Hanlin Tea Room

Reviews

• Desiree N.

  star star star star star 1 June 2026

  Very authentic Taiwanese food. And the best oyster pancake that I had for a long while. Like many yelpers. I have been noticing Hanlin for awhile. And finally pay a visit for lunch and than for dinner. Both times, we were all very happy for the food we got here. And what's better than all you can drink boba all night on Monday and Wednesday XD ?? It might be the best or worst idea. But I am glad that they didn't make you only choose one drink to stick to it but you are allow to choose a wide selection of drinks with an exclusion of their latte menu. So you pay for one drink and drink up for as much as you want . ( Honestly, we could only do 2 drinks, one for there, and one to take to go. So it's a 50% off, not bad still)
  
  What are the food I love here:
  Like I mentioned earlier. #1 favourite is their oyster pancake (orh ah Jian). The pancake is light not too much batter , just the right amount of gooeyness, good amount of oyster and cabbage. And yet still crispy on the edge. I really enjoy this dish. And it's big enough to share amount 2-3 people.
  
  My #2 favorite is their Hakka spicy pork stirred fried dish. It's so flavorful and with a slight kick on the spice. Not actually spicy if you don't eat the chilli, but it's just enough to taste the fire and heat with the dish. And I like all the veggie that comes with the dish.
  
  Last but not least, I do like their personal hotpot. I had their pumpkin milk soup base because j already had a salty and spicy dish. So I wanted something mild but yet soupy. It was recommended by the staff, and it was good too. Given the fact that I like pumpkin, so it's a no brainer for me, although I do want to try the pepper pork stomach soup base as well. The only complain I had it that you don't get to pick to remove or substitute or customized the ingredients that comes in the hotpot. I didn't like too much of the "balls" that it comes with but end up liking on of the fish ball. So it's still a good dish overall. And Tuesday and Thursday is buy 1 get 2nd 50% off. So I am definitely coming back one of those days again.
  
  I believe during lunch time on weekdays, drinks are also half off. So it's pretty good deal as well. And the space does get busy. So avoid lunch rush or dinner rush if you don't wanna wait.
  
  Oh and restaurant ambience is also nice, modern and clean. Staff are nice and parking is easy. That's why it is a solid 5 stars for me

• Faith C.

  star star star star star_border 28 May 2026

  I come here a lot for their sliced pork with garlic sauce and fried tofu. It's always great except for today. I went in around 8:30pm to get my usual to go. I WAS SO EXCITED cause I've been craving it for the past hour but when I got home, it was the wrong order. I am v sad.
  I'll prob raise it to 5 stars the next time I eat my favorite dishes from there. They have great food.
  
  SO SAD ;-;

• Alexander Y.

  star star star star star 27 May 2026

  I've been eyeballing Hanlin for the longest time since my bank is literally across from it. Finally had Taiwanese food cravings for once, so decided to take the plunge!
  
  Decided that I wanted to get some popcorn chicken and regular black milk tea. You can tell the quality here is just a tad higher than your regular boba place. Popcorn chicken actually had a very uniquely sweet flavor to it, which I was a fan of. And the black milk tea actually had some legitimate tea flavor to it, so you know it was made legitimately and not using powder!
  
  Service here is very good. They were very friendly and accommodating for my to-go order, and were happy to help me out as I had never been here before. Plus the food came out pretty quickly, so no complaints here.
  
  Definitely have been missing out on Hanlin! Need to come back here for some of the other items on the menu.

• Pauline V.

  star star star star star 21 May 2026

  Panda Milk Tea is all that you need to know! I've literally only been here once to try this drink recommended by a friend and damn, I'm hooked. It wasn't overly sweet (I got 70% sweet) and the boba was perfect. You can taste the actual tea leaving you with qualitEA drinks. They use real tea, none of that powder stuff! The kitchen was closed when I arrived at 10ish, so I will try the boba peanut butter sandwich next time.
  
  Please come out to OC area, preferably in GG area so it's not so far LOL

• Clara C.

  star star star star star_border 8 May 2026

  Hanlin replaced a previous smelly pot restaurant.  It's at the corner behind In N Out area on Colima.  Servers speak English, but it doesn't seem like it's their native tongue.  There's one single bathroom in the back.  Parking is pretty easy.
  
  The first time I came here was Wednesday night to get their AYCE drink for $15.  You can get any drink you want as long as you're about done with the previous one; you don't have to get refills on the same drink.  One down side was they ran out of some items, like plum and aiyu.  Those were actually the only things I was looking for, so I was pretty disappointed with the "AYCE".  My fave drink would be the honey lemon with aloe (it supposedly doesn't have caffeine!).
  
  Food:
  I had the three cup chicken dish $12.95 here because someone else at the table also ordered it.  We both thought the chicken wasn't flavored enough.  My parents actually visited the next day and ordered the same chicken dish.  Because they don't have Yelp accounts, I'm going to post for them that they thought the same about the chicken!  The dish wasn't cooked long enough for the chicken to get all the good flavor.  
  
  The beef tongue was good, although it's a small portion for the price $13.99.  The sesame oil chicken vermicelli smelled really good (and was very oil) because of the sesame oil, but it tasted ok.  The hakka salty pork noodle soup $11.95 was hella salty and not for me.  I won't be ordering that again even though the menu makes it look delicious.  
  
  I'll be back because they have free wifi and a few outlets.  It's pretty quiet in the evenings, and they have outdoor seating.  You'll usually find people smoking outside.