Chill Bubble Tea

Oh man. I should’ve read that this is a smoothie boba place! We got the Thai tea and taro. Neither was tea of course which was a little disappointing to me. But overall not terrible.

We were at Woodfield Mall last Labor day weekend and our cravings for tapioca and smoothie hit us. Before leaving the mall (we were park at the Nordstrom area) my husband googled and see if there are any bubble tea nearby. Lucky us there was but on the other side of the mall. Me, my MIL, and LO are already tired from walking so we decided to drive around and find the Cheesecake factory (says in the website that it is near that restaurant). I bought 3 flavors, cookies ‘n’ cream, taro and avocado all with extra bubbles! We are all happy! Smiles are big and we are like toddlers receiving a bag full of lollipops and chocolate! Service was fast too!

I knew that there was a bubble tea shop somewhere in this mall so I looked for it and luckily found it! I was really excited to get some bubble tea because I haven’t had some in a while. I’ve recently just came back to Chicago from California to visit. Back in California, I would get bubble tea a couple times a week and I would get my usual: mango green tea with boba.
When I found this place, I found that the employee behind the counter wasn’t very friendly. I didn’t like the way she gestured. She used her hand to come and order instead of verbally saying it which I thought was rude.
After I ordered, I waited a couple of minutes to get my bubble tea. I already had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be great because I saw them use powder… POWDER! In California, they used REAL fruits! I finally got my drink and I immediately was disgusted when I took that first sip. It had such a bad after taste too! I was relying on the tapioca to disguise the horrible flavor. After finishing all the tapioca, I just decided I couldn’t do it anymore and threw the rest away. There goes a waste of a large tapioca. At least I know which bubble tea shop to avoid now.

Tried two drinks from here, horchata and cotton candy. Delish, boba on point. Prices about a dollar more than avg, but it’s in a mall.

4 stars for fast and friendly service, location, value and great taste!
Located inside Woodfield mall by the JC Penney wing.
$ 3.95 + tax for a large tea and that comes with free regular boba. They have options to add other flavored boba or jellies. They also have the option for fresh fruit for $ 1 more. I tried the cantaloupe smoothie and man it was so good and refreshing.
I’ll definitely come back to try their other flavors.

Fantastic bubble tea and service. Its about as good as it gets for suburbia and the people are always kind and nice. They let me change my order too after I made it and were really cool about it.

My thoughts? Eh, it sufficed for the bubble tea addict in me. I had the Purple Oreo and the Tiramisu. The Purple Oreo was just a basic taro bubble tea. There didn’t seem to be anything «Oreo» about it. I mean it was good and all, I like taro bubble tea, but I didn’t see what made it Oreo. The tiramisu was absolutely delicious! I wish more places had that flavor. The tapioca pearls were cooked well, but were completely flavorless. Other places I’ve been to have somewhat sweetened pearls, but this tasted like absolutely nothing, making it odd to chew on. That’s not even to mention how incredibly stingy they were with the tapioca. There was barely any in my drinks.
If not for the delicious tiramisu and taro (because I’m still trying to figure out the Oreo part… and yes, I’m well aware of what purple Oreo is supposed to be), this would only get two stars. The customer service was pretty poor. My first visit, I attempted to get both drinks together. One thing about me and bubble tea: I never order just one drink. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: I’d like a large Purple Oreo with tapioca and…
Guy behind counter: $ 4.31!
Me: Um… ok…
Yep, he actually interrupted me to practically shout the price at me with a look that made it clear there wasn’t going to be anything other than the one drink. Ok then. I actually went back later that night as I was determined to get the tiramisu. I walked up to the counter only to be «greeted» by a clearly unhappy young woman who just stared at me. I ordered a tiramisu bubble tea. The response… «Do you want tapioca in it?» Um, well, that’s what the BUBBLE part of bubble tea is, so yes I do. It was pretty much thrust at me once it was done being made. She and the other girl there just looked incredibly uphappy, borderline annoyed/​upset at having to be there. What an odd experience with rude employees.
The place was also pricey. The $ 4.31 for the large purple oreo… a dollar more for the same size tiramisu. Not really sure why it was more expensive. Maybe I am just used to the place by me that uses much better ingredients, has only one size (Chill’s size large), and sells it for under $ 4. Overall… eh.

Love the Watermelon !! The staff is always friendly as well as efficient! My favorite stop while at the mall!

Wonderful store! Every time I go I am pleased with both the customer service and the drinks. Especially the employee, Dulce, is such a delight to have ordered from. She made my boyfriend’s day with her kindness.

I used to go to the Chill on Greenwood (was it Greenwood? It turned into another place several years ago, sorry.) ages ago, as a fun place to stop and have bubble tea while out riding. Enjoyed the chill-​out atmosphere and comfy couches to sit and sip your bubble tea.
This Chill is a stand inside Woodfield Mall. There are mall benches if you want to sit, but it’s definitely not the same. I’ve only tried one bubble tea variety there so far, but was pleasantly surprised because it was HORCHATA BUBBLE TEA.
This location offers some random, unexpected special flavors, in addition to old stalwarts like your milk teas and fresh fruit bubble teas and avocado and the like. The day I went, they offered tiramisu and horchata.
I asked the guy behind the counter if he’d ever tried the horchata, and he said he hadn’t. I decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so I ordered one. A few minutes of blending later, he slapped the cup in the sealing machine and handed it over.
Very cinnamony, and very delicious. Boba were perfect; neither undercooked nor overcooked, just that pleasant, yielding texture of good tapioca balls. BALLS.
It doesn’t taste exactly like the horchata you get at your favorite Mexican restaurant, but it does taste quite good, so I can definitely live with it. :)

Absolutely love this place. A bubble tea addiction can get pretty expensive at $ 5 bucks a pop, but it is well worth it. I usually stick with the Mango or Berries. I would have loved to give it 5 starts, but the staff there is usually lack luster. Never really smile or really acknowledge anything besides your order. They do however make a mean bubble tea, so that alone will keep me coming back for more.

They have a lot of varieties. The avocado was not sweet and the purple Oreo is not crushed oreos in it. The strawberry shortcake was too sweet

For being a bubble tea shop general manager, it takes a lot for me to like other bubble tea places. and Chill caught my attention. My girlfriend and I were visiting Chicago from Buffalo and we were told to try this spot.
We always try to order a Classic Milk Tea with Tapioca since that is pretty standard everywhere, and then we went novelty by ordering a Blue Raspberry Kiwi Smoothie with Pomegranate and Pineapple Bursting Boba (thats what we call it but they just called it Flavored Tapioca).
Milk Tea — Flavor, Drink texture, tapioca texture, and ice to drink ratio on point, but the sweetness was a bit much for a Milk Tea Bubble Tea. I usually associate Milk Tea flavor as a subtle quiet drink, yet this screamed out «SUGAR»
Blue Raspberry Kiwi — Flavorful, and innovative because you normally think Strawberry Kiwi, yet they paired blue raspberry instead. The smoothie wasn’t too icy, yet not too watery. it was smooth (pun intended). At our shop we have different Bursting Bobas so we wanted to try Pomegranate and Pineapple. They added the expected new dimension of flavoring and texture to the already decent drink. But then the sweetness level kicked our appetites again.
We know that Bubble Tea is supposed to be a dessert drink, and even at my shop we offer sweetness level preferences which I’m sure they do the same at Chill, but for us, we both ordered small sizes and we could not eat dinner for the rest of the night.
Lastly, the guy making our drinks was friendly, offered help, answered any questions, and made our drinks mindlessly with ease and precision.
–1 for sweetness level, 4 for all the awesome you’ve packed into a 10×10 square foot stand.

A lovely cup of tea, in a slightly out of the way wing of Woodfield. It’s worth the trek.
Chill Bubble Tea does bubble tea. In fact, bubble tea is all it does. The shop is simple, sleek and clean, though it’s nice to eye the giant tubs of tapioca in front of the shop.
Their unique «thing» is to offer combinations of flavors for a few dimes more, which is how I ended up with a strawberry shortcake bubble tea (almond, vanilla, strawberry). They also have flavored tapioca, which I’ll try later.
In short, the smoothie part was nice and fresh, and the tapioca was perfectly cooked — a bit chewy but mostly tender. I was done with it on my way out of the parking lot.
I’m definitely looking forward to coming back for another lychee-​containing flavor; and I’m definitely ready to have some flavored tapioca as well.

I freaking love the Nearby function on the Unilocal app. I can’t tell you how many awesome places I’ve discovered just because Unilocal thinks I would like it. I was sitting in the middle of Woodfield Mall thinking about how I can no longer afford half of these stores due to my new «budget» that leaves very little (no) money for shopping. I was about to have a mild meltdown until Unilocal said «You know what? You’re a great person that deserves good things in life. You should go for a bubble tea right now.» To which I replied, «You’re absolutely right, Unilocal.Let me go find this place.»
The menu is huge. It’s hard to decide which flavor to get because there’s just so many choices. However, when I saw the chai bubble tea, it was settled. I asked the girl working if all the smoothies include the tapioca pearls or if I had to pay extra (looking back, this seems like a dumb question but whatevs) and she said they were included. I did see a little sign on the register that said there’s an extra charge for the flavored bobas (kiwi, strawberry, etc) I was also promised a free smile that I never got. Hmmm…
The bubble tea itself was really delicious. It was creamy and blended really nicely – no ice chunks at the bottom! The tapioca and chai paired really well together, so I’ll have to order this more often.
Also: don’t forget to use your 10% check-​in offer from the Unilocal app. I totally forgot to and felt silly asking for a $ 0.40 refund; although, that would have been $ 0.40 I could have spent shopping.

I have known about this place for awhile, and I knew that I would love it when I eventually tried it. But I didn’t because it is a good 30 minutes from my house, it is annoying to park in the JC Penney parking lot and make a trek through prom dresses and a perfume counter to get a bubble tea. I had a bad day that started out a dentist’s office and I needed a reward for being such a trooper. I found myself only about 15 minutes from Chill, and this was my ticket to tapioca.
There were lots of choices, not as many as Joy Yee — but they had my favorite (almond) and others that I had never even imagined. Some were made with fresh fruit, some weren’t. I ordered a large almond with tapioca and a couple of minutes later I was presented with heaven in a cup. Years ago I had gone and visited a friend in Texas. It was there that I discovered bubble tea like this. The kind that comes in all sorts of flavors and is sealed with a plastic lid. I instantly fell in love and haven’t found anything similar… until now. This was near identical to my Texas bubble tea and fear consumed me. I would be driving 30 minutes away to get my fix many more times. I am planning my next visit right now in my head.
I want to branch out and try more flavors — but I don’t know if I can give up the almond. I hear that there is a punch card and a Unilocal check-​in offer. I will find myself here again and again and I’m not ashamed.

I can confidently say that I shop more than the average person. With all that shopping comes thirst. A girl gets parched on a hunt for more clothes that she does not need. When I spied a couple walk by sipping on their bubble teas, I had to have one! We checked the map, and onward we went to Chill Bubble Tea!
At first glance, I noticed that they had a horchata flavor on their menu. Now that’s different. I may have to go back to give it a try. I’m a creature of habit and I went ahead and ordered one of my favorites: Taro. The flavor was right, but the consistency was watery. The tapioca pearls were blah. Half-​way through I was trying to pawn my purple bubble tea off on my boyfriend. I usually don’t even like him taking a taste of whatever I’m drinking because one of his sips and half my drink is gone! Here I found myself almost begging him to take it off my hands so I wouldn’t be burdened any longer by carrying or finishing the drink we trekked to the opposite end of the mall for.
Unless you’re a novice bubble tea drinker, you’ve had better. If you decide to give Chill Bubble Tea a shot and you’re looking to save some change (literally), check on in. You can receive 10% off when you check-​in with your Unilocal mobile app.

So, I checked in through Unilocal because sometimes I actually remember, and I got a voucher for some percent off! I think it was 10 but still, that’s a good deal for doing pretty much nothing!
They have a lot of choices, but the service is kind of slow. They had two girls working. One would take a bout 3 – 4 orders and set up the blenders with the ingredients and the other would work on them one at a time. It’s probably just because it’s so popular, but nonetheless, you might wait in line depending on when you show up.
They have the cool little machine that heat seals the lid on top which you then get to poke with a colored straw of your choice. FUN

It’s probably my fault for picking the weird flavors, but somehow I’m never fully satisfying my bubble tea cravings when I go to Chill. It makes me sad inside.
Their tapioca is sub-par…sometimes frozen chunks or too chewy (aka hard as rocks).
I tried a coconut Thai tea and it was pretty good actually, especially since I had no idea what I was getting myself into with the Thai tea… I was informed that it was like a black tea and opted in… but asked for a good flavor to mix in. I wanted watermelon… but deep down I knew that wouldn’t work. I always want the weirdest mixtures. The girl working there told me to go with coconut and I did. Good flavor pairing.
I guess they are pretty busy most of the time. We had to wait a minute for them to clean some of the blender things to make our drinks. No biggie though.
**bonus — they have a punch card!

I like this place! They make fresh bubble tea frozen smoothies. It’s not like Joy Yee bubble tea in Chinatown, but it’s not bad for the burbs.
I usually get Avacado with tapicoa pearls, green tea latte with tapicoa pearls, and an occational milk tea latte. You can also ask them for more or less of their mixtures as there’s times it can get to be a bit too sweet.
It’s a little space in the Woodfield Mall. There were times that there would be a line waiting for your turn. You get to watch people make your smoothies. If you check in with Unilocal or Foursquare, then you would get 10% off your order!
I wish the cups would be a but more sturdier. It’s hard to hold it to avoid it slipping through your hands. But at least the top is sealed and not a rim cap top that can pop off or leak out your drink.
I would only come here if I’m at the mall for something else. It’s not like you can drive through here to pick up a smoothie and go.