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    Royal Tapioca

    4.0 (70 reviews)
    Open 9:00 am - 7:00 pm

    Royal Tapioca Photos

    Business Info

    ROYAL TAPIOCA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Coconut jelly cup
    Lou C.

    I found this restaurant purely by accident. I was gonna eat at Ph Lúc Lc next door but it was closed during Lunar New Year weeks. So I walked away disappointed. Suddenly, I looked up at the sign Royal Tropical and and its banh mi menu. After reading some reviews, I decided to check it out. I brought my coworker to sample with me. It's easier to come on Sunday because traffic is a lot lighter than during weekdays. While sitting in here and looking around, I thought it was a Mexican cantina. I am always the only Asian among Hispanic customers. The pale green walls, maroon booths and decorations from the 70's gave me a nostalgic feeling. Folks behind the counter work hard to get food ready really quick. I love it. I've gotta tell you, the drinks and sandwiches were so delicious. My favorite banh mi is BBQ pork. The bun has a crispy shell that doesn't cut my mouth ceiling. All fresh ingredients satisfy my sense of smell and taste. Most of banh mi sandwiches are around $4. With a small boba tea at $3.25, that's a well balanced lunch. It's a true hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Spring Branch West neighborhood. If you are around Kempwood between Blalock and Campbell area, be sure to stop in for a treat.

    thai tea with egg pudding
    Daysi L.

    I've been coming to this place since i was 10 years old! it's always been so delicious and the customer service has always been so good. The banh mis here are amazing, always perfectly toasted and freshly cooked meat. I got their egg pudding for the first time and it was so good. The people who work here are always in a good mood! they usually have coconut jelly that is super good as well

    Antonio H.

    It's clean and there's ample parking. The drinks are very good. They don't have milk alternatives. They have mango slushes, which are vegan. My friend enjoyed her coffee drink with bobble. . I thought the mango slush was good. The service is counter service but prompt.

    Banh Mi Combo
    Terry P.

    Decent sandwiches. The bread was well toasted, and the ingredients taste great. There was a bit of vegetables such as cilantro and pickled Daikin and carrots, but not as much to my personal liking. The Jasmine Tea was okay. There wasn't much of a tea flavor, and the address sugar was overpowering.

    BBQ with meatballs on the left, chicken and fried egg on the right.
    Phuong N.

    I'm not going to compare this place to places in Bellaire since we all know that's where you'd go if you really want better and cheaper sandwiches and drinks. Upon seeing the menu, I decided to order the BBQ pork and meatball combination sandwich since I love both kinds individually and always have a hard time deciding which to get. Dilemma solved, I thought. My husband ordered the chicken and fried egg (assuming it would be the sunny-side up version as pictured on the menu banner). Also ordered the green tea smoothie made with green tea ice cream. BBQ/meatballs ($3.50) -- the BBQ pork was not the char-grilled, sweet soy sauce marinade version I thought it would be. It also wasn't exactly the xa-xiu style either. Instead it tasted like it had the same marinade of Vietnamese beef jerky, the sweet and spicy red kind, except it was salty and not spicy. It wasn't horrible, it just didn't taste the way you'd expect it to when ordering a Vietnamese bbq pork sandwich. The crushed meatballs were tasteless. They were pretty light on the meat portions. Best part of the sandwich was the lightly toasted french bread. Chicken/egg ($3.50) -- not shredded, not sliced, but minced tiny chicken bits. It almost seemed like they put the chicken into a meat processor after cooking it. Not sunny-side up, not fried, but scrambled eggs. Mixed together, you might not know there was chicken in there unless you opened up the sandwich and poked around the scrambled egg for it. Individually, tasteless. Combined, tasteless. Best part of the sandwich was the bread. Green tea smoothie with boba ($4.25 for a large aka regular size everywhere else) -- you'd think it would be somewhat creamy since you have green tea ice cream and possibly some milk in the smoothie, but it wasn't even the slightest bit creamy. It was instead more on the icy, watery side. The tapioca, while the good consistency, lacked the honey flavor. The best part would be that it at least did indeed taste like green tea. Service was mediocre but friendly. There was no one waiting ahead of us and the wait for our order was about ten minutes with at 3-4 employees, so not the quickest.

    Kelley V.

    My family has been going to this location for almost a decade! Their number 1 drink is the Avocado smoothie. Their Avacafo smoothie beats out all of the tapioca shops. No one makes their Avacado smoothie as creamy and buttery as they do! Their banh mi ga (chicken) is pretty delicious as well. Those two items are my hands down, go to snacks, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

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    11 years ago

    4 stars for taste but 1/2 a star for service. Young girl working behind the counter continues to be rude. Not going there for awhile!!!

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    10 years ago

    Great sandwiches, hot, friendly and fast. Must go to if in Spring Branch. Very delicious and inexpensive. Great back ground music and decor.

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    Page 2 of 2

    Ask the Community - Royal Tapioca

    Review Highlights - Royal Tapioca

    ALL the banh mi sandwiches are fantastic- the bread is perfection with the crunch on the outside but soft when taking a bite.

    Mentioned in 16 reviews

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    Joe's Deli and Cheesesteaks - Saturday and Sunday $12.99 special

    Joe's Deli and Cheesesteaks

    4.6(18 reviews)
    1.4 miSpring Branch

    Delicious fresh and affordable You normally can't find that…read morein H-town, but you can here. Ask for Michael he was super nice

    Joe's is located in a small strip center on N. Gessner with adequate parking spaces beside the…read morebuilding. It is not easily visible from the street but there is a sign on Gessner that will help you find it. Inside it's a counter service restaurant. I wanted a cheesesteak but had a little difficulty finding it on the menu because it's located under the heading From The Grill and there it's called a Philly Steak. For a place that has cheesesteaks in its name I thought that it should have a section with that name somewhere on the menu. So I ordered a Philly Steak for $9.99 and added an order of fries for another $3.49 along with a canned soft drink. The food took less than 10 minutes. The sandwich came with the requisite meat, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and provolone cheese all on a soft bread bun, it was very good tasting but I wanted more content inside the bun. The Philly Cheesesteaks that I have had in the Philly area had more meat, cheese and everything else. I would have gladly paid $2-3 more for that. Like I said, very good tasting but give me more filling! The fries were large crinkle cut ones and were served hot but they were also a little soggy in the middle. Perhaps undercooked? Finally they charge extra for a credit card without any signage I saw other than when the clerk ran up the bill. I wanted to give a 4 score but have to go with a 3 instead.

    Photos
    Joe's Deli and Cheesesteaks
    Joe's Deli and Cheesesteaks - Turkey club and Philly cheese steak

    Turkey club and Philly cheese steak

    Joe's Deli and Cheesesteaks - Days and Hours of Operation

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    Days and Hours of Operation

    Sandwich Pho Reel - Vermicelli bowl with lots of meat, value my $$

    Sandwich Pho Reel

    4.9(61 reviews)
    0.2 miSpring Branch

    wow wow what an experience! my husband and I are foodies and we LOVE pho! we live in spring branch…read moreand heard about this place and my goodnesssss, it was PHOnomenal 10/10 please see for yourself! broth was perfection, bahn mi was fresh and bread was fluffy and perfect, egg rolls were divine! cannot wait to come back! alsooooo owner came out and randomly gave me a chai tea what an angel! customer service A1!

    Love this addition to spring branch! This has been on my list of places to try and I'm so glad we…read morewere finally able to go. We have a newborn at home, so we had to order takeout. The employee was super nice though. I didn't get a chance to catch his name, but I met Tina and she was so nice! The employee helped me bring my food out to my car. I'd love to dine in with the family cause the restaurant is very spacious on the inside. We ordered a little bit of everything-the pho (with tai and bo vien), fish sauce chicken wings, the grilled chicken with rice, vermicelli noodles with beef, grilled pork banh mi. We really enjoyed everything but my personal favorites were the grilled chicken with rice, fish sauce wings, and the vermicelli noodles with beef. So simple but so full of flavor and delicious!! I also got a cafe sua da and added the pandan cream. It was really really good. I was pleasantly surprised. Can't wait to go back!!! 5 stars for food and service! Great addition to the neighborhood

    Photos
    Sandwich Pho Reel - Pay at the Counter

    Pay at the Counter

    Sandwich Pho Reel - Special order of Grilled chicken w/ steam rice

    Special order of Grilled chicken w/ steam rice

    Sandwich Pho Reel - Grilled pork spring rolls

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    Grilled pork spring rolls

    Salt & Sugar - Harvest Salad

    Salt & Sugar

    4.1(81 reviews)
    4.1 miSpring Branch

    I'd give it 3.5 if I could but I can't so I'll round down. It was not what I expected. Maybe that's…read moremy fault. I was in town for work and staying in the area. I wanted a pork chop or steak and saw this place and their pork chop. It looked great online. When I get there I ate at the bar. It was a coffee bar. Again- I should have done more research. So I was given a menu then I ordered the pork shop. And then the waiter said is that I and proceeded to give me my total. Another thing I have researched. It's counter service. Then I said I just wanted water. I waited for it and he said we have to help ourselves to drinks (later). So ok. Fine. Then later he told me they were out of pork chops. So I got the short ribs with the grits. The ribs were tender. They were tasty. The grits were good. The veg was good as well. I'd give the food a 4 but I would think, since they make their own pastries, they would make a bread to serve with dinner! But no bread so that drops it down a point or 2. I had ordered (pre-paid) for the bread pudding. It was good, legit bread pudding. The place itself is a coffee bar so it looks and acts like a coffee bar. Now to the coffee bar. Someone there ordered and espresso drink. They don't have a knock box and so he proceeded to knock out the very old puck into a trash can under the sink then rinsed it. Then the shot glass looked like it had been there unrinsed from the morning. Then as he proceeded to make the espresso- he had to fill the espresso machine (with tap water). Last- it was Aerosmith on repeat. I like them as much as the next guy, but how about some variety. I guess if I lived in the area I might go back to try their breakfast. Anyway- I ubered there and I wish now I would have just eaten at the hotel bar.

    We drive past this restaurant everytime we go to Walmart which is accross the street. My wife…read morefinally convinced me and we went for a late lunch, 245pm and it was empty. We were greeted and given menus. My wife likes Reuben sandwiches and I love and scour the planet for hamburgers. My wife ordered the Reuben and Rebecca with chips and pickles. She absolutely loved it and said it was the best Reuben since we left NYC 20 years ago. Like I said I am a hamburger aficianado. I will always take a burger over a steak. (not my wife, who thinks that is sacriligious). My bad was that I stopped reading when I read Cowboy Meal which was listed as a burger. It was an AWESOME looking plate and worth just looking at it BUT it was not a burger: it was a salisbury steak!!! I almost cried! On the plus side is that it had a lot of bacon!!! Was it tasty? Meh. Was it a juicy burger? No Way! My side was the smoked paprika salad which was very good. Leaving you walk past their desserts which even a blind person will stop in the tracks. I ordered to go a lemon bar which was very heavy and not skimpy and wife had their apple pie. They didn't make through the night!! The service was excellent and friendly. Will we come back? Absolutely for I want to try their burger. p.s. Really clean bathroom.

    Photos
    Salt & Sugar - Dining room half of the business

    Dining room half of the business

    Salt & Sugar - Chocolate Mouse Crunch

    Chocolate Mouse Crunch

    Salt & Sugar - Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

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    Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

    Royal Tapioca - sandwiches - Updated June 2026

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