Brian’s Shave Ice & Boba

The store name has «boba» in the title so I would hope that this establishment would make decent milk tea boba, but no I had a terrible experience here. I ordered a milk tea taro boba and it came out warm and chalky. Another Unilocal member also complained about the inconsistent measuring of taro powder and unfortunately I was on the receiving end of this girl making these teas. The boba itself was fine but the rest of the drink was ruined by the badly mixed taro. The cup ordered was around 12−14oz and cost around $ 4 with tax. The place was clean and had mural of pictures for customer regulars. It had nothing remarkable that all these tea shops already follow a layout and how they market themselves. Save your $ and go elsewhere.

Best. Boba. In the valley. We drive 30 minutes out of our way to get this boba. It is not too sweet and they are always generous with the tapioca. And as a bonus, the staff is really sweet. Super, highly recommended!

Love the chai boba and a new fan of shaved ice. got the tigers blood with dole whip and condensed milk as a recommendation with my own twist. HEAVENLY!!!

This place has the best boba and drinks!!! It’s one of my go-to’s! It’s a little pricey but worth every cent!

They are not stingy with their boba at all! Probably the most boba I’ve ever gotten out of all the places I go to
Milk tea boba was awesome

Love the Dole Whip! but the owner Really needs to fix the air conditioner in that place it’s unbearable also I imagine for his Employees too !

Upon entering takes me back to hole in the wall places like Hawaii, but then you get the feeling in the pit of your stomach that you should turn back, but too late your there…
I ordered a large Thai tea slush with Boba and a large passion fruit with Boba. First mistake the person who took our order did was come back after our order was placed and says, «there isn’t enough Boba for one and the other can be replaced with another aside like lychee, passion fruit, etc.» I made her repeat herself because it was too confusing. To the point they didn’t have enough Boba for both drinks! Who runs out of Boba. Soooo a decision was made to add lychee to the passion fruit Boba slush.
Thai tea slush with Boba-​too sweet and there was an after taste of celery base. Gross!!!
Passion fruit slush with lychee-​overly sweet and to add insult to ingury, it was beyond drinkable with the added lychee.
They really need to improve on their drinks. I didn’t try any of their shaved ice, but I’m guessing how everything was with their drinks must be similar.

Still in search of that Hawaiian style shave ice I miss so much from the islands. We heard Brian’s was legit so we made plans to go on a recent weeknight and see how it stacked up.
We were greeted warmly by the 2 employees as soon as we walked in. The space is clean with a few tables along the wall and one by the window. The tables sat 2 people each. There is a boba menu and a shave ice menu. Nicely displayed and backlit were the 2 menus. I went with the large shave ice ($ 5) and chose lychee, hawaiian punch and mango flavors with a dole whip center and li hing mui topping. It was good! I liked it a lot. A large is HUGE. Probably made to be shared but I certainly got hungry eyed. The consistency of the ice is better than your typical shave ice place but still isnt up to par with the smoothness and texture as those served in Hawaii like Wailoa or Ululani’s. Lychee was really good. Mango was ok. Hawaiian punch was good. The dole whip was very good. Cant ever go wrong with that.
Dont get me wrong. I still liked it a lot. The flavors were good and for sure we will come back again. The only thing was in ordering the large, I couldnt get in the typical shave ice container. They had to put it in the big foam cup container. They said it would be hard to eat otherwise. That was the only bummer.
Service was good. Service was fast. 2 girls were working at the time. One took our order while the other got to making it right away. They were nice and friendly. Make sure you tip them. Batman cup or Superman cup. You choose.

This is a genuine Hawaiian Shaved ice location! Tons and tons of flavor selections. The portion sizes are gigantic and the dole whip adds just the right amount of cream!
I do agree that the music selection could be a little more kid friendly.
My kids love it and so do I.

First time to Brian’s for a boba stop on way back to SF– this is just my one experience and in no way reflects how they are overall. :)
Boba: Good to just get your fix. Not a boba specialty shop like Sharetea or Lollicup, so flavors here are exclusively syrups or powders. The lychee black tea was on the sweeter side and tasted more like syrup than tea; had to dilute it with water. The milk tea was a little bland. Both had overcooked honey boba, way soft and squishy.
Shave Ice: Did not get any this trip, but looks like a good place for it! They have a lot of the same flavors and toppings you would find in Hawaii, including li hing mui powder and POG. Plus, one can’t really mess up shaving ice and pouring syrup.
May swing by for shave ice in the future and passing on the boba!

Only come here for their shaved ice or their dole whip yogurt. Their boba & other drinks are usually a miss. Tapioca balls are way too hard! Under cooked or not fresh. The drinks are water downed & can tell its powdered. It’s an ok place.

My daughter LOVES this place. Me… it’s just Ok, I didn’t appreciate the explicit, curse word filled rap music playing while sitting there with my kid!
I’m not into shaved ice, but my daughter digs the stuff, she takes advantage of the multitude of flavor syrup choices and goes crazy with it. She comes back to the table with a rainbow looking ice heap. And she’s in heaven. I’ve taken a couple of bites and find it to not be the best as far as texture and flavor.
The kids that work here are what you’d expect high school age kids to act like…

After visiting the location in Tarzana a few times, we were glad they opened a new location in Sherman Oaks. Now, there are two locations to choose from.
There is not much difference from the two locations other than service. The girls at this location doesnt have enough experience making shaved ice and especially Boba drinks. We overheard one of the girls calling their manager asking how to make one of the Boba drinks. I hope the service at this location improves over time.

This place is a hit or miss.
Sometimes the lines are crazy lone and the boba takes forever to make. Sometimes I can be in and out in less than five minutes.
Sometimes the boba is cooked to chewy perfection. Sometimes they’re hard and even crunchy between my teeth.
Sometimes the people are snobby and take my order without eye contact. Sometimes the service is great and the people engage in polite conversation.
Overall, the boba here is good, except it’s pretty sweet. I love boba and despite all the flaws, this is my go-​to place (for now!!!)

Tried the Lychee Jelly this time with my mango slush. Really yummy! Was a tad too sweet but both on their own are pretty sweet already. The two flavors do go very well together though. (:

For the life of me I have never understood why snow cones in America are so popular. They should really be called high fructose corn syrup on a ball of ice, but I guess that just isn’t as marketable.
That being said as an Asian I am far from opposed to eating ice based deserts. In fact Asians have a huge history of topping ice with deliciousness whether it is the Taiwanese and their «bing» or Filipino Halo halo. Which is why at first glance I did not know what to make of Brian’s Shave Ice.
I seriously thought it was just like some dude name Brian throwing grenadine on some ice. How wrong I was.
While it is essentially still snow cones, I cannot explain it but it is far more satisfying. They have a really good selection of flavors and it feels more like eating ice cream than a snow cone. I personally love the green apple, banana, and blue Hawaii flavors with popping boba and of course condensed milk!
It is a nice refreshing treat that I enjoy a bit more than ice cream. I am sure it is not much better health wise, but on a hot day I think it just refreshes a bit more than ice cream. Their other stuff like boba etc. is so so. I have only had it a few times, I normally just go for my shaved ice so I cannot really say I have had it to much but nothing memorable.
If you are looking for something different than ice cream or froyo on a hot day I would give this place a try, you just might like it! It’s tasty, affordable and pretty quick too.

First impressions. Sigh.
I feel badly leaving this sub-​par review. Why? Because the girl working at Brian’s seemed really nice. She also remained quite calm under pressure.
The line wasn’t overly long (maybe 4 people) but it took sooooo long. I think the shaved ice process was too time consuming for only one person. For the first ten minutes I stood in line, I didn’t really pay attention as to why the line wasn’t moving. Then as I became aware of the wait, I watched the girl at the register move to the machine that shaves the ice and back to the register several times. I don’t know what she was doing, but the people at the front of the line moved aside (without receiving their items). She then took the next person’s order and went back to the shaved ice machine.
I started texting my wife at this point to apologize for taking so long. I think I ended up playing a couple of rounds of Subway Surfers until I was finally at the front of the line (I’m just giving my excuse for the reason I can’t accurately detail what else caused the long wait).
I ordered 4 Boba Milk Teas, Taro flavored. As I ordered, another employee entered the building and went in back. The girl behind the register gave the other employee some instructions.
I was charged an additional $ 2.00 for Boba ($.50 per drink). Apparently, adding Boba to a drink labeled «Boba» is extra. So, if she hadn’t asked me if I wanted Boba balls in my Boba Milk Tea, it would have just been a Taro Boba Milk Tea without Boba balls? How then could it be called Boba without Boba balls? I didn’t want extra Boba balls added to the standard amount already included with a Boba drink. I just wanted the average amount. So why charge extra for something that should be included?
Am I making any sense here? Or am I just rambling? It would be like ordering a Chocolate Chip Cookie, but paying extra to have the chocolate chips included. Make sense?
Ok, fine. I paid extra for something that should have been included. Semi-​minor irritation.
Then, I continued to wait for the drinks. The girl who entered as I ordered seemed to be taking a reeeeallly long time with the 4 Boba Milk Teas. Finally she emerged with 1. The girl behind the register was continuing to take customer’s orders, but she said the the one making my drinks, «You need to speed it up a little.» Nice. I wasn’t the only one aware of the slow service.
Fast forward to the point when I finally had all 4 drinks, was in the car and driving away. I tasted the Taro Boba Milk Tea… yuck.
I’ve had great Boba. I know the smooth and delectable flavor/​texture as the liquid surprises your mouth with the gummy and delightfully confusing Boba balls– you have to chew your drink. Interesting. Fun.
BUT with this experience, the sweetness was on overdrive. I’m not diabetic, but after the first sip, I had questions about my blood sugar levels.
Next — the flavor was obviously a result of powder added to the drink. How could I be so sure? Because the chalky and grainy texture forced me to chew my drink, but not for the enjoyable Boba that I had experienced in the past. No, this was chalky, gritty, grainy grossness.
The chunky residue was all over the sides of my cup.
This was sad. It was also expensive for non-​pleasurable drinks. All four were exactly the same. So, either they make gross Boba here, or the girl making ours just hadn’t been properly trained.
On a positive note, the shaved ice looked yummy. But I don’t know if I’ll go back to even give it a try. Maybe if I’ve got a spare half hour to wait in line. We’ll see.

After a chai tea debacle next door, I came here to get my drink fix quenched. I ordered the Thai tea with boba. YUM! While I waited, I saw one of the shaved ice cups being made. It was huge! I will be back to try it out and see how it compares to Get Shaved.
Menu: Tons of options for drinks with boba! I almost couldn’t decide.
Service: There was a new girl working the register, so she was a lil slow but that’s ok! The drink was worth the wait.
Drink: Excellent thai tea with boba. Can’t wait to try other flavors!
Price: I got a large with boba for $ 4.25
Shop: Super clean and cute.

Starting at 3 dollars you can get an «American» Kiddie size. That is if your kid is a 23 year old cis-​gendered male Asian-​American.
This place’s kiddie size is huge! For 3 dollars you start off with 3 free flavors and a topping. If you look at their «how to order menu,» you’d notice that they have a genius marketing team.
Step 1: Choose your size
Step 2: Choose your filling (first filling $ 1, each additional +$ 0.75) This is where it could go wrong if you don’t read carefully. But I do recommend getting the filling, I got the mochi.
Step 3: Choose 3 flavors (free-it’s part of what you’re paying for in Step 1)
Step 4: Choose your topping (first one free)
So there you have it. I was satisfied with just the kiddie size for myself, any more and I would have to get my blood sugar checked. But hey, if you come here with another person, you can share the regular size or the large size for an additional $ 1-​$ 2!
Also I forgot to mention, mochi tends to get hard when it’s cold. Just an FYI in case you wanted to get that.

Brian’s Shave Ice & Boba is going to be my fav summer spot, I can already tell. I’d been wanting shave ice for a few weeks now and spotted this place as my boyfriend and I were pulling into this plaza off of Ventura for massages. I don’t know which I was more excited about getting my massage or being done with my massage so I could check this place out :)
We walked in around 730P on a Sunday evening, small spot and filled with many families and festive décor.
Tons of options but I have never tried a jazzed up shave ice so I went with simplicity. A regular size (I wanted the snazzy flower cup vs. the Styrofoam bowl –kiddie size, I was going to order) Blue Raspberry, Cherry and Banana. First 3 flavors are free.
This was huge, cold and delish! Perfect summer treat.
I phoned my son to see if he wanted anything and he ordered a strawberry slush boba which he liked too.
Staff were very friendly and what stood out to me was just how genuinely cool and appreciative they seemed after every purchase.
Looking forward to returning soon.