Chatime

Stopped by here after picking up some lunch at WaiWai; craving for their milk tea with pudding. Upon arriving, I saw a sign that they have a Happy Hour special BOGO 50% Monday-​Wednesday 12pm-​3pm only on certain drinks. I was going to order 2 drinks (thinking I can do mix n match) but I couldn’t. It had to be 2 of the same drinks so I was kinda disappointed. It should be noted in the ad that they posted on their wall so that customers will know. Anyways, drinks were made quick because it wasn’t super busy, I ended up getting a hot Oolong milk tea with pudding to help my cold

Love that I don’t have to go all the way to Chinatown for my bubble tea fix! Love the passion fruit green tea with extra bubbles.

I really like their strawberry rose cooler, it came with rose pedals which is new for me. Also got free upgrade to large with Unilocal check in. The only thing was the cup was made with really thin plastic, I feel like I’ll spill my drink if I grip the cup too hard.

The menu is limited and they only sell certain flavor a during their happy hour. I didn’t know that since I have gotten their other tea flavors like earl grey and hazelnut outside those hours. Only this time they didn’t want to sell it which is weird. I don’t understand why they won’t sell it if they already have it.
I would go to the cha time down the street for the other flavors.

Review for the coffee —
Although I realize this is very much a boba/​bubble tea joint, I’ve been trying to find a decent coffee spot in Chinatown.
With beard papa next door, I prefer to wash down pastries with a strong cup of joe.
This place is not it.
Staff doesn’t seem to comfortable with the espresso equipment and the Americano is significantly watered-​down.
Stick with their popular offerings.

I was craving oolong milk tea with boba and decided to come here. I did not expect this exchange at Chatime.
They were definitely testing my emotional intelligence. They did not have anything that I wanted to get. I walked up to the register and did not see oolong milk tea on the menu so I ordered jasmine green milk tea mousse. The staff at the register said, «Oh, we are out of the mousse drinks.»
«Alright then,» I said. «May I please have the jasmine green milk tea with boba?»
The staff said, «Oh, we are out of boba.»
In my mind, I was thinking, «Am I being trolled right now? A boba shop with no boba???» It was 11:00am… They opened for an hour, and they weren’t able make boba? That is unacceptable. Originally, I wanted their oolong milk tea too but I did not see it on their menu. Apparently, they only serve it on Monday-​Wednesday from 12:00 — 3:00pm. (???) I asked if they had oolong milk tea too and the staff said no. At that moment, I really wanted to flip a table or something. But, I proceeded with my order and got the large jasmine green milk tea with no toppings.
I still like how you can personalize your drink by adjusting the sweetness and amount of ice. Also their drinks are still good. However, they need to step up their game and do better preparations and inventory checks. The server who took my order also did not seem apologetic at all.

Visited this Chatime location for the first time last week. I ordered a hot milk tea with pearls, and compared to the milk tea offered in Boston (but not in Chinatown), this was good.
Keep in mind though that hot drinks only come in the large size.
In terms of pricing, Chatime is on the expensive end (I think my drink was $ 5, with pearls being an additional 50cents). However, it’s not a terrible splurge if you only go every so often.
Also, Beard Papa is right across the hall which is super convenient!
They seem to have ongoing promotions, so keep an eye out for those and make sure you check your receipt as I didn’t end up getting to promo despite double checking with the cashier verbally.

Went in with a friend last night for a post dinner treat. The bubble smoothie itself was tasty but took forever to come out and it was clear that the workers didn’t strive for quick service. My friend ordered a avocado smoothie and there isn’t even real avocado in it, just powder. For 4 bucks we would have expected more.

Consistently good! Got my almond milk tea with boba (with the option of jelly, pudding avail) and a rose milk tea on my most recent visit. If you check in on Unilocal,you get percentage off your total. $ 9 – 11 for two drinks– a bit pricey but convenient when you are in the area.

Chatime is a fusion tea house located in Boston’s Chinatown. This is the original Chatime that opened up in Boston, MA. It’s nice that a Bread Papa crème puff franchise opened up next door. You can experience the best of both worlds (bubble tea + crème puff) right here.
I don’t understand why this location is so hot (in temperature) but they’re definitely ready for the winter. They currently have a Back to School Promotion — Buy One, Get One 50% until ⁹⁄₂₀. Since I’m not really a bubbles fan, it’s the only bubble tea place in Chinatown that offers grass jelly, pudding, coconut jelly, coffee jelly, red bean, rainbow jelly. It’s also nice that they can control the amount of sugar (0%, 30%, 50%, 80%, 100%) and ice (none, regular, extra) for each beverage. I always get one of the following: Chatime Milk Tea, Earl Grey Milk Tea, Taro Milk Tea, Thai Milk Tea, or Pearl Milk Tea with Coffee Jelly. The Earl Grey Milk Tea was a bit stronger in flavor than previous times.

For some subconscious reason that’s unknown to even myself, this is my favorite bubble tea joint (in term of the taste) in Chinatown and favorite Chatime anywhere.
It is within a few steps of walking from my most frequented restaurant — Kaze on the main street. The tea are completely customizable and you are asked about it de facto — more/​less ice, more/​less sugar, and they always use lactose free milk for all their drinks. YAY. That being said, the taste of tea in their drink is very fragrant and most visible, which to me is the true essence of the bubble tea.
The downside is that there isn’t a lot of room to sit, since there are only a few small tables meant more for waiting than hanging out, which meant boba-​to-​go. Would be excellent if there is a room to sit down and enjoy the masterfully prepared tea!

We were craving boba and a local friend brought us to Chatime. Check in on Unilocal and you can upgrade to the large size for free!
We managed to snag a couple of tables for our group of 8 people. Chatime is conveniently located right next to Beard Papa’s so of course we got a cream puff to go along with the bubble tea!
I tried the red bean milk tea with boba. I liked that there was real red bean chunks in the drink, and it wasn’t too sweet. It was super satisfying for a somewhat hot day walking around, and the boba were just the right chewiness/​texture. Great place to get boba, although it does seem a tad bit slower than other boba places I’ve been to.

There was a piece of metal wire in my drink, which was a not so pleasant surprise when I slurped it up through my straw. By then, however, I was out of the store and on my way to Boston Logan, so I couldn’t go back and let them know about it. But eh, whatever. Health hazards. That’s fine.
Other than that, they’ve got cool flavors and good drinks but slow service.

They often run out of boba. And are very slow to make drinks.
Both are somewhat understandable when you’re still a new establishment and you’re still getting an understanding for your demand and flow.
But Chatime isn’t new. And they really need to step up their customer service game.
Lucky for them, they’re drinks are tasty. And they’re grass jelly is a decent substitute for the boba.

Best milk tea jelly and pudding that I ever had. Service was great.
Professional and polite to customers.
Wished the place been bigger.
Thanks Kelly spectacular recommendation.

mmMMMM
Bubble tea is wonderful, Chatime is wonderful. Like other people have said before me, it is quite overpriced for what a good cup of bubble tea. They’re almost robbing you of a god given right.
Then again… I would do anything for some good bubble tea… hence the 4 stars.

While Boston is definitely THE PLACE to go for good boba within a 100-​mile radius of itself, that is no reason to lower your standards. I was super excited when Chatime opened, but the awkward tiny space that is shared with a tattoo parlor and subpar tea is just not worth spending over $ 4 on a single drink.
I love Chatime for their boba. Luckily for me, they have yet to fail me in this aspect! On super cold days where I still crave chilled milk tea, ‘no ice’ seems like the best route to take. Unfortunately, ‘no ice’ was somehow translated to super watered-​down and bland. I had MUCH better jasmine green milk tea from their Newbury location.
The second thing that threw me off was the unprofessionalism. Yes, Boston is full of college kids, and yes, the kids working at all boba shops love chatting with their friends. But would you hire kids who constantly come out to sit with friends and snack on curry balls while gossiping loudly? I guess I’m at that bitter older age where I’ve outgrown these kids because I was just happy to finish my watered down boba and get on with my day.
Final note: I still love their boba and I like how the drinks come w/​your order on a sticker so drinks don’t get mixed up between friends.

Drinks: 2 Stars
Service: 2.5 Stars
I will say the location of this café is a little bit odd. It’s located right next to a tattoo parlor and there’s so little seating space inside the café you pretty much have to take whatever you order to go.
I ordered a bubble milk green tea with less sugar on this occasion. The wait time was quite long (at least 7 minutes), and what came out was a drink with so much ice that there wasn’t much tea inside. In addition, the drink felt very diluted, rather than decreasing just sugar, I felt like the taste of the tea was nonexistent and there was too much milk/​cream inside. The bobas cups are also a little smaller than other places I’ve been to, especially in California so I wasn’t impressed at all.
I’ve been to some pretty good Cha-​time cafes in New York, but this one in Chinatown could not compare.

This is how bubble tea should always be done! Originating from Taiwan, Chatime is one of my favorite bubble tea places. It’s definitely up there on the list with Kung Fu Tea. They have all of the right touches.
You get to choose your type of tea, your flavor, your drink size, warm/​cold, and also things like how sweet (half sweet? quarter sweet? even ¾ sweet), how much ice (down to the 10% increment, if I remember correctly) and whether you want tapioca or other jellies or red beans.
Their staff are great as well — super friendly, polite, and they’ve been trained with the Taiwanese custom of only taking and handing you cash/​credit cards with two hands.
Recommend it without a doubt!

I didn’t know Chatime was on both coasts, so I was super interested to try this location in Chinatown. The tea itself was pretty good, but as other reviewers have mentioned, prices are rather high and the service (as well as location) is somewhat frustrating.
The location of Chatime is a bit strange, as the initial store started off in a cramped room with two or three seats and a confusing mechanism for customer lineup. Now they’ve expanded to encompass the room across a hallway, which adds more tables and seating, but doesn’t alleviate the confusing lines. The waitress at the front seemed very frazzled and impatient, especially when a customer came up with an incorrect order. With the amount of bustling people jostling in line, I could understand why she wasn’t in the best of moods, but it didn’t make the experience very enjoyable.
Regular barley tea with grass jelly, less sweet and less grass jelly:
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The barley tea here is pretty good, with a robust flavor of barley but not too much bitterness. The grass jelly was soft and silky, a tad on the sweet side, but very good. I do recommend getting less sugar on these drinks, as I got one-​fourth sweetness, and it was still pretty sweet to me.
I didn’t have time to try any of their other drinks, but I would probably choose Tea Do over Chatime if I were in Boston Chinatown again. I also thought I saw one of the servers steaming a hot tea drink in a plastic container, which bothered me to no small degree, but I could be wrong.