indication they were happy you were there. Despite all that the food came out quicker than expected and it was all good. The souffle pancakes were, of course, the star...they may not have been as beautifully presented as what we had in Kyoto, but they tasted good and were VERY fluffy. I thought the Ooling Cheese Foam Tea was good and reminiscent of what I've had at other Japanese-style (yet sans fluffy pancake) bakeries around town. We don't live in Pasadena so probably wouldn't make another special trip to have this and we definitely wish they had more of the "out of stock" items that still exist on their menu...but if you're nearby, and you've never had Japanese souffle pancakes, it's worth stopping in.

Cute tea place. Came here twice while I was visiting LA. I ordered their grapefruit tea soda to just try and wasn't the biggest fan of it. I'm sure their other drinks are better. But I really enjoyed their souffle pancakes on my second visit. They were nice and fluffy. The one caveat is it takes a while to make, so my boyfriend and I didn't get our orders together. It took a while to get the second order so we shared the first one while we waited for the second. The environment is pretty nice, and they have some fun games you can play while you visit.

I've been wanting to try this place for so long. The pictures all look so amazing. I ordered the chocolate banana souffle. Let me first say it was very good. But I didn't realize just how light and airy the souffle is. It's so fluffy that it almost disappears when paired with something as dense as a banana. I think next time I would try the Nutella and hope for more balance in the dish. The store itself is very nice and clean. You will have to wait quite a long time for a souffle if that is what you are there for.

First time at Miss Cheese and I ordered a brown sugar dirty milk w boba (that wasn't very sweet but drinkable). They also forgot to put the boba in the drink but quickly added boba once i asked. My wife orderd a Oreo Matcha Milk Tea and said "it could be better" (based on all other times she's gotten the drink at other places) Food wise we ordered a small popcorn chicken and boy is it small. 8090 in arcadia gives you much larger portions for a dollar more (although no air fry options). Tastes okay and there are different seasonings available as an add-on. Also ordered a smoked salmon w egg cheesy rice waffle. Wife said "it's so so. The waffle is a little too crunchy on the outside but the sauce is very good as well as the salmon". The taiyaki was great. On par with Koko roll in LC or With Love, in Alhambra (by bopo). Food takes 15 to 20 minutes to come out. There's so much to do. Books to read, games to play, street fighter 2, and wifi + plenty of seating. There is also a single use restroom. I'm not saying don't come here but unless you really really really want souffle or a place to cool off in the AC & play uno before catching the metro...just go to TeaSpots by PCC (or one of the other 4 boba joints next to it). If you only want a drink, just go to TPumps.

This place was delicious, the milk tea & boba were good and we also had fish waffles in Nutella as well as pizza flavor. Additionally we had the strawberry soufflé & the chocolate lava soufflé. The soufflés were amazing super soft & fluffy. Not too sweet but just the right amount of sweetness. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was the total of $65.00 for these items. That did catch me a bit off guard.

Drinks and desserts were good. Staff were all nice, a bit pricey though compared to other tea/dessert places but worth it. Upon our return, we saw that they added some fun stuff for patrons to play with like game boards, mini pool table, books to read, electronic games, etc. The only thing is, the place doesn't smell as fresh as before. It feels like when you leave, your clothes will smell like some of the fried food that they offer.

Rick Lupert

This was our first time having Japanese souffle pancakes outside of Japan so we were excited to see what we could get here in Southern California after a pretty amazing experience in Kyoto a few years back. Generally speaking, the food was good in a kind of okay atmosphere. They were out of a bunch of things on their menu (including Japanese Omelet and the Air Fried Plant-Based Popcorn Chicken Bowl) which we were really excited about trying...and glancing at the menu today a few weeks after our visit I see these items are still listed as "out of stock." In fact, their menu has 11 items listed that are "out of stock" so maybe they never really have them and should just take them off the menu to not disappoint folks hoping for some of these uniquely Japanese offerings they list. The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired...it's a small space with some cute things to do (like a little pool table) but it does feel a little run down and a bit of a departure from the "clean and cute" vibe you'd expect from a place bringing you Japanese culture. Also, the staff (who may also be the owners) seemed unhappy...never a smile or any kind of indication they were happy you were there. Despite all that the food came out quicker than expected and it was all good. The souffle pancakes were, of course, the star...they may not have been as beautifully presented as what we had in Kyoto, but they tasted good and were VERY fluffy. I thought the Ooling Cheese Foam Tea was good and reminiscent of what I've had at other Japanese-style (yet sans fluffy pancake) bakeries around town. We don't live in Pasadena so probably wouldn't make another special trip to have this and we definitely wish they had more of the "out of stock" items that still exist on their menu...but if you're nearby, and you've never had Japanese souffle pancakes, it's worth stopping in.

Jamie Liu

Cute tea place. Came here twice while I was visiting LA. I ordered their grapefruit tea soda to just try and wasn't the biggest fan of it. I'm sure their other drinks are better. But I really enjoyed their souffle pancakes on my second visit. They were nice and fluffy. The one caveat is it takes a while to make, so my boyfriend and I didn't get our orders together. It took a while to get the second order so we shared the first one while we waited for the second. The environment is pretty nice, and they have some fun games you can play while you visit.

John Kahwaty

I've been wanting to try this place for so long. The pictures all look so amazing. I ordered the chocolate banana souffle. Let me first say it was very good. But I didn't realize just how light and airy the souffle is. It's so fluffy that it almost disappears when paired with something as dense as a banana. I think next time I would try the Nutella and hope for more balance in the dish. The store itself is very nice and clean. You will have to wait quite a long time for a souffle if that is what you are there for.

Montrell Thigpen

First time at Miss Cheese and I ordered a brown sugar dirty milk w boba (that wasn't very sweet but drinkable). They also forgot to put the boba in the drink but quickly added boba once i asked. My wife orderd a Oreo Matcha Milk Tea and said "it could be better" (based on all other times she's gotten the drink at other places) Food wise we ordered a small popcorn chicken and boy is it small. 8090 in arcadia gives you much larger portions for a dollar more (although no air fry options). Tastes okay and there are different seasonings available as an add-on. Also ordered a smoked salmon w egg cheesy rice waffle. Wife said "it's so so. The waffle is a little too crunchy on the outside but the sauce is very good as well as the salmon". The taiyaki was great. On par with Koko roll in LC or With Love, in Alhambra (by bopo). Food takes 15 to 20 minutes to come out. There's so much to do. Books to read, games to play, street fighter 2, and wifi + plenty of seating. There is also a single use restroom. I'm not saying don't come here but unless you really really really want souffle or a place to cool off in the AC & play uno before catching the metro...just go to TeaSpots by PCC (or one of the other 4 boba joints next to it). If you only want a drink, just go to TPumps.

Roxana Serna

This place was delicious, the milk tea & boba were good and we also had fish waffles in Nutella as well as pizza flavor. Additionally we had the strawberry soufflé & the chocolate lava soufflé. The soufflés were amazing super soft & fluffy. Not too sweet but just the right amount of sweetness. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was the total of $65.00 for these items. That did catch me a bit off guard.

Æbîlēne HNrs

Drinks and desserts were good. Staff were all nice, a bit pricey though compared to other tea/dessert places but worth it. Upon our return, we saw that they added some fun stuff for patrons to play with like game boards, mini pool table, books to read, electronic games, etc. The only thing is, the place doesn't smell as fresh as before. It feels like when you leave, your clothes will smell like some of the fried food that they offer.

Really great food, very conveniently located next to the Pasadena convention center. Plan on waiting a bit if you order during a convention event, as the shop appears to have a small staff. They make a great souffle pancake though!

Colin Burns

Really great food, very conveniently located next to the Pasadena convention center. Plan on waiting a bit if you order during a convention event, as the shop appears to have a small staff. They make a great souffle pancake though!

A well rounded "just okay" place I got the mango tornado (~$8) which was pretty okay. Despite saying it has jelly and fresh mango it has very little of it, same with the yogurt there was little to none. Taiyaki (~$7 for 2) was okay. I have a gripe to pick with these specifically coming with a subcharge fee for being placed to-go, its pretty penny pinching for just including the box. I got a cheese and nutella one, I'd avoid the cheese one since it only tasted of cake/batter. The cake itself is good, nice mochi chew texture. The service was quick although the staff gave an air of not wanting to be there and not wanting you to be there ordering. The inside is small but maximizes with quite a lot of seating which is nice, albeit looking a little run down. I didn't stay for long myself seeing as it was just me inside and already feeling a little offput. Originally I had planned to have an order of their souffle pancakes but backtracked as they were $20 and I couldn't see the price worth it considering the above experience.

Came here for Japanese’s pancake. It was ok. Felt like the pancake wasn’t fully cooked. We got ice cream on the side but it was solid and frozen. The place has board games and a mini pool table which is pretty cool.

Small shop, limited seating, maybe about 5 tables available only. They really need one or two more tables. Service was really good but they seem a little disorganized and frazzled. I was told that it would take 25-30 minutes for my soufflé but it ended up being maybe only 15 minutes. There were no open tables but a little before I got my soufflé, two tables opened up at the same time, so we were able to get a seat. Mille Crepe Cake was excellent. Super moist and creamy. The texture was perfect, so soft! Excellent flavor, not too sweet. I got the Soufflé Matcha Lover because there were pictures of it on the television screen next to the menu that kept playing the same ad photos over and over. The Matcha Lover showed a decadent matcha cream poured all over the top, garnished with strawberries on a nice white plate. Disappointingly, when I got my soufflé, it was served in a paper hot dog tray, tucked into another to-go box. I was unhappy about the box because I hate constant disposable lifestyle we live, plus it just doesn't look good in photos. It was so hard to try to take the tray out of the box that I was afraid I'd make a huge mess doing so that I ended up just leaving it alone. Instead of the fresh strawberries that I saw on the ad photos, I got a couple of green tea panda cookies and red beans- I hate both. Had I known that that was what I was going to get based on false advertising, I would've requested the fresh strawberries. The soufflé isn't nearly as thick or as fluffy as they show in their ads either. The saving grace of that dessert was that it was definitely moist and the matcha was solid. It had that really deep, grassy taste indicative of matcha. The drinks are great. The Passion Fruit Green Tea has real passion fruit in it versus just syrup and they have nice varieties of Oolong tea as well. The soufflés are a little overpriced for something that really just tastes like a glorified pancake.

Kera Periwinkle

Small shop, limited seating, maybe about 5 tables available only. They really need one or two more tables. Service was really good but they seem a little disorganized and frazzled. I was told that it would take 25-30 minutes for my soufflé but it ended up being maybe only 15 minutes. There were no open tables but a little before I got my soufflé, two tables opened up at the same time, so we were able to get a seat. Mille Crepe Cake was excellent. Super moist and creamy. The texture was perfect, so soft! Excellent flavor, not too sweet. I got the Soufflé Matcha Lover because there were pictures of it on the television screen next to the menu that kept playing the same ad photos over and over. The Matcha Lover showed a decadent matcha cream poured all over the top, garnished with strawberries on a nice white plate. Disappointingly, when I got my soufflé, it was served in a paper hot dog tray, tucked into another to-go box. I was unhappy about the box because I hate constant disposable lifestyle we live, plus it just doesn't look good in photos. It was so hard to try to take the tray out of the box that I was afraid I'd make a huge mess doing so that I ended up just leaving it alone. Instead of the fresh strawberries that I saw on the ad photos, I got a couple of green tea panda cookies and red beans- I hate both. Had I known that that was what I was going to get based on false advertising, I would've requested the fresh strawberries. The soufflé isn't nearly as thick or as fluffy as they show in their ads either. The saving grace of that dessert was that it was definitely moist and the matcha was solid. It had that really deep, grassy taste indicative of matcha. The drinks are great. The Passion Fruit Green Tea has real passion fruit in it versus just syrup and they have nice varieties of Oolong tea as well. The soufflés are a little overpriced for something that really just tastes like a glorified pancake.

Cessia Castillo

A well rounded "just okay" place I got the mango tornado (~$8) which was pretty okay. Despite saying it has jelly and fresh mango it has very little of it, same with the yogurt there was little to none. Taiyaki (~$7 for 2) was okay. I have a gripe to pick with these specifically coming with a subcharge fee for being placed to-go, its pretty penny pinching for just including the box. I got a cheese and nutella one, I'd avoid the cheese one since it only tasted of cake/batter. The cake itself is good, nice mochi chew texture. The service was quick although the staff gave an air of not wanting to be there and not wanting you to be there ordering. The inside is small but maximizes with quite a lot of seating which is nice, albeit looking a little run down. I didn't stay for long myself seeing as it was just me inside and already feeling a little offput. Originally I had planned to have an order of their souffle pancakes but backtracked as they were $20 and I couldn't see the price worth it considering the above experience.

Steve

Came here for Japanese’s pancake. It was ok. Felt like the pancake wasn’t fully cooked. We got ice cream on the side but it was solid and frozen. The place has board games and a mini pool table which is pretty cool.

I ordered the popcorn fried chicken and added spicy powder for an extra $1. When I got my chicken, there was no spicy powder. I asked the staff and she said it's on the bottom of the chicken and she added a little sprinkle of chili powder. Really??! On the bottom, plus there was nothing on the bottom. The chicken didn't taste good and it was super dry.

It saddens me to write this review as I generally want to support smaller businesses, but the customer service here wasn’t great. My girlfriend and I were the only two people in the store for a while and our order was ready the whole time, since we ordered ahead of time. There was only one staff there but she seemed to ignore us. My girlfriend asked about our order but the staff was upset and spoke in a loud, aggressive tone. The drinks were not bad but the service was. Shame, because I was looking forward to trying out this place for a while.

Kevin Trinh

It saddens me to write this review as I generally want to support smaller businesses, but the customer service here wasn’t great. My girlfriend and I were the only two people in the store for a while and our order was ready the whole time, since we ordered ahead of time. There was only one staff there but she seemed to ignore us. My girlfriend asked about our order but the staff was upset and spoke in a loud, aggressive tone. The drinks were not bad but the service was. Shame, because I was looking forward to trying out this place for a while.

Shan Gao

I ordered the popcorn fried chicken and added spicy powder for an extra $1. When I got my chicken, there was no spicy powder. I asked the staff and she said it's on the bottom of the chicken and she added a little sprinkle of chili powder. Really??! On the bottom, plus there was nothing on the bottom. The chicken didn't taste good and it was super dry.

I used to work at a boba shop so when I know the tea is wrong it's wrong. I ordered a Ceylon Black milk tea with boba with less sweetness When I tell you this beverage was undrinkable it was. I ended up dumping it when I got home 😭 The tea was probably made the previous day or early morning as the tea itself didn't taste good at all. Or it was burnt. I have sensitive taste buds so I thought maybe it was just me. So I brought it home for my husband to try it He couldn't drink more then one sip 😭 I love the atmosphere of this place and people are kind. But if you're gonna be paying 8+ for a drink I'd rather it actually be good. Every time I come here to this location and the LT one I'm met with truly mid boba or outright undrinkable items. I truly would never recommend this place for the drinks. The pancakes are good if you have 20min to spare and hangout but also very overpriced Nice vibes, free wifi, customer bathroom Terrible drinks, Overpriced food, walk out unsatisfied

Lorena Nealson

I used to work at a boba shop so when I know the tea is wrong it's wrong. I ordered a Ceylon Black milk tea with boba with less sweetness When I tell you this beverage was undrinkable it was. I ended up dumping it when I got home 😭 The tea was probably made the previous day or early morning as the tea itself didn't taste good at all. Or it was burnt. I have sensitive taste buds so I thought maybe it was just me. So I brought it home for my husband to try it He couldn't drink more then one sip 😭 I love the atmosphere of this place and people are kind. But if you're gonna be paying 8+ for a drink I'd rather it actually be good. Every time I come here to this location and the LT one I'm met with truly mid boba or outright undrinkable items. I truly would never recommend this place for the drinks. The pancakes are good if you have 20min to spare and hangout but also very overpriced Nice vibes, free wifi, customer bathroom Terrible drinks, Overpriced food, walk out unsatisfied