OneZo Tapioca, The worst bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

Technically speaking, I shouldn’t have said OneZo Tapioca is the worst bubble tea in Vancouver. I only say that because the one I tried is located within Metro Vancouver boundary. The bubble tea served at this location is actually the worst I have ever had in the whole world. The last bubble tea shop with similar quality has already closed down years ago. I am surprised this location survived for over a year. This OneZo Tapioca is located on Kingsway, near Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby. Please note this review is only for this location as I cannot speak for the other OneZo Tapioca franchise locations I haven’t tried.

Strength: None whatsoever

Weakness: Powder drink, squishy bubble. Expensive. Nothing was done right.

Go to these Bubble Tea Shops instead of OneZo

• Hanlin Tea House (5 Stars)
• Yi Fang Taiwanese Fruit Tea (4.5 Stars)
• Xing Fu Tang (4.5 Stars)

OneZo Tapioca Franchise of Toronto

When OneZo Tapioca first opened in Burnaby, everyone was wondering why they marketed themselves as a bubble tea franchise coming from Toronto. Obviously we know OneZo Tapioca franchise originated in Taiwan. The franchise specializes in fresh handcrafted pearls of many different flavour. When it first opened, the line up was always out the door. That lasted for months.

Interior has limited seating

The interior space has a retro brick wall with wooden bench table. There is a small space in front of the counter where line up was taking place. Along the walkway to the back, there are some two people seatings along the other side of the wall.

Taro Milk Tea is way too thick

I ordered the large Taro Milk Tea. The cost breakdown was $4.99 for tea and $1.20 for the purple bubble. This is the most expensive bubble add-on I have seen. I get the handcraft daily bubbles cost more to make, but there are bubble tea shop like Boba Boy making fresh tapioca without the premium price. Besides, the pearls don’t even taste good. They have a soft chewy texture with no structure.

My Taro Milk Tea was obviously made from powder. I cannot taste any tea. The drink was extremely sweet. They put so much taro powder in my drink that if you were to pour it out of the cup, the liquid would barely flow. The texture is kind of like melted McDonald ice cream. The drink is not refreshing at all because my mouth was full of taro powder. It’s like the amount of taro powder has reached the saturation point that it cannot dissolve any more.

604 Food Critic Assessment

If the saying of “There is a reason for everything” holds true, then the purpose for having OneZo Tapioca is probably to demonstrate the absolute rock-bottom quality of a bubble tea. The $6.20 cost for a cup of bubble tea is way too high when the customer is getting powdered milk tea. You can get a cup of bubble tea with fresh milk and specialty tea leaves from other locations. I would definitely not recommend OneZo Tapioca. You can come here to check out how bad a cup of bubble tea can be.

How to get in touch

• Phone: (604) 423-4929
• Address: 4929 Kingsway, Burnaby
• Hours: 12:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Friday and Saturday 12:00pm – 11:00 pm