The first time I had ChiCha San Chen was at the San Gabriel location, when it was still new. I…read morewaited a very long time in line for a peach drink, and it was genuinely one of the best boba drinks I've had. I hadn't gone back since because I'm never in San Gabriel, but when I heard that Chicha San Chen was opening in Arcadia, I was super excited, since I live near the new Arcadia location.
Since ChiCha had a stellar reputation for their teas and quality of drinks, and since I'd had such a delicious drink at the San Gabriel location, even when they were absolutely packed and SWAMPED, I assumed Arcadia would maintain the same quality. Unfortunately, I was sorely and utterly mistaken to think that. I first visited Chicha San Chen in Arcadia on Halloween 2025, and it wasn't super busy despite it being a brand new location. That should have been my first warning sign, that there were many better boba spots to spend my hard-earned money on. I can think of at least eight different boba spots off the top of my head within a 1-mile radius of ChiCha, where I can be guaranteed a drink that at least tastes like tea. Depressingly, I had the misfortune of spending my Halloween and my cash on a dong ding oolong tea at ChiCha instead. The Ding ding oolong tea, despite being one of the best sellers at the time, was very watered down. Oolong tea is a very strong and fragrant brew, especially when you choose lower sugar and ice levels like I do, but somehow ChiCha managed to mess it up. It wasn't just me as well, my friend also ordered the Ding dong oolong tea without cream, and he agreed that it was watered down. Adding to the experience was the fact that there was absolutely nowhere to sit, despite the location being pretty empty besides people picking up their drinks and leaving. After that absolutely amazing first impression of Arcadia's ChiCha San Chen, I have avoided this location like the plague!
Sadly, I received a bubble milk tea as a gift this Friday. Someone had asked me what I'd wanted from another nearby boba shop, but unbeknownst to me, had changed their mind and gone to ChiCha. I spotted the drink on my desk, saw the ChiCha packaging, and prayed against reality that they had gone to a location besides the Arcadia one, especially since the presumably TEA drink looked suspiciously WHITE. Still, I held out hope that maybe, the sad state of my past oolong tea had been an unfortunate fluke; perhaps I'd come on an off-day, and maybe they'd improved since then. Alas, my spirit of good faith was for naught. I should have know from the color, or lack thereof, of the drink. Despite being a bubble milk TEA, presumably using black tea like most traditional milk teas do, the drink is BARELY OFF-WHITE. However, don't let the vague beige-ness fool you. That beige is not from tea; it's from the brown sugar syrup that's mixed with the boba. The drink looks like those brown sugar boba MILKS that used to be so very popular in the mid-2010s, and boy, does it sure taste like it. I was looking forward to some caffeine, but at that point I wasn't even sure if they put any tea in the drink. It was watered down, I tasted almost no tea, and somehow it was worse than the Halloween oolong tea. It's funny because I could literally tell which location the person who gave me the drink went to just based on the taste, or should I say, the lack of taste, of the bubble milk tea. I asked them later to confirm that yes, they had gone to the Arcadia location. I LOVE milk tea, but I really don't like just milk, so I ended up throwing the drink away after I was out of sight of the person who gave me the drink. I only drank about a quarter of the drink. Honestly, it was genuinely impressive how a renowned boba tea chain can't figure out how to make a basic bubble milk tea properly where you can actually taste the tea. However, I will give them props for one thing -- the boba itself, as in the actual tapioca pearls, were perfect. I understand ChiCha is known for their fruit drinks, so I wonder if that's why I don't see more reviews saying the tea is watered down at this location -- perhaps people got fruit teas and those fruit teas were good. Which begs the question: if your location can only (presumably) make fruit teas decently, then why bother having any milk teas in the menu? Boba drinks are expensive, it really sucks to pay so much for a drink, expect an at least DECENT milk tea, and getting watered-down, subpar disappointment instead. What a shame; this location seems to be the only ChiCha location that's like this. I will not be going back, why bother coming here when I can go to literally any of the other million boba shops around the SGV for a basic decent milk tea??