Royal Tapioca

Kitchen looked dirty. Dirty pots and pans filling the sink. Staff eating while preparing my sandwich. Couldn’t get over it and threw away my sandwich. I typically use Unilocal before I try a new place… Unilocal failed me this time.

Yay, they now take cards with $ 10 minimum. Before they only took cash. Me and my son love it here their drinks have been great for years and their sandwich are tasty! Very affordable.

I am totally obsessed with their veggie and avocado sandwich. I’m not a vegetarian so I like to add their bbq sauce to the sandwich. Their bbq sandwich is pretty good too, but I’m all for the veggie sandwich with bbq sauce! I’ve had their avocado drink a little while ago and it’s good. A lot of places nowadays use powder for their smoothie. Here, they use actual avocados! :p

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

I love me some Royal Tapioca. Great little spot in the heart of Spring Branch.

delicious and inexpensive!
my roommates and I went here because it was so close to home, but we haven’t stopped going back since. they ask you how you want everything, even while making it, so they can get it perfect for your tastes.
the drinks are great, the boba isn’t hard like you find at other places. and you can tell them you like your drinks sweet, so they can add honey (or other sweeteners) to the more bitter tasting teas.
overall, a fantastic restaurant!

I’ve been coming here since it’s nearby. I’ve tried several different Tapioca places but this one is my favorite, I may be biased since I’ve been coming here for so long. Their sandwiches are good and relatively cheap.
Keep in mind that they will ask if you want jalapenos in your sandwich, these are very spicy jalapenos so if you can’t tolerate spiciness, opt out of jalapenos.

4 stars for taste but ½ a star for service. Young girl working behind the counter continues to be rude. Not going there for awhile!!!

My friend brought me here because she wanted me to try the bbq sandwich along w the vanilla coffee frozen drink. Can’t remember the name fully but omg. Everything was truly
Amazing. I went a week ago and it’s all I’ve been thinking about… I have to have amazing food again once it’s swept me off my feet. lol I’d say give this place a try if you’re looking for great flavored for an inexpensive price

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.

Hidden gem in Spring Branch. If you’re in the mood for tapioca or fruit smoothie or Vietnamese banh mi this is the place to go. Prices are reasonable and the owners are very sweet besides that the tapioca and the banh mi a one of the best in town

I have been going to Royal Tapioca for over 5 years. They have the best mango slushie with tapioca. Their banh mi ga is to die for. They aren’t overpriced. They have a cozy home feeling to them as well. The employees are sweet and nice when you walk in. I would recommend this place any day.

I agree with John T.
I ordered Taro with tapioca and it was horrible! Like they put old mushy tapioca and I don’t even know what else it just didn’t even taste like taro, it was very bland watery and bitter.

I love this place! I have tried other Vietnamese sandwiches at other places and I guess you can say I been spoiled by this place because they are never as good.

Nice and toasty Banh Mi! I got the BBQ Pork with an egg. very flavorful and it’s like shredded pulled pork. The owners are always welcoming and are some very nice people! I’ve became a regular lol.

Tried this out for the first time randomly. FYI it’s located in the hood part of Spring Branch. I felt like I was in Vietnam eating my banh mi and having a smoothie drink. The prices were very cheap $ 15 for 2 drinks and 2 sandwiches. I got a green tea blend that was made with green tea ice cream (smoothie). Yummy! The 2^nd drink was green milk tea with honey added it was refreshing and had just the right amount of sweetness. The tapioca was good and not too chewy or too firm. The banh mi was a little too toasted for my liking but still good. My fried egg inside my banh mi was cooked perfectly. I asked the employee to please not over cook my egg since I like the yolk runny. The combination banh mi actually had meatball in it with a curry taste to them which was different but not bad. The vegetables seem fresh and the right amount of meat to vegetables ratio.

For a place that’s called «Royal» tapioca! That itself puts a high standard on quality of everything made.
I’ll make this short and constructive!
First of all had a Thai tea with tapioca. The Thai tea tasted like milky water, with flavorless tapioca that is either over cooked mushy or leftovers from yesterday! For a place that’s supposed to be specialized in drinks this is a huge turn off.
Lastly the sandwich I chose the barbecue pork, watching them make the sandwich which another thing I hate to see at food places is a microwave. Everything was heated up with the microwave. I don’t understand why serve food if nothing is freshly cooked.
Why open a place if nothing is freshly made?
For this place to remain a 4 star is mind boggling.

Awesome, cheap, delicious and fast just how it should be :) I had the chicken bah mi and my co-​worker had the bar eques bah mi. We both loved it so much that we spent our entire lunch devouring our food. We had the milk teas with tapioca and they were good. I think we will try smoothie next time as they seem to be better. Overall good experience. very small.

This place is great. BBQ sandwiches are delicious, as well as strawberry and chocolate smoothies! Prices are great and the owners are very nice. My boyfriend and I go here several times a month.
I only wish they accepted cards. I don’t always have cash and am too lazy to go to an ATM.

I grew up in Spring Branch and used to come here all the time. I love Banh Mi. I hate how the french bread tears up the roof of my mouth every time I eat Banh Mi though.
My favorite is the Banh Mi Thit Nuong (BBQ). Gotta have jalepenos in it! For $ 6, I get the Banh Mi Thit Nuong & the small Avacodo Smoothie.
There are small tables in the store so I usually just eat my lunch there.
CASH ONLY! — I NEVER carry cash so had to go to the ATM across the street to get cash.