Half and Half Tea Express

I don’t live in this area and will stop by at this half and half place every chance I get for the best service from Brian. He exhibits the most professionalism when they are busy and is truly a poster child for customer service. He greets all customers with «hi, welcome» while his other coworkers ignores the customers.

Normally, I wouldn’t be too bothered by below average customer service at places I frequent regularly. But my most recent visit to this location was exceptionally unacceptable.
Came in on a hot Saturday afternoon and ordered my usual drink (which I’ve ordered at least 30+ times). First, they gave me the incorrect size (ordered a large, received a regular). When I brought it to the staff’s attention, they notified me of the extra cost and questioned me if I was sure I wanted that size. I paid the extra 93 cents, and waited a few more minutes for them to change my drink. Upon getting my new drink, I did a taste test (as always) before I left the store. To my surprise, instead of a mouthful of boba, I drank a mouthful of tea leaves with a side of boba. Being a drink I’ve ordered over 30 times, there had NEVER been loose tea leaves in it. And these weren’t flower petals, but plant stems and buds. We brought it to the staff’s attention (again) and they told us that this drink «sometimes has leaves, sometimes doesn’t.» They asked if we liked the leaves in the drink, we said no, but told us they couldn’t do anything about it. We asked if they could strain out the leaves, and they refused.
Every single time I’ve been to any Half & Half location, the staff is always friendly and offer great customer service. Any time I had an issue with my drink, they’d be more than happy to fix it. For the particular workers on this day at this location, however, customer service and quality boba clearly isn’t their priority. This location is nowhere near as busy as the Monterey Park or San Gabriel locations, yet the two males workers here were still too lazy to do a simple fix of one drink. Will not be returning to this location.

I’m officially replacing the baldwin location for this one because:
A) it’s close to my work.
B) it is VERY spacious, and actually has seating and…
C) the wood décor is absolutely adorbs.
I walked in around 3:30 pm on a Wednesday and was immediately greeted by a VERY enthusiastic young gentleman at the register. And by greeted I mean, yelled at. In a good way.
As soon as I stepped in, he yelled: «DO YOU NEED A MENU???» Which I awkwardly accepted. It was very funny. I was given the option to choose from 3 different sweetners which is a 5 star rating alone for me. As you may know, half & half portions are very generous. I will return! Dont forget your stamp card.

Consistently delicious and fresh boba drinks with excellent quality tea. My favorites are mango green tea with honey boba and Lychee green tea with honey boba, but they have it all here! Coffee, tea, milk tea, smoothies, and even some food! I have gotten additionally two other coworkers hooked on their drinks because they are so good (rose milk tea and almond milk tea anyone?) Plus the atmosphere is very home-​like, as if you’re in a living room hanging with friends. Go once and you will never go anywhere else! :D

We were lucky that we were the only few customers on Memorial Day weekend, so we don’t have to wait like what we did in other Half & Half. This one, though named express, feels way roomier than other places.

They have this stupid rule $ 10 minimum charge for using your card. And the minimum purchase here is $ 5 – 7 really wtf? If you don’t have cash your assed out. This is the worse business model I ever seen. Your gona punish your customers if they don’t have cash that is sooooooooo stupid! I hope this place closes down! Never going back to this place. Oh yea one more thing they charge you 12 cents for a small ass plastic bag for your boba are you kidding me @honey boba it’s free!!! I rather go to honey boba they don’t have a minimum charge and they dont charge for a stupid bag, maybe that’s why they’re always busy!

Excellent service! Staff name Brian was really jolly and friendly to everyone. He should get a raise! :) The drinks were really good too.

Came in around 8pm and there weren’t many people inside. It took literally about 20 min to get my drink! My receipt said I paid at 8:01 and I got my drink at 8:21. What was more infuriating is that the staff were just talking to each other and taking their sweet time. I love half and half but this location needs some serious help. On top of taking forever when it wasn’t busy, they ended up making me the wrong drink! Two thumbs down half and half!

Came out of my way to get Boba and they would not allow me to use card. $ 10 minimum. I would have paid extra to use my card. I’m not going back.

Customer service needs work. Lady that greeted me was so unenthusiastic… seemed like she hated her job… in service jobs aren’t you supposed to at least feign interest? eh. I digress. the real problem is that my drink was under filled by a full inch. I paid for the extra size up and they gave me as much as a normal sized drink… If you flip the cup upside down you’ll see that it makes a huge difference. about a quarter of the drink is missing… see attached pic. not coming back to this location.

LYCHEE GREEN TEA WITH JELLY is seriously so good and refreshing!
Downside, they don’t have non-​dairy milk (or at least I don’t think so). One person told me they do, but when I tried to order it they said they only have regular milk. Oh well, I’ll stick to the milk-​free options.
I love the shape of their cups, the portions (even for regular) are very large. This particular location has a large parking lot and very quiet with a huge space inside as opposed to the small Arcadia location.
Minimum on card is $ 10, so bring cash or be prepared to buy some snacks + 2 drinks.

I’ve been to their stores in San Gabriel and Rowland Heights as well. For some reason, this store’s consistency in their boba and drinks are a lot more sweet and their bobas are more soft than the other stores. I like how they decorated the area, but I honestly also think they could add more tables or chairs? I feel that everytime I go, I’m always either standing or waiting for someone to leave. Also, since I’ve grown up drinking boba, I do have a little bit more of a pickier taste, which is why I guess I’m a little bit more harsh for this half and half. However, would I still come back? Definitely.

I would’ve given this place a 5 stars except for one reason: they charge you 11 cents extra for a bag to hold your drinks! This is pretty cheap of them considering they have 6 franchises at around the SGV. What I don’t understand is there are tons of to go menu on the side for customers to grab as much as they want, but they cannot afford to give you a drink holder. Shocking.
I ordered 3 honey milk green tea and almost dropped one upon opening my car. The drinks were good and cheap for the size; $ 1 cheaper here vs the one in san gabriel. Place was very clean and bright. Nice place to go relax with friends.
Someone mentioned they only accepted cash. They will accept debit/​card for orders at least $ 10+. Stamp cards are offered as well.

I miss this place so much. I used to go here for lunch time boba once a week. My go-​to is the lavender milk tea with boba. I’ve tried a few of their slushies & teas, but I like the milk tea the best.
Super fresh boba & a ton of choices. Huge huge portion for the regular size. They have soy milk! They also have a loyalty card.
They accept debit but not credit cards.

Location — Unexpected location in an unassuming, nondescript plaza. It’s next to a closed-​down Fresh & Easy and somewhat hidden because every sign for every store in that plaza is also red.
Drinks — Ordered the Osmanthus Green Tea with honey boba for ~$ 4. Forgot to get 50−75% sweet, but my friend thought the sweetness was acceptable. I actually liked my friend’s Lavender Milk Tea with honey boba better, and would get that next time.
Décor — Seems like they bought out what used to be a vintage American restaurant of sorts, because the décor doesn’t match up to what one would expect for Half and Half. It’s 1960s-​70s American living room/​cabin with warm colors and faux taxidermy. Different, but unexpected.
Overall, much shorter to virtually no line compared to other Half and Half’s. Granted, this is an Express.

The original honey boba. What more is there to be said?
One of the best boba chains ever. If you don’t believe me, all you need to do is try their #1, boba milk tea with pudding. Come back to this post after you’ve done that.
I especially love this one because it is the first Half n Half to be built in Arcadia. Before, you would have to go all the way to San Marino for this delicacy. Now there are two Half n Halfs in Arcadia! (One is located on Baldwin Ave.) This one though, is much bigger and has a decent number of seating available ranging from your comfy cushions to the quaint chairs and tables. Also owls everywhere. You’ll know what I mean.
I can’t complain about the service. Always with a smile and extremely friendly with recommendations for those of you adventurous souls.
Make sure you bring cash though. I’ve always forgotten about that, but somehow I’ve had enough cash in my wallet each time. I suppose it’s just meant to be.
If you are looking for something new to try, one of my favorites is the red bean matcha au-​lait. It’s a hot drink, so don’t get it on a sweltering summer day. If you are a red bean lover, you won’t regret it!

We have been coming to Half and Half for a while and accumulated 10 stamps on the stamp card and today is the day to redeem a FREE Boba Tea!
Was looking forward but end of the day, ordered a Honey Green Tea with Boba and it wasn’t totally free! Have to top up $ 0.50 with the addition of boba. It’s just boba, shouldn’t they give us FREE and not charge us additional to reward customer’s loyalty for returning?
There’s quite a few boba places that we could have gone to but we drove all the way here, now I don’t see a reason why we should.

I’m a bit hesitant to share because it might get busy like the other Half and Half locations, but this is the most chill and easy going half and half ever!!!
This Half and Half location has a few tables for sit down and plenty of space. Excellent customer service and very efficient. The line isn’t too long and drinks come out pretty quick.
Glad I discovered this location. Will definitely return when I am in the area.

The décor is so cute and homey! This is one of the calmest Half and Half Tea Expresses that I’ve been to. Every time I come, this one seems to be pretty empty.
The service here is so good. Since it tends to be pretty empty they’re always ready to take your order and make your drinks ASAP.
Drinks:
–Caramel iced milk tea with pudding and honey boba! You can never go wrong with this. I personally can’t finish all of the pudding, so I’ve learned to ask for just half the pudding. It’s really filling!
–Guava green tea with honey boba: I just love their honey boba so I get it with everything. If I’m not in the mood for an iced milk tea then this is always my go to drink. This is a less heavy and more refreshing option. This drink isn’t too sweet as well so I love it!

Their honey boba is so good! The boba is soft and chewy and doesn’t get too hard before you finish your drink.
At other locations, I usually get the ice milk with caramel, pudding and boba but I’ve been feeling that it’s too sweet lately, so this time I tried the iced green tea latte with sea salt foam + honey boba. The green tea turned out to be a good level of sweetness, even though I forgot to ask for half sweet (in fact could have been a touch sweeter). I’m not sure why, but they used a hard plastic lid for my drink instead of sealing it with plastic film, so it made it more difficult to mix my drink. I couldn’t get some of the sea salt foam (with most of the sea salt) to mix in.
The hubby got a rose milk tea with taro pudding, and while the flavor of the tea was good (very rose-​y), the crushed ice made it hard to slurp up the pudding without chunks of ice being pulled up the large straw as well, so it was kind of difficult to drink.
Aside from these minor annoyances, I liked the drinks and will return to this location, especially since there’s a ton of free parking and no wait (when we went on a weekday evening).