Tapioca Express

As a regular, I feel appreciated that the employees remember me when I visit and are very friendly when taking and handing out my order. Their drinks and food are very consistent and delicious. My go to order is squid heads and a regular bubble milk tea. Those are great for taking care of my boba cravings

For me this will always be the OG boba spot. I've been coming here since 2003 and I've tried many different drinks and snacks. They've mostly been pretty good and you can't really go wrong with what you choose. The lady at the cashier is super nice and friendly. She usually remembers my wife's order whenever I go put in her order.

Love the lady in the front! She’s friendly and really funny. Food and drinks are amazing. We usually order the popcorn chicken, chicken steak, popcorn fish, veggie box, milk tea, avocado snow…..this should say a lot about how good this place is lol. Been coming here since 2004.

Tapioca express in Union City is one of the most consistent tapioca spots in the Bay Area. Good quality drinks and snacks with a friendly atmosphere. There’s definitely something in here for everyone. I’ve been a regular customer for over 15 years and have always had a great experience. Highly recommended

My favorite quick boba spot that has so many drinks and food options! I’ve been going here for years! The popcorn chicken here is super good, and has a spice level up to 5! Super spicy so keep that in mind!

My absolute favorite boba spot that I always come to! It’s in such an easy accessible location. The lady cashier is always so nice and welcoming every time I come. It’s always a great experience whenever I come around!

I always get strawberry milk tea w/ boba with pepper fries. The boba is really chewy and delicious while the fries always comes out crispy and spicy just like how I want it. The cashier lady always greets me with a smile and it’s adorable when she refers to me as “my friend.” The atmosphere here is really nostalgic since I’ve gone here with my dad since I was about 6 years old.

Me and my family’s go-to spot for boba! Tapioca Express in Union City is the first place to do boba right!!! What sets this spot apart from the other places is its consistency, huge selection of drinks/food and great staff. This place has been around for years because they’ve got the best drinks and snacks! The woman upfront at the cash register is very welcoming and friendly!!

Been coming here since 2002 and this is literally the OG boba place in the east bay. Literally best tap ex location - their drinks and food are highkey better then other locations. The female cashier also is super friendly and always says hi to my brother and I :-) 11/10 would come here once a week 🫶

My Fiancé and I have been coming back to this location for years. We came almost everyday during our Freshman year of high school and now we are 29 years old lol. The Crispy chicken here is the best. If you don’t like spice, you can always try the 0.5 for the flavor. If you like it a little more spicy you can bump it up to a 1-2. And if you want to sweat for a little bit, you can get a level 5 haha. My go to order is the Combo A! Comes with a Milk tea and Crispy chicken! I prefer my milk tea with small pearls and spice level 2. When you go up to the counter you say, “Can I get a Combo A. Regular. Small Pearl. Spice level 2” if you say it fast, the cashiers respect you because it makes their job easy because they always got a long line. Try them out. Love this place. Definitely the best Crispy chicken and Milk tea in the Bay!

Tapioca Express is a Union City staple. I hardly ever try anything other than the spicy chicken, my strawberry yogurt boba, and potstickers, but every time I go in, its quality. The lady that works up front is super sweet and greets us happily each time she sees us, and she remembers our order now so I guess we're considered regulars. I love this place and encourage all to stop by and check out their vast and expensive menu, or just stick to spicy chicken and boba!

Best place to get popcorn chicken. 5 level spice scale, I usually get 2 or 3. I wish they still gave sweet and sour sauce with the popcorn chicken. Cost $8. Pretty busy spot but they're quick with orders.

I’ve been coming here all my life. Since they were open, while I was in High School. The food has always been excellent. I always order either iced jasmine green tea with calamari. The service is fast, especially the Cashier lady. She always welcome me and showed me how to order to save money. She is very nice and friendly. We order here every week.

Oh mang! It has been 19 yrs since we've been going here! This is the best tap ex in the area or perhaps the Yay area....and is one of the spots we go to when in the East Bay. Food and drinks are on point!! 😋😍 Pretty cool now that they have a mini arcade/claw machines.

The owner here is so sweet and so nice and remembers her customers which is so welcoming !! i’ve been coming here since i was little the best boba ever!! the food is so good too and the wait time is quickkk you never have to wait a long period of time they get it done quick !!

I’ve been coming here for years and still prefer this spot over all other boba spots in my area! They have a wide selection of options and I’m never disappointed when I try something new. Tapioca has always been the OG spot for milk tea and still has the best tasting drinks. Customer service is always amazing and super sweet as well

Changed the management? But still good!!

They make the best mango boba drink in Fremont. it’s called mango snow bubble. Get it with boba and it’s incredibly delicious 🤤 Service is okay, they don’t accept apple pay or credit card , that’s the only gripe I have about this store.

Apryl Chiem

Best place to get popcorn chicken. 5 level spice scale, I usually get 2 or 3. I wish they still gave sweet and sour sauce with the popcorn chicken. Cost $8. Pretty busy spot but they're quick with orders.

Sean Katie

I’ve been coming here all my life. Since they were open, while I was in High School. The food has always been excellent. I always order either iced jasmine green tea with calamari. The service is fast, especially the Cashier lady. She always welcome me and showed me how to order to save money. She is very nice and friendly. We order here every week.

Jj Konfe

Oh mang! It has been 19 yrs since we've been going here! This is the best tap ex in the area or perhaps the Yay area....and is one of the spots we go to when in the East Bay. Food and drinks are on point!! 😋😍 Pretty cool now that they have a mini arcade/claw machines.

jenny chih

Changed the management? But still good!!

Jalena Cruz

The owner here is so sweet and so nice and remembers her customers which is so welcoming !! i’ve been coming here since i was little the best boba ever!! the food is so good too and the wait time is quickkk you never have to wait a long period of time they get it done quick !!

Teriesa Dass

I’ve been coming here for years and still prefer this spot over all other boba spots in my area! They have a wide selection of options and I’m never disappointed when I try something new. Tapioca has always been the OG spot for milk tea and still has the best tasting drinks. Customer service is always amazing and super sweet as well

Shachi Chandra

They make the best mango boba drink in Fremont. it’s called mango snow bubble. Get it with boba and it’s incredibly delicious 🤤 Service is okay, they don’t accept apple pay or credit card , that’s the only gripe I have about this store.

We enjoy their milk tea and snacks a lot. Our favorites are the original milk tea with Boba or lychee jelly and our favorite snacks are the fried mushroom and fried squid head spice number one for both.

The best Union City spot. . . Been coming here all my life & I hope Tapioca Express never leaves. Shout out to the lady cashier who’s always there she’s taken care of me & my mom since forever 🤝🏽🧋

The OG boba spot, a Union City staple. Been my favorite boba spot since high school and that hasn’t changed since. The drinks and the snacks bring a nostalgic and consistent comfort every time. Shout out to the cashier lady who always remembers me and my order whenever I make a trip here, appreciate your service!

QT Tong

We enjoy their milk tea and snacks a lot. Our favorites are the original milk tea with Boba or lychee jelly and our favorite snacks are the fried mushroom and fried squid head spice number one for both.

Camille Oquendo

The OG boba spot, a Union City staple. Been my favorite boba spot since high school and that hasn’t changed since. The drinks and the snacks bring a nostalgic and consistent comfort every time. Shout out to the cashier lady who always remembers me and my order whenever I make a trip here, appreciate your service!

Red Resurreccion

The best Union City spot. . . Been coming here all my life & I hope Tapioca Express never leaves. Shout out to the lady cashier who’s always there she’s taken care of me & my mom since forever 🤝🏽🧋

Updated review for 2024 For me the food and drinks are always good. This is why I am bumping it up to 4. The fish cake, calamari, popcorn chicken, sausage are all good. What I like about this place is they add basil which adds flavor to the calamari. They season the snacks very well. Same with the drink, its not watered down like quickly. I think the main complaint about this place is the unfriendly service. That may be a constant but there are days (not a lot) and depending on who where it is pleasant. Still worth the visit for yummy snacks

I always love coming here whenever I'm in town. My favourites are the pepper chicken, calamari and fish. I am sad the prices have gone up but still a favourite spot of mine.

One of the better boba tea places around the Fremont/Union City area. Plenty of flavors for fruit and milk tea with tapioca or other toppings.

Went here after dinner at Sama Uyghur next door - highly recommend Sama! Pretty standard boba shop. Long line at 10 pm but it moved and wasn’t long after we ordered - maybe just poor timing for us. Good amount of seating. We ended up splitting the mango ice cream (they were out of sesame). Forget the name, but it was about #270 on the menu! I couldn’t believe how long the menu was. The ice cream was even better than we expected - tasted like real mango. We also had mango cubes, pudding, and little jellies. But I was just impressed with the ice cream. We sat outside backyard it was noisy inside. Outside was chilly and a lot of people kept driving up in noisy, supped up cars. It was kinda fun to watch the people just hanging out with their cars. Overall, pretty much what I expected. Ice cream very good, seating and environment just average. Bonus points for being the only place open so late (we even tried to get cones and sit in Burger King, but they close at 10!). Tapioca Express was open til 1, they were still busy when we left at midnight (Saturday night).

This has always been one of those "classic" milk tea places in the Bay area before everything else started to show up with their own variations of milk tea and how "authentic" they are or were... Not to mention the many options for food from quick snacks to full meals! I got the caramel milk tea and it still tastes pretty nice to this day! Although i remembered when they used to cost $3.50 unlike $5.50 now... Which by the way is ordered through an iPad that contains all of the different drinks and food that you can order from! Pickup is very simple as there is a number that will be given to you. Other than that, there's mostly stand-up tables or high chairs to relax with. There are also gatcha machines that strangely just take dollar coins with each of them costing $3-7 to play... I remember when I had to just pay $1.25...

Ketan Patel

One of the better boba tea places around the Fremont/Union City area. Plenty of flavors for fruit and milk tea with tapioca or other toppings.

Jennifer W

Went here after dinner at Sama Uyghur next door - highly recommend Sama! Pretty standard boba shop. Long line at 10 pm but it moved and wasn’t long after we ordered - maybe just poor timing for us. Good amount of seating. We ended up splitting the mango ice cream (they were out of sesame). Forget the name, but it was about #270 on the menu! I couldn’t believe how long the menu was. The ice cream was even better than we expected - tasted like real mango. We also had mango cubes, pudding, and little jellies. But I was just impressed with the ice cream. We sat outside backyard it was noisy inside. Outside was chilly and a lot of people kept driving up in noisy, supped up cars. It was kinda fun to watch the people just hanging out with their cars. Overall, pretty much what I expected. Ice cream very good, seating and environment just average. Bonus points for being the only place open so late (we even tried to get cones and sit in Burger King, but they close at 10!). Tapioca Express was open til 1, they were still busy when we left at midnight (Saturday night).

jiggbury

This has always been one of those "classic" milk tea places in the Bay area before everything else started to show up with their own variations of milk tea and how "authentic" they are or were... Not to mention the many options for food from quick snacks to full meals! I got the caramel milk tea and it still tastes pretty nice to this day! Although i remembered when they used to cost $3.50 unlike $5.50 now... Which by the way is ordered through an iPad that contains all of the different drinks and food that you can order from! Pickup is very simple as there is a number that will be given to you. Other than that, there's mostly stand-up tables or high chairs to relax with. There are also gatcha machines that strangely just take dollar coins with each of them costing $3-7 to play... I remember when I had to just pay $1.25...

Chicken was great. Only reason the place isn't 5 stars was that my fresh watermelon juice did not have added sweet even though I pressed 25% sweetness.

Sameer Shirva

Chicken was great. Only reason the place isn't 5 stars was that my fresh watermelon juice did not have added sweet even though I pressed 25% sweetness.

TapEpress has expanded their location space and now offer quarter machines for all your quarter munching entertainment.

Best popcorn chicken in town. Been coming here more than 15 years and taste still so good. But lately their service/cashier is not nice.

Tap x is all right and enjoy the combo options. I would not recommend their fish cake as the texture has been off both times I’ve gotten it.

They have a lot of drink selections and the prices are a little below average than most milk tea places

Ann (Ann)

Best popcorn chicken in town. Been coming here more than 15 years and taste still so good. But lately their service/cashier is not nice.

Janine T

Tap x is all right and enjoy the combo options. I would not recommend their fish cake as the texture has been off both times I’ve gotten it.

Reydan Acsay

They have a lot of drink selections and the prices are a little below average than most milk tea places

their popcorn chicken is really good but way too expensive for just a little bag with barely any pieces. you get a small bag with about 8 or 9 nugget-sized pieces for $8.50. i ordered 2 so i can get one for my friend and it ended up costing me $26.00 along with a drink. they need to lower the price for such a small bag of chicken. if ya'll can just get pricing and customer service on point, your business would be booming. but nah.

This place used be good before COVID but now their quality is disappointing. They’re giving drinks half full and charging more for items but are giving less quantity. The food still taste good but their quality of service is horrible. It would better to go to any other boba shop in the area like green bubble or any other tapioca express establishments.

Giovani Aguirre

This place used be good before COVID but now their quality is disappointing. They’re giving drinks half full and charging more for items but are giving less quantity. The food still taste good but their quality of service is horrible. It would better to go to any other boba shop in the area like green bubble or any other tapioca express establishments.

rude service, I was just standing on the left side of the pick up spot, the lady yelled at me STAND OVER THERE excuse me? not even a please? Rude service ever I get ur busy but be polite pls

I normally stop by after school with my 2 kids till one hot afternoon bought 3milktea and bottled water but since it's hot I tried to buy a cup and ice but they refuse to sell or give me extra ice. I don't know why the server short guy with glass is very rude,not normal costumer service . I tried t4 excellent service good costumer service a cup of ice is nothing compared to tapioca, compilation now a days is high you need professional cashier with smile and not as rude as one of you cashier.😡

I come here a couple times and it was okay but yesterday upon ordering my same drink there was a hair sticking out from inside of the drink to the top where they seal the cup. We kept telling the older lady who took our order that theres a hair and she kept insisting to wipe it off and that its outside the cup sticking to it. It was not. It was clearly inside the drink and sealed with the other half of the hair sticking out. She was so rude to us and kept denying it until she took my drink back and basically removed the hair and sealed the same drink again. This was also a hair that was about 3 inches long so it was very noticeable against my jasmine milk tea. When she took the drink back I thought it would be remade again because first of all thats disgusting and unsanitary. No. She just ripped the seal on top and added a new one. Who knows if the hair fell into the drink or not. Also while waiting I noticed nobody wearing hair nets, the boba shop was disgusting, grimey floors, rude customer service, and lack of accountability. I know it may get busy there during rush hours but I was there around 2 pm and it was not busy at all. I do not recommend this tapex location. I dont care that im being honest or whiney about it. The old lady was rude and should probably take some accountability courses or training. joking... but whatever. also if ur gonna have long hair (the man who made my drink) put it up, wear a hat, or a hair net cus ur hair is falling into drinks and that's disgusting. geeze and the lady that did nothing to help well thank you for nothing.

I've been coming here since 2006. Drinks & food have always been good, but the cashiers usually have an annoyed attitude and very rude. This has been an on going thing for some time now. Cash only and they charge an extra $1 for using a debit card. No credit cards.

The Surcharge on card here is ILLEGAL. Think they just do it to avoid their taxes. And yes this is a CHAIN restaurant, not a small business. Also their staff is rude, stuff tastes below average.

There are a lot of boba places nearby, so i don’t usually come to this one. I ordered the pepper fries in Spicy 2, since that’s my usual spice level whenever i go to boba stores. This was incredibly spicy; i had one bite and as time went on my tongue was in indescribable pain. when asked if they have any condiments to lessen the spice, they refused. i had to order an extra regular fries AND MILK - as i’m writing this my tongue is still burning. Additionally, my friend began complaining of chills. we only got spicy 2, it shouldn’t be this hot!! this is coming from a group of friends that have reasonable high spice tolerances.

They guys talk very roudly . I went there for pickup. THEY DONT HAVE MANNERS TO TALK . Doesnt listen anything specialy the casier i give this issue when it happen 2nd or third time with me

Parveen Parjapat

They guys talk very roudly . I went there for pickup. THEY DONT HAVE MANNERS TO TALK . Doesnt listen anything specialy the casier i give this issue when it happen 2nd or third time with me

Lily Ibrahim

There are a lot of boba places nearby, so i don’t usually come to this one. I ordered the pepper fries in Spicy 2, since that’s my usual spice level whenever i go to boba stores. This was incredibly spicy; i had one bite and as time went on my tongue was in indescribable pain. when asked if they have any condiments to lessen the spice, they refused. i had to order an extra regular fries AND MILK - as i’m writing this my tongue is still burning. Additionally, my friend began complaining of chills. we only got spicy 2, it shouldn’t be this hot!! this is coming from a group of friends that have reasonable high spice tolerances.