Gong Cha

I wish they have a location in DC so that I can fulfill my bubble tea craving every now and then. I ordered a milk foam black tea here, gotta get the large one, hehe. Their milk foam tea is truly phenomenal. The slightly salty milk frost matches the sweet tea perfectly with the chewy pearl. My friend told me this is the best bubble tea place in Palo Alto and I have to agree even though I haven’t tried anything else here.
You can fully customize your tea (sweetness, topping, ice/​hot). Come and try their milk foam tea and you will love it!

Eh can the cashier please do not bite her nails while working?
I can clearly see her saliva on my credit card

I come to this place every time I’m near by… I love the panda milk tea. 30% sugar and 25% ice it’s just perfect for me. My favorite spot to get boba. Yummy!!!

This is my go-​to boba place in DTPA. I’ve had the Fremont and Saratoga locations before – All are pretty solid and consistent. The one thing that sets this place apart though is that woof of chlorine bleach smell you get upon arrival. Needless to say, they do too good of a job keeping this place spotless with the bleach overload! If it weren’t for the toxic fumes I would probably hang out inside more often.
My two favorites are the Jasmine Milk Tea (70% sweet & 25% ice) and the QQ Passion Green Tea. The Jasmine Milk Tea is very rich – I’m not sure what kind of dairy they use in this but It’s like drinking half and half creamer! The Passion Green Tea has coconut jelly chunks and boba, perfect combo! Very refreshing!
I’ve never had to experience long waits here so that’s a plus! They also are very quick with the order. If you have a stamp card, that’s an added bonus as well – buy 10 drinks and receive the 11^th for free.

New favourite — Panda Boba Tea, no ice, 30% sweetness
Really love the white boba (made from agal-​agal, really healthy food), since I find only Gong Cha (bay area) has it, the biggest reason I came here for my bubble tea.
Also a neat spot for meet-​ups, the little shop is really clean and bright, you can watch how they making your tea from its open bar.

Yum! Got an oolong milk tea with boba and it was delicious. I appreciate that you can specify the sweetness (I got 70%, which was a smidge too sweet) as well as the amount of ice. Boba were sweet and perfectly chewy. All in all, a solid place for boba!

WHY WE WENT HERE:
— I was running errands with my sister and headed to Ikea
— she wanted to go for a boba run before going into the madness of Ikea on a weekend, so I obliged with directing us to Gong Cha
THE LOOK (FROM THE OUTSIDE):
— since it’s located in downtown Palo Alto, be prepared to look for street parking
THE LOOK (FROM THE INSIDE):
— small
— clean
WHAT WE ORDERED:
— brown sugar milk tea with boba
— green milk tea with agar pearls (I believe is what the white/​clear looking boba are called)
THE TASTE:
— very good; better than some other Gong Cha locations I know
THE CUSTOMER SERVICE:
— fast
— polite

I got a oolong tea with milk foam and my friend got a hot milk tea with pearls.
Drinks:
The milk foam was ok but a bit nauseating and I feel like the tea was ok. I would give it a
3.5÷5
My friend’s milk tea was another story. The milk tea was made with powdered milk, and the milk wasn’t stirred will with the tea (chunks). She didn’t feel very comfortable after having the drink.
²⁄₅
Atmosphere:
It was really nice and warm, especially because it was cold outside. A downside is that this place is quite small (as other reviews have said)
3.5÷5
The cups were really cute though!
Service: Pretty quick and direct
⁴⁄₅

Solid boba place in Palo Alto! I was so excited when they opened because I now have a place close to work where I can grab some boba.
Their boba is really good, but their drinks can be REALLY sweet. 30−50% sugar is what I normally get, but 75% would be your average sweetness for other boba places.
When they first opened, there were a number of issues: they ran out of boba, they ran out of straws, and their POS system was not printing out all the orders. Now that they have gotten their groove back, everything is rolling the way it should. I would still keep your receipt until you have gotten your drink just in case.
I have been here a bunch of times since it opened and plan to keep coming back to get my boba fix.

My favorite boba places:
No 1. Asha
No 2. Gong Cha

Gong Cha has both good drinks and not so good drinks so order wisely! What I can appreciate about Gong Cha is the wide variety of PMT that they offer, what I try to appreciate is the small space they operate in. Only 19 can be accommodated at a time, at least that’s what the huge seating sign says by the entrance.
The teas are generally very sweet so try to get less sugar… Except sometimes some drinks have fixed sugar levels so meh. I’ve tried their lemon wintermelon and sea salt milk teas; both are different and offer a very unique taste. I can’t say I loved them but they were decent enough.
It’s probably the only PMT in downtown Palo Alto so there’s not much choice in finding another nearby PMT that’s walking distance anyway.

To find parking, you may have to go to another block since Palo Alto offers free 2 hour parking, which we did. There was also street parking but those were very hard to find…
Gong Cha was a pretty small boba shop. Maximum number people that it could fit would probably be less than ten.
I ordered my usual, mango green tea, and it was all right. Not the best I’ve ever had. I love the fact that they accept credit cards because I know most boba shops don’t.
Would I come back here again? Maybe…

So yum — - excellent, velvety, supple and chewy, and wholly satisfying. Since trying this branch in Palo Alto (which, incidentally, was the start of my ever-​flourishing relationship with them), I’ve had the pure pleasure of trying them in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul. it’s quality here… and they know how to make proper boba. QQ level is perfect, and adjustment of sweetness a plus.

I received the worst-​looking milk foam drink in my 7 years of drinking milk foam-​type boba.
I ordered milk foam green tea and I received a very badly-​made milk foam, to the point that the milk and the tea were already mixed together. The staff was nice enough to offer to make me a new one if I was unsatisfied (I didn’t take up his offer because I was in a rush).
However, I disagree with him that milk foam on top of green tea tastes the same as the milk foam mixed into the green tea. I like my milk foam to stay on top of the tea in order to enjoy the different taste and texture of the tea and the milk foam. It defeats the purpose of creating a drink called «milk foam green tea» if the milk foam eventually sinks down and make the drink become «green milk tea» instead.
I hope this is an isolated case and it doesn’t happen again.

Ooh, one of my favourite chains has started opening up shops here in the bay area. I almost screamed when I saw that sign.
I love their milk foam teas, but their basics are just as good (green or black tea with tapioca). Make sure you get it with less sugar tho — the 100% is *really* sweet!

Tea Era has been my go-​to tea fix place but as of right now, Gong Cha reeled me in with their milk foam tea!
The oolong milk foam tea was an interesting drink. The bottom layer has the actual tea and the top has the savory milk foam on top. I’m not sure if you’re suppose to mix it or not but I left it the way it is and drank the tea first so the foam can trickle down slowly.
Great place to grab a refreshing tea on a hot day! Avoid times that high school students are out of class though. I was waiting behind 15+ high school students when I walked in around 3 p.m. :c

Great place to grab boba in the downtown of Palo Alto. They have many different variety of toppings and drinks. We ordered the milk foam oolong tea. You have the option of how sweet you want and how much ice you want to add. The milk foam added great taste to the tea. I added the new edition of white pearls which was good. I definitely love this place and would come back for more!

**Boba Princess Approval PENDING**
Another visit is due for full approval!
Drink Quality and Location are 4 Stars.
Everything else (Service, Ambiance, Price) is 3 Stars.
++TIPS++
+ HAPPY HOUR Mon to Weds 4PM — 8PM FREE Topping (Pudding, Herbal Jelly, Ai Yu)
+ Parking Lot on Waverley and Hamilton with street parking around
+ Cash and Credit Card accepted
+ Reward Stamp Card accepted too
+ WIFI Available
[[LOCATION]]
Located on WAVERLEY and UNIVERSITY, Gong Cha is located in downtown and although parking may be a pain during peak hours, it’s super convenient to walk around and eat at other restaurants. Downtown Palo Alto is a gem to enjoy! ;) Total Date Night stop!
[[DRINK QUALITY]]
RECOMMENDATION: Oolong Milk Foam with White Agar Pearls. The milk foam cream tasted sweeter and heavier than at the Fremont and San Jose location (although I wonder, shouldn’t they be all the same?). It was quite reminiscent of Sharetea’s crema actually! The oolong tea was armed with a strong tea base, and the white pearls were cooked perfectly! They were crunchy, fresh, and definitely not disintegrating. My drink was well-​blended and the different components added a transcendent level of zen, which I truly appreciated as I trucked through my Stanford class haha.
[[SERVICE/​AMBIANCE]]
Service was friendly and quick as there were only a few people inside. Surprisingly to note, there were no Asian employees at this location. I was perplexed since I thought it was a Taiwanese chain, but hey as long as they craft my milk tea beautifully, I don’t care who serves me! Haha. Ambiance was standard with other Gong Cha locations– dark burgundy wallpaper and a few posters emphasizing their worldwide impact and some sample drinks/​toppings. There were literally 5 TABLES inside with a few chairs! For some reason, Gong Cha is notoriously small everywhere… I guess by its standard, this PA Gong Cha is huge haha. Bottom Line– TAKE your drink and GO!
[[PRICES]]
Prices are the same here as in San Jose/​Fremont. I usually get the large milk foams and they are $ 4 a piece with an added $.50 — $.75 for toppings. Palo Alto is stepping up its game with the milk tea! T4 has some fierce competition now :) HASTA LA VISTA BABEYYY, I’ll Be Back!

Wow a Gong Cha in Palo Alto.
This one tastes just as good as the one in Fremont and the line moves a little bit faster.
I tried the fresh milk with herbal jelly. Excellent.
A few workers in the back making the drink were not wearing gloves and was playing on his smartphone while he made drinks using his bare hands. A little concerning.

So I’ve been to this Gong Cha location several times since its grand opening. I usedto go to Fremont or San Jose just to get Gong Cha. At the Palo Alto location, I’ve been trying something new each time I’ve gone here, and so far I’ve tried: MF Oolong Tea, MF Brown Sugar Black Tea, Black Tea with Ice Cream, Wintermelon with MF, QQ Passion Fruit Green Tea, Honey Green Tea and Lemon Wintermelon with Basil Seeds. All of them have honestly been very refreshing and I have not yet been disappointed by any of their drinks. Everyone has their own preferences. Since I prefer green tea over any other tea and something less soft than the black tapioca pearls, the MF Green Tea with White Pearls 30% sweet is my favorite! :)
Edits:
A bit more on some of the other drinks:
The Lemon Wintermelon with Basil Seeds is a must try. The lemon enhances the flavor a lot and I love eating the lemon bits. Hands down the best Wintermelon drink I’ve ever had.
The QQ Passion Fruit Green Tea is also worth trying because the passion fruit flavor with the green tea is the perfect combination of fruity and tea-​y!
The staff is really nice! I come back for the drinks and for the workers :)