Gong Cha

I stopped by on a Monday, a bit after lunchtime to try a few of Felix's Pick! drinks for the new Stray Kids Felix cup sleeves. The wait for 2 medium boba drinks was longer than I expected because someone before me ordered like 20 drinks. There was only 1 person making the drinks as well. I'm not the biggest fan of bubble tea and super sugary drinks, so I modified the drinks with reduced sugar and no ice. Felix's Pick! - Brown Sugar Milk Tea w/ Pearls is a classic and basic milk tea drink. Felix's Pick! - Milk Foam Oolong Tea w/ Coconut Jelly tastes like a tropical pineapple type of drink. If I had to pick one, I'd go with the Brown Sugar Milk Tea. Overall, this Gong Cha location is more of a grab and go spot since there are very few seats available. It doesn't really lend itself to be a chat and catch up type of boba establishment. As a fan of Stray Kids, I was mainly disappointed that the Felix cardboard cut out was barricaded by the stairwell.

Love their mango smoothie and strawberry milk tea. But their marble matcha is one of the best . The service was great as well. I didn’t had to wait for since i ordered online and it was ready quite fast as well.

Loved the brown sugar milkshake!! So yummy. Just wish their straws worked better..I know people have an issue with plastic, but Gong Cha pleassee get some thick, plastic straws for your drinks...would greatly appreciate this. 🙏❤️❤️

Friendly staff & reliably solid drinks. I highly recommend the mango milk tea with tapioca!

The staff responded kindly. The bubble milk tea was delicious. I liked it because it tasted like I originally knew it. It was nice to meet the Gongcha I used to eat in Korea in San Francisco.

Very disappointed with Gong Cha. Over priced and test horrible!!!! It’s a $7.75 drink that I can’t drink. It’s named “smoothie” but it is not a smoothie at all, it is a syrup drink, they even use yogurt syrup 😵‍💫I have never felt this bad ever. I only had a sip and couldn’t continue🥴. It tasted like a cough syrup for kids…The woman who made the drink was nice but I do not recommend this menu! ❌

It’s been a while since I had such a good boba drink! I ordered the Brown Sugar Milk Tea with boba and pudding and it was around $7.55. Toppings are $.60 and the large drink $5.75. I was just a little annoyed about the prices since the menu they had said one price and the actual price turned out to be a few cents more. But the quality is great! And the service was good!

This is an order I placed through DoorDash, and when it was delivered, my drink cup was tilted and spilled. I hope the restaurant will improve by using a carrier tray to prevent spills.

Ordered some boba teas for pick up in the evening through Uber Eats. Process was quick, easy and seamless. Customer service was friendly upon arrival, and all my instructions were followed precisely, which I really appreciated. Boba was so good too! Fresh, soft and chewy with a slight hint of sweetness. There are a few seats inside, but it's mostly a grab and go spot. Easily accessible by BART or Muni.

Small little tea shop! I liked how they had samples for one of their summer flavors. You can customize your sweetness but it was difficult to know how sweet each category was personally. I got the strawberry green tea with 25% sweet and it was too sweet for me but refreshing.

One of my college roommates worked at 貢茶 Gong Cha and she'd sometimes bring back drinks when she worked closing shift. After seeing this location, the memories came flooding back so I decided to stop by. Limited human interaction since you order on the kiosk and wait for your # to be called. I was debating between a couple drinks, but I ended up choosing the Earl Grey Milk Tea w/3J ($6.75 + tax) with No Sweet and No Ice. The 3Js are Herbal Jelly, Pudding, and Pearls. +Boba was perfectly chewy +Grass jelly was smooth and silky w/prominent herbal flavor. +Pudding was smooth and silky w/caramel notes. +Cup & straw were durable. -Tasted watered down: Weak tea w/o creaminess from milk Side notes: 1.) 1 point for every $1 spent: Sign up w/phone # 2.) Limited seating: A couple chairs inside and 1 two-top outside 3.) Restroom available for customers *Verdict: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. It was a one woman show, and she was hustling to make everyone's orders. Even though there was a backlog, I received my drink in ～10 minutes. If I was in the area, I'd return to try their matcha and crystal boba since I remember that being good.

I don't get the hype about gong cha... I got the classic black sugar early grey boba - it was so mid. Maybe they have better flavors but I prefer other places. Also does no ice mean a hot boba? Normally when I say no ice the drink is still cold but mine was hot??

Their seasonal strawberry milk tea it's fantastic! I love the combination together sweet with little bit of tartness blend with milk tea; very super it goes well together. The original milk tea it's rich in tea and milk combine and I love a rich tea The servers are very nice, and took my order quickly. Although there's a a group of 7 people were ahead of me but not too long of a wait time. When you are in Union Square and wanting Boba this is the place to go!

I went to gong cha on april 30, national boba day, and ordered the oolong milk tea. I ordered from the kiosk and got my order fast. The most important part of boba is the boba itself. Gong cha's boba was bland. There was barely any marination of the boba. It seems like they did not marinate the boba with brown sugar or didnt marinate them long enough before serving. Since i ordered with no sugar, the oolong tea itself was meh, i could only taste the creamer and no tea flavor. This was the second time that i have been to gong cha and both time the boba was not marinated.

I'm such a procrastinator. My only intention to come here was to get the holiday Gingerbread cookie cut out shaped bottle. Unfortunately, its no longer available. BOOHOO! So I ordered a drink anyway, Taro milk tea w/rainbow jelly. Nothing out of the ordinary. Next year I'll get my GingerBreadBottle!!!

Stopped by this Gong Cha location after having lunch across the street with my wife and her friend. Ordering can be done at the counter or at the self-service kiosk, and there is no seating available for dine-in. Opted for a Mango Green Tea w/ boba. The drink itself tasted rather artificial, and the boba balls were firm and clumped together. Overall a forgettable drink quality, and not one consistent with other Gong Cha locations I've been to.

Quick Summary: - There are two kiosks to order your drinks - Boba requires more chewing than average bobas - Located close to Union Square - Listen for your order number when it's close to picking up your drink Went here for the special holiday edition boba bottle that I happened to see when I was browsing through social media posts: the gingerbread bottle with the adorable scarf. This is located near Union Square, but the streets there could be sketchy at times. I would say, it's fortunate that it is still within a block or so away from the busiest parts of Powell, and the times I went never had a scare moment. (there are a few moments when you see an unruly person walking down here, but they don't cause a ruckus as long as you don't make a face). Returning to the topic, inside of this Gong Cha is small, so less than 10 people can fit without feeling crammed. I ended up standing outside the door and waited for the order complete text message. There were two staff members inside working on drinks and they were heavily focused on making drinks. Two people might have been right on regular seasons, but because this month Gong Cha introduced the limited edition bottle, it appeared they were swamped with their drink making. Of course, this meant that the staff had little to no time to take orders at the register, so I saw that everyone was buying their drinks at the kiosk. Since it was special, I ordered the bottle and the special drink: gingerbread milk tea. We also ordered a lychee oolong with lychee jelly; this was also in a gingerbread bottle. For a quick overview, not all drinks will be served in a gingerbread bottle. The wait was long for a typical boba drink but I let that slide because of the special drink event. Once we got our drinks we tried them out. Generally, the boba pearls at Gong Cha are tough. The center is cooked through, but it takes a lot of chewing to eat the boba. It is not my favorite texture (I prefer squishy), so I would have taken a different topping or not request one with boba. (for this round I went for the default everything to see how it is like).

Gong Cha doesn't use real fruit. They just use syrup. I saw "mango smoothie" on the 'popular items' section of the menu and decided to try it, hoping it'd be like mango sago. But they just blended mango syrup with ice. Ick. Immediate regret on ordering this. I should've stuck to milk tea, which is usually a decent 3 stars.

This particular Gong Cha is in downtown SF near Union Square. This is a smaller location with some bar seating against both walls. I usually park in one of the parking garages nearby then walk over because looking for and finding street parking is a bit difficult here. I tried a variety of drinks from here - my favorites were the jasmine milk tea with boba, herbal jelly, & rainbow jelly and the matcha milk tea with boba. Although 50% sweetness is suggested for their drinks, I prefer them at 100% because I find that the drinks were not that sweet at 50%. Next time, I would like to try their matcha milk foam.

Worse boba taste like water, BAD customer Service they gave me a cup with cracked so it's dripping all over I told them but instead changing a to new cup she just double it so all my drink all over in double cup.

Don't know why but I really like their drinks. I can taste the Jasmine, and it seems so fragrant. I asked for no sugar, but the jelly was sweet. The staff handing out samples was super smiley. I also liked that it has minimal ice. So tasty.

ordered mango green tea for pick up but they only started making it when I told them I was there. i ordered no sweet and there was still some subtle sweetness so it was balanced well

Gong cha is a solid Boba tea place to visit to satisfy any Boba cravings you may have. The tea flavor is always good and the boba is soft and chewy. Some of my favorite flavors to get include the panda milk tea which has both regular Boba and white Boba pearls as well as the taro milk tea with regular Boba. I normally get regular sweetness and light ice and the panda milk tea with regular sweetness is delicious. The taro milk tea on the other hand, is creamy and while softer in flavor also very yummy. All in all, while gong cha has some solid Boba, there are definitely far better Boba places in San Francisco that you can check out for stronger tea, flavors and more delicious Boba. However if you were looking for decent Boba and want to satisfy a craving by all means, check out gong cha.

Boba tea places abound, but Gong Cha is the gold standard in Taiwan where the boba craze started. This franchise has high standards. Their signature milk tea sets them apart as a seasoned tea connoisseur, I can taste that their teas are fresh, and properly brewed using quality tea leaves many of the other places, use some sort of flavored powders for all of their drinks. However, I cannot say the same for their flavored fruit drinks which I believe is mixed from an essence.

We had to wait about 15mins for our drinks but there were 4-5 orders ahead of us. It's small inside with a few tables so we opted to wait for our drinks outside. Drinks were super disappointing though :( Oolong milk tea - 70% sweetness but it was still SO sweet. Couldn't taste oolong tea at all and just very.... syrupy. Boba was soft and good though. Earl grey milk tea - 70% sweetness but still hella sweet. Could taste Earl grey but it still tasted very syrupy. Very disappointing because Gong Cha used to serve solid drinks that actually tasted like tea.

There's something about Gong Cha. I tried it first in Southern California but noticed that up here, it's not as recognized... and I don't know why! The boba quality is pretty good, very QQ, and is sweetened. When you get 25-50% sweetness, your drink is complimented by the boba. My two favorite drinks are - Panda milk tea: comes with two types of boba that gives it an extra chew! Their milk tea is unbeatable. - Earl grey with the herbal jelly, pudding, and boba: if you like an herbal drink or enjoy earl grey tea, you will love this! It is so refreshing and all the toppings make each slurp a surprise. We always get size large because it's only .50 cents more... highly recommend!

I ordered a double peach milk tea with 50% sweetness and light ice, and was looking forward to try out the peach jelly in it. We ordered online for the whole staff team at 10:45 am, and one of our staff went there at 11 ish. She had to wait 2 hours for like 9-10 drinks (all medium). Not only was the time long, my order didn't even come with peach jelly? They said they ran out and instead they just put normal boba pearls, not even the peach star jelly they could've used. Onto the taste, the drink is basically milk tea with rlly sweet peach syrup and pearls- id rate it a 6.8/10. It wasn't what I ordered and in my opinion the peach syrup is way too sweet even though the drink overall is 50% sweetness. It got a bit less sweet after mixing it for a few mins and not having the straw go all the way to the bottom.

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. They have great service and free samples. My taste buds are exploding. They offer the cute gingerbread cups although they cost extra. The ambiance is very cute. Would recommend. The drinks came very quickly.

I guess SF Gong Cha just isn't good. I LOVE gong cha in SoCal - the milk tea is delicious, perfect at 50% sweetness, and the boba is fresh, chewy, with perfect bite and flavor. Here, the milk tea tastes cheap and chalky, 50% sweet tastes like zero, and the boba is flavorless and soggy - bloaty dissolving clouds of brown. It's just such a sad waste of $8. I gave this place two chances, spaced widely apart. Guess I can't have my gong cha fix in the city!

this place nasty af. All there products are artificial. Customers service was horrible and tender was super rude.

I came in to redeem my buy 10 get 1 free drink cards and the manager refused to honor it. It was one excuse after another. It's old, yet there's no expiration date. It's only for this amount. All the stamps are not on one card. It's this, it's that. I'll tell you what it is, it's a complete bait and switch.

3 stars because the milk tea was alright, the boba was hard and dry inside. NEVER experienced this before. I asked the cashier (Jay) a question about the London fog milk tea and his answer to me was "I don't know, I never tried it" I would NEVER give this answer to a customer, at least make the attempt to try to ask the other workers maybe they could have a better answer for me. It wasn't even busy for a Saturday. Wish I didn't waste my time coming here, even though we had to walk super far and came out the way just to try this place. Never returning!! Also, 50% sweetness is still hella sweet; just overpowering of sugar barley any earl grey flavor. Not worth it.

Gong Cha was being sold to the people at my University on behalf of a cultural org! So glad that the business was available somewhere that was accessible to students and community members. The drinks were still fresh and cold so it was a perfect sweet treat on the hot day. I am a huge fan of Gong Cha and so glad they collaborated with our organization! Best boba in SF!!

It's a pretty good boba spot. I don't know that it's really the best place for a boba purist, but if you like creative and unique takes then this might be the place for you. I did appreciate their seasonal menu, but some of the options may simply be too sweet or caffeinated for my boba tastes.

My school organization held a fundraiser with them, and they were incredibly accommodating and supportive throughout the entire fundraising process! They helped us raise lots of money for our cultural organization and our events! People who bought the boba said they really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to partnering with them again for another fundraiser in the future!

The mango green tea was tasty and refreshing during this mini heat wave in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was good to try other fruit teas throughout San Francisco. I would give it another try for another flavor.

Popped in here real quick to try to grab one of the FFXIV collab keychains. The manager was really amazing helping me with the options and how to redeem the rewards. He even found the specific one I was looking for! I'm so happy with my keychain! The drinks are amazing, per usual~ Y'all the best!!!

I was surprised to see how Gong Cha lived up to its hype since this bubble tea café did so well with good quality drinks. This wasn't the first time I took the free sample from a same staff member. I seldom came to Gong Cha when it's in the Tenderloin area. I chose the... well... Matcha milk tea with black pearls. Nothing personal. My likes: no sugar, no ice, and it's plant based milk. Plant based? Don't these staff members directly say which non-dairy milk they been using?! I be walking away happy if they actually say what type of nut milk they're using. My other likes were matcha (not loose leaf tea), and an airtight plastic seal, so you can easily shake the cup, turn it upside down, and put it in the bag gently. I have no likes nor dislikes about the black pearls since they're made from cassava roots. To me, boba didn't have any health benefits, but at least they're on point enough to be chewy. Perhaps my brother ought to come to Gong Cha in Tenderloin, or he can go to other gong Cha locations throughout the Bay Area.

This is the only Gong Cha in SF and while it is (sort of) centrally located in Union Square, it does take a while to find. I have only been here a couple of times as it is away from most of the main stores in Union Square and I don't think most people know about it. It's not even located on the location finder in the main Gong Cha website. The price is similar across the board for all boba places in SF and while there are some staples (thai tea, regular milk tea), they have some fun drink combos. What to get: 1) Brown Sugar London Fog Milk Tea - made with earl grey tea, this might sound ridiculously sweet but there is a balance and it's not as achingly sweet as some other versions out there. 2) Lemon winter melon with basil seeds - no caffeine and the basil seeds might creep you out if you have trypophobia, but it's delicious and refreshing on those rare (but more often) hot days. 3) QQ Passionfruit Green Tea - comes with boba and coconut jelly--definitely a flavor combo you don't usually think of but I think it works. Plenty of toppings to choose from and ice and sweetness level can be adjusted based on preference.

My daughter wanted boba after Harry Potter. They were Intrigued by the picture of the creme brulee matcha drink. I didn't think they actually brûléed it since the lld was on but I witnessed the blow torch myself! See pics. They said the cream tasted funny thkugh. Giving that one a 2.5 Other daughter had the brown sugar milk tea which was fine. Baby daddy and I had the passion fruit green tea they sampled the how hojicha tea. It's hard to explain bay it tasted like but we didn't care for it. Mayb it was the texture that I didn't care for, like the powder wasn't completely dissolved They weren't friendly much, didn't acknowledge us, didn't say thank you or even let me know the transaction was complete. The waffle took forever and a day. Wish they had warned us before ordering, but the manager was really nice and apologized. The waffle itself Was kind of chewy, but it was kinda hard on the outside. Meh Be sure to check in for a free topping!

Matcha milk tea and I really liked it. It had the perfect matcha in it. Since I found out how many calories boba is I don't get it as much anymore. The staff was friendly as well.

This was my first time trying a Gong Cha location and I had a good experience. I tried two drinks: the Brown Sugar Milk Tea with boba and Pride Month Drink. The Brown Sugar Milk Tea was delicious and the sweetness level was great. It was a perfect sweet treat. The Pride Month drink was a taro milk tea with strawberry purée and foam on top with rainbow sprinkles. I believe it was a cheese foam on top and that was the only part of the drink I didn't like. Otherwise, the strawberry taro combo was really tasty. The inside waiting area was pretty tight.

I just had the Lemon Wintermelon with Basil Seed. It was sweeter than I expected. However, it was refreshing and flavorful. It's hard to find street parking in the neighborhood, so I don't recommend driving there.

Don't be fooled by their "business hours". They are more than happy to tell you they are "not taking orders" well before their closing hours because they are lazy and doesn't want to work. Go to other boba places.

Simple boba tea shop before union square shopping or going around this area! 5 bucks for a cup and topping. Quick and nice! Refreshing for the stroll and win!

I've never had waffle mochi that looks like putty before and to ask the clerk for them to tell me that's the way it is.It does not look anything like the pictures unless you want a blob of dough.Thats very disappointing and very unattractive!The pearl milk tea was watered down with so much ice and how can three of the same drink turn out all the same when we asked for different sugar levels ‍

This is a classic chain in Singapore, so I was happy to see that it made it to SF! I ordered a too good to go (check them out, too!) order from Gong Cha, and received a yuzu tea with what seemed like little pieces of unidentifiable fruit (lychee?) and a classic milk tea w boba. Enjoyed both thoroughly!

I am a self-proclaimed Boba Connoisseur, always trying Every Boba spot I cross. Up Intel today, I couldn't find the perfect tea to Boba. One would always be greater in one way or another, but today, I woke up sick and couldn't hardly get out of bed and was forced into ordering from Door Dash, with a shady score of 3 stars I was very skeptical, but they had a really good promotion, so I gave it a try. O boy, am I glad I did. Even after a half hour wait for delivery, my Boba was spot on! The tea was Perfectly exquisite and the Boba, I couldn't think of another Boba " tapioca w/honey" that was made so Perfectly. Also, I'd like to say that every sip taken was full of Boba, enough to do a "Boba Thizz Face" and even a layer left over when I was done with Mt drink.... this NEVER happens!

** The following review reflects my experience prior to the shelter-in-place order currently in effect. ** I'm not a boba connoisseur if there is such a thing. I don't swirl it in a plastic cup, gargle it with brio, and spit it out in disapproval. I just experience certain moments when I look at an open boba shop out of the corner of my eye and say to myself, "Hey, that sounds pretty good", totally neglecting past grievances over hyper-sweetened drinks with chewy balls. I mean tapioca balls. This was one of those moments. I didn't even ask what a Panda Milk Tea was, but I ordered a big one for $5.75 (photo: https://bit.ly/2ViQyMf). I took a straw and didn't realize until I had walked over half a block before. I realized I got the wrong straw, too small for my balls. My tapioca balls. From what I could tell, the panda was coffee flavored, so I was good with that. Just kinda sweet even at 25% whatever that means. Yep, I'm no boba connoisseur, but if you're one, welcome. BOBA - 3 stars...the balls were too big for the straw...the tapioca balls AMBIANCE - 3 stars...yep, it's a boba shop SERVICE - 3 stars...kinda awkward and could have been more helpful for straw guidance TOTAL - 3 stars...presumably for boba connoisseurs RELATED - In the mood for boba? Here's a collection of places I've tried and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2QQ7RAo

Good boba spot located near downtown SF, super convenient for those visiting Union Square or shopping around the area. There's a kiosk where you can order or you can just go up to the counter to order, and the drink usually comes out pretty fast. I usually always go for 50% sweet or else it always comes out too sweet.

Standard affair boba tea, you know what to expect, no fancy flavors, no frills, nothing offensive etc etc For being so close to all the touristy spots, its not a bad spot if you want late night boba in this area. I like their passionfruit green tea with white boba. The mango smoothie was fine but tasted too artificial.

Brought my daughter to buy boba and get one of the purple keychain. The owner/manager was extremely nice. They did not have the purple keychain by the register. He went upstairs to look at his inventory. Eventually, he found some and delivered it to my daughter.

I generally like Gong Cha. It's pretty consistent in quality, and the pearls are satisfyingly squishy and warm. Satisfies those boba cravings better than nearby Boba Guys. But, gotta give this three stars until they get non-paper straws. Pleeease get bamboo straws or something. I had to keep getting up to get new paper straws because they kept getting too soggy. Next time I gotta remember to bring my metal straw because that experience was miserable.

If you had asked me 10 years ago if Union Square would be a place I would go to for boba I would've looked at you like you were loco! But now with Boba Guys and Gong Cha, this touristy district boasts some of the most high quality boba our city has to offer! Gong Cha is known for their "mustache" drinks (flavored foam on top, which come in a milk or matcha flavor!) and fun twists than they are for their teas (there aren't many tea options compared to other chains like iTea). They also serve coffee, and now cold brew, as well as fruit+teas, fresh milk, and sparkling drinks. Boba also isn't the only topping you can get--there's white boba (agar), aiyu jelly, grass jelly, rainbow jelly, red bean, coconut, basil, and egg pudding. Admittedly I have yet to stray from my classic order--honey green tea with boba--but I am eager to sample the rest of their menu! I found their drinks to be a tad too sweet for my liking, even at 25% sugar, but the boba was really well sweetened and soft. I would say Boba Guys still serves the best balls--much chewier and most consistent in quality--but Gong Cha's take is also a palate pleaser. Finally, the location is small but there's some bar seating and the service is quick. Solid boba option while you get your shopping on!

The FFXIV collab could have been handled better, went 3 separate times right when they opened and they didn't have any keychains left

Very tasty Boba. Wider selection of flavors than mini Boba places in the Union Square area. Exactly what you would expect from a Boba tea shop. Had to be brown sugar, earl gray milk tea (very tasty, but super sweet) and the taro smoothie.

Apparently online orders mean nothing to them, as I placed an order for pickup at 10:45am, hoping it would be ready by 11:30-11:45 (it was a large order). Order number ONE and it took them TWO HOURS to finish my drinks. Walk-ins were ordering and leaving faster than I was. Absolutely ridiculous.