The Hub Café

THE worst food ever. chkn curry-​curry was S&B golden curry. how do I know? cuz that’s what I use at home! Hainan chkn-​rice tasted like it was in a cooker for days! disgusting. chicken, tough as hell, gave it to my dog. to add to this, waited over 30min for my food. it was only 2 orders!

It is with a deep heart that I must report that «the HUB» our favorite «milk tea spot» has shut down. :-(
So weird cause there was no noticed or signs or a heads up from the owners, and we were here so often that the lady and her son who own the places knew us.
I wonder if something happened? It was so sudden like today it was open and tomorrow it was out of business with car board paper on the windows.

The Hub Café has a wide selection of Asian food when we can’t decide what we want. My family first came because we were craving hot pot and saw the banner advertisement. Well, it was not good and it will not be our hot pot place. However, I ordered popcorn chicken for the kids and that was dang tasty. My husband and I were practically fighting the kids for the last piece.
Needless to say, we have returned for the popcorn chicken. We have also ordered the rice pot with Taiwanese sausage, a rice pot with curry, and the cold noodle and these were definitely much better choices. They are tasty, filling, and very wallet friendly.
They also have great deals on their drinks. BOGO on the milk teas with boba and also their fruit teas which are very refreshing! So, the food isn’t the greatest– but is always seems to satisfy our bellies.
*Yelp 100 Challenge: Review 83/​100*

What?! I’ve never written a review of The Hub? Well let’s get to it!
I have been coming here when The Hub was just birthed. I am like a proud father watching a child grow up. The owners might have changed over the years, décor has been added, service staff has rotated, but the food has always been excellent.
The staff over the years have always been great. I remember there was a period I came here so often the staff knew exactly what I was going to order. Do you know how awesome it is when someone taking your order completes your sentence?! Sometimes drinks do take a long time but that’s only cause they put extra TLC in that brew of theirs.
I have tried most items, but my go to dish over the years has always been the pickled mustard and pork noodle. It may sound weird, but it’s effective and does the job. It’s fairly cheap and always hits the right spots. The broth is broth and a pleasure to sip on. I also recommend the spaghetti (oddly), it is also very good. I would however stay away from the ramen, I’ve had it so many times and it’s changed flavors more times then I can remember.
There are two appetizers I love here. The Fried Tofu is awesome! Totally different then other places and comes with two dipping sauces. Always comes out steaming hot so you know it’s fresh. Also the bean curd is delicious. It is the polar opposite of the Fried Tofu and comes out nice and cool. Those are two of my favorite appetizers here. You can also get the popcorn chicken, but popcorn chicken is just popcorn chicken.
Billy Mays said it best. cause wait! There’s More! The drinks here are made to order. Fresh tea brewed constantly. The Fruit Tea and Boba Milk Tea are both excellent, and Buy One Get One Free. What more do you need to hear?! Get it! The fruit tea comes with apples and oranges sliced in it and has a taste that’s both fruity and easy to drink.
There you go, a review of The Hub, a few years late.

This café is pretty big and there are a bunch of tables inside. This seemed to be a première study spot as many kids from Mt. Sac had their laptops out. A plus is that they offer free wifi and some board games. Overall, I wasn’t really impressed with this place and the experience was pretty mediocre for me. Food tasted decent though.
Trying to order was kind of a nightmare. Their lunch special included a bubble green/​black tea with their bowl options. (Bubble does not equal boba by the way.) I tried asking if I could upgrade it to a milk green tea and just pay the difference, but to him «upgrade» meant «add»…yea I tried so hard to be clear but after a few awkward minutes of repeating myself I ended up just saying forget it haha.
Service was pretty quick though. Tried their teriyaki chicken bowl and it was satisfying. I like how they put enough sauce over the rice. They also give brown rice as an option for all the health conscious peeps out there! They also have a ²⁄₃ course meal option in their menu where you choose what appetizer, main course, and/​or dessert from a group of options. My brother tried the porkchop rice with popcorn chicken appetizer and it was pretty decent size and taste wise!
I don’t like how they don’t have everything in their menu. They have a special that has buy one get one boba milk tea right now. Posters and signs are posted showing their new items or specials, but they’re all towards one side of the café. I sat in the middle of the café and all the posters and signs were towards the counter where you order to go, so it was hard to see.):

Uninviting service. The young employees seem inexperienced?
Okay drinks.
The prices are rather high for what most of the food is, and most of the food is mediocre at best. The drinks are okay, but they do not stand out from the other boba drink places in the plaza.
I have been eating around the plaza for quite some time throughout my college career. An average meal costs about $ 10 without the drink at this joint. Most things I’ve tried tasted like they came out of the microwave.
This restaurant also has a tendency to rip off successful menu items from restaurants on the other side of the plaza, but the dishes tend to come out in pale comparison to those rival restaurants. One disappointment after another. If you’re going to copy dishes as if they’re your specialty, at least make them taste good.
Stick to the simple items here.
I will only return when my friends want to meet up for a study session.

It has taken me a bit of time to think it over and now I have found the need to blast this place and to warn you about our last experience.
THIS PLACE SUCKS. The owners and owner’s son (you’ll see him mixing the teas in the back sometimes) are cheap mo-​fos. A few weeks ago my fiancé and I came in and got their Buy one get one Fruit Tea drink. Each drink was NOT full at all. (Look below at my picture). WTF? This is the first time I have ordered a drink at a Tea café/​restaurant and did not get a full cup.
…I immediately complained. We have gotten this drink since they started the promotion and NOT once have we been treated with such disrespect. WHO in the world gives almost HALF a cup to someone that orders a full cup?
ONCE I SPOKE UP, THEY STARTD MAKING EXCUSES: And guess what the girl said (who worked there said???) Of course she made a LOT of excuses, «OHH we changed the rules this past week…» (Oh really? WELL then why didn’t you effing write it somewhere, on the wall it still says Buy one get one free Fruit Tea), and she said, «SORRY this is what we do now…» (are you serious?) HALF full — you are trying to cheat us???
THE OWNER’S SON IS CHEAP, DISRESPECTFUL & DUMB: Guess what the sad thing was? The girl went back to tell the owner’s son about it and he was still reluctant to give us any more tea, as if it was OUR Fault that our tea cup was HALF full. Rule of thumb, if a customer buys a fruit tea, it should be full. NOT half… it’s like ripping off your customers blatantly. Plus it’s JUST water. worth no more than 10cents.
After the girl complained to the owner’s son, he finally gave in. GEEESS what? The tea was already PRE-​mixed in his mixer. It’s just WATER. What was such a big deal? So CHEAP. Both him and the old fat lady with the short hair (his mom-​the owner) are both lame people.
BAD QUALITY HERE: Food isn’t that great… imitations all over the place… fat grease… HIGH PRICES… go elsewhere if you want good food and don’t even bother ordering any teas or anything, you’ll get ripped off
FINAL CONCLUSION: We used to come here a LOT… I think we have spent over $ 1000 here as customers & patrons. We have kept their lights on for the past year and they have disrespected us a LOT this past time we came. It is sad– because of this, they have lost two loyal customers for life. Imagine them trying to save «10 cents» and lose two future potential customers of $ 1,000+ profit. In addition to that, there are PLENTY of good places to get drinks in the Walnut area… Competition is fierce. Try Coffee Break (on the other side of the strip mall — heard that place is way better).
THIS PLACE WILL TURN ITS LIGHTS OFF SOON. I honestly envision this place closing down in the next 3 – 6 months. NOBODY goes anymore! NOW I KNOW WHY!!! Oh well, it’s their LOSS. Just warning you. We will NEVER BE BACK and we’ll tell all our friends. My family already hates their establishment so it’ll just add more humor for them when I talk about it. LMAO.

July 17, 2013
After 5 weeks, I finally found out what my boss is ordering lunch from! Ok, I have been disgusted with the food she has been ordering, but there are rare times when the food is decent. However, the food isn’t up to par with my taste buds.
This place makes variations of Chinese and Taiwanese food, but it ends up strange and hard to put down into my stomach. We have had their spaghetti, but with macaroni? Wtf is that? Then soggy fried pork? Ugh… I am sorry, HUB CAFE, but you get a two.
Why two? Well, I wanted to rate a 1 star, but I haven’t tried the rest of their food and drinks. Perhaps, its the food the boss orders isn’t good, or she just doesn’t know how to cook or whatever… but two is all I can give now until I actually visit you, HUB CAFE.
Btw…happy birthday to the new princess to Prince William and Kate!

Pricey for the food you’re getting, the boba is buy-​one-​get-​one free because it’s $ 4 for a mug, service is fine
My only truly negative experience was when I ordered my food and it did not come out after half an hour

overpriced drinks, overpriced desserts, and overpriced food. everything here is so expensive and not worth the $$ you pay.
their price for their icy milk drink special is $ 3.99 (
). expensive right?! it didnt taste that good either. they put way too much ice and the whole drink taste like plain blended ice with a tiny hint of milk. i cant believe i paid $ 4 for this piece of garbage. but i must admit that the pudding they put inside the drink was quite good. i told them i dont want any boba so i dont know how their boba taste. if you want ice milk drink, go to half & half instead. they make a much better one at a cheaper price as well.
the snow fluff cost $ 6.50 that includes 3 toppings (
). i tried the matcha snow and it didnt taste that good. the snow wasnt smooth enough and there were alot of big chuck that is similar to shaved ice texture. the matcha didnt taste strong enough and i could barely taste the matcha. i had to close my eyes and concentrate when to find the matcha flavors.
total for these two things are a bit over $ 11. totally not worth it!

Returned at lunch hour to try the Hainan lunch special. Um, DECLIOUS. $ 6+ comes with bubble (aka iced) green/​black tea. What makes the dish is the amazing sauce… its so FRESH (reminds of green salsa, but more garlicky). Also, the chicken pieces are sliced thin and bite-​size. Seriously, this is a top competitor to Savoy.

BOGO for Boba Milkteas.
This 4-​Star rating is for the Green Milk Tea ONLY. I have not tried the food.
I usually get the Green Milk Tea and study here. The Wifi has great connection and there are outlets in the surrounding areas of the restaurant. The tables are stable for you study on and enough space for you to study stag. But you might get distracted with the smell of your neighbor’s food and such.
All I have to say for the drink is: CONSISTENT in taste. The green milk tea is very milky, which is what it is supposed to taste like AND the boba is always perfect. It is not old boba either — and I know my boba! It is chewy and squishy! Yum.
As far as the service, they try to be quick and prompt, but I feel like they get distracted or cater to their customers who speak some Chinese dialect as oppose to someone who clearly is not Asian or something. Or maybe that is just me? Meh. But the service is a little slow.
Other than that, pretty darn solid.

Four stars for their food (love their 2 course meal)
one star for poor training: a waitress with long hair (i bet she’s new) waited my table to day 1÷23÷2013 at about 11am. we asked to be seated at a four seater table and she refused but when a mother and daughter came in they were seated at a four seated table. Hub café, is that how you train your waitresses?

/​/​LOCATION /​/​Across the street from Mt. Sac Community College.
*Tip: Be careful, there is a photo camera at the red light on Grand and Amar.
+Free wi-​fi
/​/​AMBIANCE /​/​
+Spacious with large tables for chit-​chatting or studying
/​/​FOOD /​/​
+ Mango Black Tea: Best mango black tea I’ve ever had, very refreshing
+ Passionfruit Green Tea: Yummy, but too syrupy sweet
+ I haven’t had the food items here in a while, but the beef noodle soup is suppose to be delish
*tip: get all your drinks half sweet to get the true tea flavor

There the hub. you earned your 4 stars. The food was pretty good!
Ordered the Hot Plate Chicken combo. Got it with peppered sauce, spaghetti and spicy miso soup. The dish was very good. I was really surprised to how tasty the chicken was. But I can do with out the spicy miso soup. Wasn’t that good.
For drink I had the passion fruit drink. it wasn’t bad. The drinks are still good here.
I might start coming here more again when i start my class at mt sac.
I’m taking a break from typing my paper to write this review. haha. ok. time to go back to my paper. ;O
Oh yeah. And i still can’t believe that cardboard looking seat is still up! And people still scared to sit on it. Cracks me up!

Still one of my favorite wifi junkie spots with good asian drinks (tea/​boba stuff), and chill environment with large selections of games. Yes games!
So if you’re not a talkative person, or ADD or just want something more interactive then grab a game. I’ll post pictures of most the games they have here: 3 monopoly, lots of chess and checkers, guess who?, sorry, 2 jengas, lexigo, sequence, simpsons battle of the sexes.
Since its near Mt Sac, you’ll get some students come chill here. Lots of families, older and middle age chinese adults. And not any or much high schoolers — $$Ching chang! Thats money! Perfect spot right? ;)
Enough plugs and seating around for small parties of 2 or 4. You can mess tables together for larger parties. Music is smooth and jazzy.
In plaza with a karate place, other tea places, burger king and tanning salon. The plaza next to it has a subway. Parking is available in the private lot. Easy going plaza.

I had a green milk tea with boba from The Hub today and it was delicious. It was very refreshing and the boba balls were slightly sweet, soft and chewy!!! Yeah, I’m a fan!
They also have Milk teas and Fruit teas as a buy one, get one free certain times of the day (please check).
Xie Xie!