These are reviews of Old Teahouse from 2007. See also reviews from 2005, 2006, and 2008. For more current reviews, visit the main entry.
2007-01-27 23:02:50 Have the hours changed, the last time I checked the DavisWiki page for this the hours for Fridays and Saturday didn't end until about 1:00am or 2:00am. —JonathanMartinez
2007-01-28 00:53:09 They open till 12 every night, except for Thursday and Friday, which extends till 2 —JamesLi
2007-01-31 07:37:21 Old Tea House is my favorite place to go for wonton soup! Tho out of the 4-5 dozen teashops I have been to, OTH is by far the slowest at making drinks. The food can be good at times or poor depending on how busy it is and wether or not the Chefs are tired. —FrankYoung
2007-01-31 16:46:10 well, it does depends on what time you go there? you going there at 10something at night when the line is out the door? or 12 pm when they just open? —JamesLi
2007-01-31 19:58:02 Fun atmosphere and interesting menu but they screwed up our order (after a half hour wait at 8:30 on a Tuesday night) and the food (fried potstickers, pork ribs in bean sauce and something that was supposed to be orange chicken but turned out to be some other kind of pork in bean sauce) was cheap ($17 total), but terrible. The meat was chewy, the vegetables were slimy, and the sauce was grossly corn-starchy thick and pretty tasteless. Maybe the orange chicken would have been better. —JulieSimpson
2007-02-01 00:13:21 I like the drinks only. For their tapioca. The clear kind. I forgot if I posted this already but it's worth mentioning again. —TusharRawat
2007-02-01 02:08:20 haha I was there on tuesday night, i understand what they were saying. I overheard that they were implenting the new staff , so the newbies screwd your order over haha —JamesLi
2007-02-02 05:05:44 Old Teahouse was the closest in proximity to the Cuarto dorms when I was a freshmen. So it was either OTH or teriyaki express for food whenever i wanted something other than dining common grub. OTH scores 1 for having Boba and Tea. Teriyaki Express scores 50 million for having better service and infinitely better food...it's cheaper too. —JasonVien
2007-02-04 23:16:03 Old teahouse is the only place to go for boba in Davis. Other than that, it has randomly good or bad food. Usually the food is pretty decent, but occasionally they forget to dilute their concentrated flavor packets sufficiently and youll get a big glob of unedible salty goo. Service is variable also, and the servers often have an attitude when you point out a mistake on your order. I go for the cute looking fob girls. (and the tea) —KroneckerDelta
2007-02-06 12:59:34 Agree with JamesLi, they need a sign like this, "Please know what you want before u get inline or get the X out of it." —AvilaVoom
2007-02-20 18:16:43 Piping hot, fresh, tasty food. Authentic. Cheap. Great videos. My favorite Chinese food place in Davis. —RayValdes
2007-03-06 22:28:17 Bunch of assholes work there —MikeWong
2007-03-11 14:20:21 After seeing you give so many neg. feedbacks to all the other restaurants... i must feel bad for you that you live in Davis —JamesLi
2007-03-15 17:29:39 Came here often during freshman year. The drinks are good but the food I wouldnt eat that much. It is like all other late night teahouses that lace their food with a huge amount of MSG. Most food taste the same and the meat is usually very chewy. Go for Teriyaki Express for a more decent, healthy meal. Staff isnt very friendly but they are usually busy. —BrandonToo
2007-03-27 13:42:35 I for one am very glad to have Old Teahouse here in davis. I eat there most days of the week, and it's close to my apartment and I think the food is pretty decent. I do admit that sometimes the service is not the greatest, but I do see that there's always a long time of customers, and i don't expect the service to be so great all the time. Seriously, I use to work at a restaurant back in South Bay where the lines were crazy too, and i understand that with constant customer traffic you can't always be smiles and have time to be so friendly. One complaint i do have is that they run out of tapioca quickly and it takes some time for them to cook.
But I have some pretty nice server behind the counter and i've encountered ones that aren't as nice, i wouldn't classify them to be overlyrude, they just seemed tired, which is understandable. But overall, people there are nice to me at least. To the guy who said that "people who work there are ass**les" I seriously think that he's just mad at the world. He's given so many negative feedbacks to all other restaurants that i feel are pretty decently good. All in all, a good place, one of my favorites to eat in Davis for Chinese, Fuji for Japanese and Dos Coyote for Mexican. —SarahLee
2007-04-17 05:16:55 it is a bit pricey for quality, but good selections —KaiWan
2007-04-20 20:28:02 I've mostly had nothing but good experiences at the Old Teahouse, including times where my friends have randomly gotten free Boba. I think their food and service is mostly good, unless you go late at night when they are frustrated with their customers. —JonathanMartinez
2007-04-23 22:55:40 this place is good overall. the fact that they messed up orders sometimes still needs to be improved indeed. but the drinks are good. and i thought that the foods have improved recently. its not as oily as before. and one more thing is that they need to make sure their stuff is ready. for example, they don't have jellys too often. but i feel sorry for the workers there. they actually have to be blamed by the costumers for not having those jellys.
2007-04-29 18:36:04 i asked, "what's your biggest and bestest beef dish." she said, "beef stew over rice". i felt like i was eating salt beef. you know, like the sailors ate, only beef instead of pork. mmmm. —boristheblade
2007-04-30 13:00:30 hahah, shoulda went next door n order a beef bowl then, u went to the wrong place man —JamesLi
2007-05-02 12:48:07 Their drinks are adequate if you order the right ones, but otherwise they may taste like they were loaded with powder. The food is cheap for the portion provided but can be greasy and heavy. the honey milk tea is my favorite drink so far =) —trambajuice
2007-05-15 14:39:27 really crowded at night, went the OTH alot when I lived in the dorms, but since i moved off campus i never go here —DonaldJaye
2007-05-20 22:03:45 Never tried their food so I have no idea about that.. but the drinks are okay. Haven't tried many flavors, but I remember the Green Apple Tea tastes pretty horrible.. kinda too fake for me. I like the Passion Fruit Green Tea with less sugar so I can taste the slight bitterness of green tea :D
Think they should take Debit/Credit -_- Twice I came there and realized I had no cash left... I've never experienced any problem with their service though. —maggienguyen
2007-05-21 20:17:13 They definitely need to accept Debit/Credit. Yes, there is an ATM in the parking lot, but by the time you remember you have no cash, you're ready to order and the line behind you is out of the door. Their service is not the greatest. They can be short with customers on good days, and downright rude on bad ones. This is a very popular restaurant, and should maybe get more personable workers. However, all of this can be overlooked since their tea is good. They definitely tide me over in my boba addiction. —BreeButler
2007-06-09 20:06:09 It's too bad that Teriyaki Express had to close down next door. There you could get a plate of tasty chicken, mixed veggies and white rice for $5.23 and only have to wait about 2 minutes to have it prepared. Here, you may have to wait 20-25 minutes to get your fried rice, which may end up being bland/greasy, but DEFINITELY full of MSG. —PatrickSing
2007-06-15 12:19:42 The OTH is my favorite restaurant/hangout place. The teas are delicious (i'm hooked on mango milk green teas w/ tapioca) and the food is pretty good. Me and my friends love coming to the OTH and sometimes stay for hours. The OTH has a super comfy environment; perfect for everyone, from noisy teenagers who run around in there socks (like us) to the studying college student. With pillows, great food and awesome Chinese music videos and movies, what more can you ask for? —rivas
2007-06-28 14:44:24 Service was extremely slow and the box of food was 80% mushy white rice. The meat and vegetables were in a gooey, oily sauce and I simply could not finish it. —MarieHuynh
2007-08-08 22:35:34 This place is awesome, I've enjoyed it time and time again. It ruins Boba places at home because they pale in comparison to the awesome Old Teahouse. —GregWebb
2007-08-08 23:03:25 i LOVE the Taro Blizzard! But then again, how DO you explain the exact taste of the taro? —JamesLi
- I've heard it described as a slightly floral cookies and cream, and I think that's pretty apt, though I haven't tried the Old Teahouse version. —JessicaLuedtke
2007-08-13 00:23:54 Click on my xanga to see their full menu and find out what's bad and what's worse. http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=alxboi —AlXBoi
2007-08-13 13:24:25 haha nice we got a menu stealer, no wonder all the damn menus keep disappearing.... —JamesLi
- You don't think the borrowing of the menu is worth the information being provided? Don't worry, I'll return it when I graduate.—AlXBoi
2007-08-15 02:49:38 I can't wait until the Hawaiian BBQ to open next door. All I need is a Quickly's to satisfy my tapioca addiction and I would never have to go to OTH again. Their food takes forever, drinks are made with powder, and certain employees are really rude. The atmosphere and music is decent until the employees start messing around with the volume and controls. People including myself have found that their food is not the cleanest and can get one sick, but there's only so many places in the area for chinese food and tapioca drinks. —elmo
2007-08-19 21:01:19 overrated, overpriced, overtime, overcooked —KaiWan
2007-08-22 16:55:28 I think this is the best place to get tapioca drinks in yolo county —ArianeMetz
2007-08-24 21:31:10 they closed at 12 last night, which was a thursday. is that summer hours? —CraigBrozinsky
2007-08-25 18:26:58 I ordered a chow ho with beef today. I believe what they gave me is with pork. I am very disappointed for this. —Sueleo
2007-08-28 19:04:19 the only solid pork pieces they have are spareribs, they dun even have pork fried rice....pork? gimme a break —JamesLi
2007-09-08 13:44:52 I have never eaten there. I have had several drinks there on several occasions though. They were delicious, but not as good as Pearl drinks you would find in Oakland Chinatown or San Fran chinatown. I find the pearls particularly chewy. I recommend the blizzards. The service during the times I came was neither slow nor fast. I have come at all times of the day and night. Crowds or no crowds. I recommend taking your drink to go, as it gets very noisy with the tvs and all the people eating and such. I have never been there when they are out of tapioca (I am lucky). I wish they would give me my receipt back so that I could save it for my records. —AnnaF
2007-09-13 22:42:42 Being Chinese, I don't know if my review is a bit biased (as my tastes for Chinese food are above the average American's). However, I just have to say I am very disappointed in their food. The rice was hard, it tasted old, and just like many others have described, it really does taste like it was microwaved. Doesn't even slightly resemble rice coming out of a rice cooker. The black bean pepper chicken didn't have much flavor at all and I was forced to resort to my own soy sauce and hot sauce mix. Service? Well, they were nice to me (probably because I'm Chinese) but from their other interactions, I can tell they weren't exactly the friendliest of people. I know it seems like I had a horrible experience, but I must admit, their pearl milk tea was great (although I ordered it with pudding and I didn't even get it!), the pearls were chewy and the flavor was adequate. All in all, I recommend this place only for the drinks and not the food. Make sure you get YOUR pudding. —MichaelHuang
2007-09-27 22:04:19 Personally, I really like the Singapore style chow fun/fried noodle. Like, really really, I want to get this everyday and die of sodium content love. A bit pricy at $5.75, but I usually can't finish it all in one go. The tapioca is fairly good, can't beat Fantasia imho, but is on par with Quickly's. If only it was just as cheap.
Long waits for food, and they run out of tapioca, but they're open until midnight, so they get my patronage. —AmyOhe
2007-09-30 20:26:00 I went there today and ordered two things: an Almond Blizzard and a serving of Popcorn Chicken. The Almond Blizzard took 3 minutes to complete. The ONE serving of Popcorn Chicken came 17 minutes later. Outrageously, an order of Popcorn Chicken came out 5 minutes preceding mine, to a person who had ordered later than me. I'm convinced they forgot my order and had to go tell the chef a second time, hence the long wait. Despite the cashiers' repeated apologies to me, it's obvious service may very well be substantially improved at this establishment. —AlexQuan
2007-10-02 15:16:10 For those of you who care about the sanitary/cleanliness of where you eat...DON'T EAT HERE! Check out the yolo county's health website for what violations the OTH had to fix....GROSS! —ELin
2007-10-02 23:20:08 As quoted from the top of this page "Wontons, potstickers, soups, crispy chicken, calamari, fried tofu, chicken wings, baked goods and appetizers take an average 15-20 minutes, and if yours is done sooner, consider yourself lucky. The fastest is fried rice usually." —JamesLi
2007-10-10 00:39:38 I second the note about the Health citations. Couple that with what former of employees have told me about their "work ethic", I don't know how anyone in their right mind can eat there. —JesseSingh
2007-10-11 06:49:11 I was not too thrilled with my one visit, so, being mature, I just decided to not go there. As for James Li, either you own stock, or you need to find something better to do then so vehemently defend a crappy restaurant. —DCWine
2007-10-19 18:18:45 This is one of my favorite restaurants in Davis and I am very sad I live in South Davis because I am so far away. The food is very good, but can take a long time to get. The place is usually very busy and it can be very overwhelming the first time. The music videos are fun to watch, though, and you can't beat the price, especially with the amount of food you can get. I don't think I have ever had a bad meal there. However, don't expect to get a table; as I said before, it is usually quite busy unless you get there at certain times. —LolaTorney
2007-10-19 21:14:39 I love the Old Teahouse, and I come here all the time. The milk green teas with tapioca are the best. The food is pretty good, too. I've never had a problem with the service, and I'm surprised they don't kick me and my friends out for being noisy, disrespectful, or for paying the price of a tea in pennies. Check out their music videos, too—they're awesome. —vanessa
2007-10-19 23:19:20 To reply DC WINE's comment, no i do not own stock or wat not haha, its just i have experienced the slow wait, some bad customer service on a bad day (we all get finals/midterms, mind you....), but i know which food is slow and which food sux cuz i always go there. So....unless you're weird or don't pay attention, you get the fastest food, aka FRIED RICE, n get the hell outta there....why bother with "i want popcorn chicken"? suck it up guys! —JamesLi
2007-10-20 01:35:20 I admit that Davis doesn't really have any good chinese or any place to hang out. But here, I can just sit there for hours, watch movies and listen to cool asian music video keep me entertained. The place has pretty cool and authentic yet modern feel to their chinese decor for a space in that area. I really love their boba and the consistency of the "chew"? As a tea addict, I liked how original the taste is of the strong tea flavor unlike one of those places that just use old tea sitting there or worry about microwaved milk tea (qcup) and not too sweet, and they always knew what i wanted, even if i duno what flavor to pick.. So far I think it's the best one in the area. I also like their crispy chicken and nooddle-HK style. The only thing is sometimes it gets kinda crowded with customers...BUT parking is awesome!! haha —WongShuwen
2007-11-08 16:28:05 I've been coming to the teahouse for quite some time. I really don't like the long waits sometimes to order, but then again i go there during the busy times. Other than that they are a pretty good place. I mean for Chinese food, i still think they are one of my top choices. Teahouse is number 1 and then Panda express is number 2 and perhaps Noodle City is number 3. But the tea drinks are great, i love those blizzards. Some of them you have to tell them to put less sugar, because it could on the sweeter side. But it could just be that i don't like too sweet of things. I think the place is very cozy, i sometimes study there or just do projects with friends there cause they have those really good popcorn chicken that i share with my friends. But be aware, they can be pretty spicy. I ordered medium last time, and it came out to be very hot. overall great place, i recommend you go there during non busy times. —sarahnewman
2007-11-08 22:41:44 its kind of annoying how they only accept cash..but i guess if you really want the food..well bring out the cash..anyways the taro blizzard is preety awesome..but i find their boba hard and not chewy at all..its like eating a starchy boba...me and my friend both got tummyaches from eating the boba..but hey sometimes you crave it..and this place seems to be the only decent boba drink place near ucd...i order the fried rice and chicken..preety good..and same with the black pepper stir fry noodles..you get sick of the food cause they give alot of it..but its taste is preety good..and about the "racism" there is none...i dont know..maybe you went at the wrong time when the cashier was pissed? otherwise that they are really nice..even if you have to wait 30 mins for a boba drink..but on a hot day...wow the taro blizzard..i could go for one there now... —MAIRA
2007-11-26 19:47:45 I think teahouse is a good place to get food especially since it's close to campus and the food quality is pretty good, but a bit pricey especially since you have to pay in cash, but a BOA machine is right outside so it's not too bad. The line for the food can get very long especially on the "busy" hour, usually late at night. During midterms and finals you can be sure the place is packed. Their boba drinks are pretty good, though the quality can vary from time to time cause especially the coconut milktea. I ordered the coconut milk tea before (big coconut fan)it was really good, but the last time I went there, they overpowered the drink, the after taste killed the drink ended up throwing most of it away. Their Mincead Meat Tofu Rice, Vegetable Spare Rib Chow Fun, Chinese Beef Stew Rice, Salt and Pepper Rib Rice, and Shredded Meat and Preserved Vegetables are all pretty decent. Oh they make a great Taro Blizzard. —YingBei
2007-12-07 23:44:35 We bought two tapiocas (coconut milk green tea & and almond milk green tea). Took a sip. Wanted to spit it out. Drove home. Threw it in the dumpster before we got in the house. Wasted $5. Will never come here for tapioca ever again. Here is a more a crude version of my review: this place sucks ass, don't go there. —VinhBoy
2007-12-08 01:29:58 Latest health inspection result
LIGHTING & VENTILATION
VECTOR CONTROL
SANITIZING METHODS, TESTING & FREQUENCY
UTENSILS AND EQUIPMENT
PREPARATION TIME & TEMPERATURE - CRITICAL
HANDWASHING EQUIPMENT
PERSONNEL HEALTH & HYGIENE
FOOD CONTAMINATION, ADULTERATION OR SPOILAGE
Beware. I and my friends found bugs in the soups. The Brocolli taste funny too. This place is super dirty!
- 2007-12-08 07:41:34 Actually, that's a passing (and typical) health inspection. Most restaurants get a few citations each time around. If the inspector thought there were any danger posed to public health, they'd shut the place down until the problems were fixed. They just started putting the reports on-line, so most don't have any inspection up yet, but Nugget, Posh Bagel and Subway all have similar numbers of violations, some critical (which just mean they have to be corrected for a follow up inspection). Keep in mind the examples listed are just examples, not actual things found at that facility. Violations highlight areas of improvement, not indicate that it is dangerous to eat there. Places that are dangerous get closed down until they comply. —JabberWokky
*Just try to eat at the restaurants first before defending it. Apparently someone has too much time in their hand to defend a crappy restaurant!" Davis Resident2
2007-12-08 14:54:58 decent- best is in SF but what do you expect in Davis? —KenichiSan
2007-12-08 15:12:55 Noting the 'health inspection results' above, they seem to have had the same reports for a long time, given that I have eaten there weekly for the better part of a year, I would like to attest that I have not felt any ill effects from the food or drink here, noting that I also change my order weekly (trying new things with a huge menu) so I could simply be lucky in avoiding all health risks, then again the group I am with also never seems to get sick. Thus if it were that this food makes normal people sick, and we who eat regularly are not sick, then this food is wonderful at boosting ones immune system and tolerance to becoming sick, and I would then advise anyone and everyone to enjoin on this possibility. For lunch I find Yummy Guide is better, just because it is closer to campus and cheaper, also accepting credit cards. —DavidPoole
2007-12-10 00:18:12 I am white and the people at the old tea house have never been anything but nice and very sweet to me. Last week my friend forgot cash and they still took our order, on faith that we would come back with cash. The food does take a long time, but the prices are great and they fill you up for your money. I also love their hours. Overall a nice place. —dirtyblondebear
