The Alley UTC

The cream brûlée milk tea with boba is just the best! I've tried other places but believe they were one, if not the first to have r this specialty drink! Definite recommend! Staff is friendly, service is great, and everything came out quick!Go go go!

This was my first time going to The Alley in UTC! I've been to the OC location several times so I was curious to see how this compared.We came on a Saturday night around 7:30 pm and it was crowded. The space is small with only a few tables and seating so all were taken. Definitely more of a pick up and go spot. There was only one kiosk, which they made everyone order from (register was strangely closed) so there was a line.I usually get the brown sugar creme brulee or ube brown sugar creme brulee! You can never go wrong with either.

I've been here multiple times and have tried some of their specials and some of their fruit tea series. Located inside the UTC mall, parking was very easy to find.The inside was very clean. You order your drink at the kiosk. Service was very quick. The drinks tend to go on the sweeter side (one drink is over 1100 calories). Compared to the average price around San Diego, this is one of the pricier spots with the drinks being over $8.

Stopped by here after Din Tai Fung. I shouldnt have because I was still full but glad I did. This place is located outside of the food court, next to woofpak.we ordered the ube deerioca and a couple of cruffle. WillGo here again to try other bobas.

Really excited that The Alley is slowly expanding down in San Diego! We visited during their Grand Opening and despite the cold weather and rain, the turnout looked great. I think they picked a fine location being so close to UCSD. I ordered the Brown Sugar Deerioca Creme Brulee Milk. That's my go-to drink every time I visit an Alley. Really high in calories but so worth it. It's pretty similar to getting pudding in your boba but the texture is a lot softer and creamier. But I was surprised by how little boba they gave. I compared it with pictures at other locations and it's significantly less. The drink is already pretty expensive and if they skimp out on boba, you're essentially just paying a premium for milk...the service was really fast though, I'll give them that. One thing that threw me off was that there's a 3% service charge for credit card. At no point did the cashier mention this, and if she had, I would've used cash instead. And maybe they don't except cash, but I feel like that's kind of a snakey thing to charge if it's the only option for payment. Also Amex is not accepted.

I got the lychee yogurt smoothie which was super delicious, refreshing, and fruity! There's actual bits of lychee in it, it's not the jelly, so it's very refreshing and has a strong lychee flavor. Would recommend if you're a lychee lover! Though i got half sweetness and it was still WAYY too sweet. Honestly get like 25% or 0% sugar because the yogurt and lychee itself was already really sweet. This drink was pricey at $7.75. Not sure it's worth the price for what it is, I won't be getting it frequently. Will be back to try their other milk teas! The interior is also super cute and minimalistic. The chairs/couches are comfy and there are outlets by some of the tables so this makes a great study spot!!

I am sooo happy The Alley is open at UTC!Their grand opening is 3/30/24. I came during soft opening and compared to other soft openings, this place is On Point! It didn't even feel like the employees were still learning or anything. My fave are their milk teas, esp the Alley Assam and the trio (expect a blueberry flavor in this one!)For my first drink at this location, I opted for a fruit tea. They do use syrup in their fruit teas but fresh fruit is also added. By recommendation of the employee, I opted for the orange peach oolong which contained fresh oranges in it. I got it no sugar and it was perfectly flavorful. It will def become a fave of mine!Employees are super friendly and knowledgeable. They're also located across from Lemonade and on the same side as Starbucks.

The Alley is located near See's Candies! I've been wanting to try this place for years since I've heard about it in LA. Their drinks are pretty hyped. The shop is decent sized, but not many seats and for some reason they are very low. I think some wall seating and two person tables would be ideal for the space. The menu on the croissant case has a glare to it, but luckily they have laminated menu cards we can look at. There's also menus on the wall behind the workers. The workers are very kind and will answer any question you have about the drinks. Since this is my first time here I decided to go with a basic signature drink. I got the Royal No. 9 Milk Tea ($5.75) with brown sugar boba (+ .95 cents) and less ice. The tea flavor was light but you could still taste it. The boba was warm and had great brown sugar taste. Overall decent cup, the only thing I'd note would be the straws are WAYY too short. I was STRUGGLING to get the boba. It was an adventure that I'm not really looking forward to experience the next time. Near the end of the drink when you just have boba and ice left, you'll be left sucking the straw so hard that you take the air out of the cup. The cup is powering up with no air inside of it and all the sudden the boba flies through the straw (max power) and hits you in the back of the throat. Making you choke like a cat trying to take down pills. My cousin ordered the lychee yogurt smoothie ($7.75). This was really tasty, it was sweet but had a tart flavor as well. The yogurt reminded me of Greek yogurt. Lots of lychee taste coming through, we saw the blender and it was basically all lychee! It was delicious, a little thick though but a great and refreshing drink. (3-4 stars). Another thing I want to note and I didn't see this posted anywhere at the front. The tax was 7.75% and then because I used credit card there was a 3% surcharge! If I knew, I would have paid cash. Usually places in Del Mar and UTC prefer and push toward people paying with credit card, I've never seen a surcharge for a boba place before. Kind of weird, I didn't like that. The total of two drinks came to be $16.04 Since it is UTC, there's plenty of boba spots. But I find each one is different and specializes in certain drinks. Next time I'll try the ube taro or brown sugar matcha drink. Those seem to be the top signature drinks that everyone was ordering. Give it a try and find your fav boba spot in UTC!

I decided to return now with the place fully open and try two different drinks. I remain highly disappointed and this place is over hyped. I got the Brown Sugar Deerioka Milk. When I say there has not been ANY brown sugar flavor in these drinks I mean it. I made sure to shake my drink just in case that was the issue last time. Even after a good shaking before inserting the straw, I felt like I was drinking milk. I'm very sensitive to sugar and remain surprised these drinks aren't sweet at all. There also seems to be powder that keeps sticking to my straw which leads me to believe this is powder milk or powder sugar for sweetener. My partner ordered the Orange Peach Oolong. This drink wasn't disappointing, it was sweet and citrusy. However, this does taste like syrup. If you like a natural sweet for citrus, I don't recommend it. I couldn't taste a peach flavor but that might be the syrup that overpowers in sweetness compared to flavor. I don't think I'll return after these two visits :( Very disappointing after all the hype.I also want to add the employees are not happy at all. They don't smile when they greet which brings the ambiance down. The place is literally empty, no welcoming vibe to stay inside and enjoy your drink.

The Alley is finally open in the UTC Mall!We decided to check it out during their first soft opening day and it was great! We tried the Ube Brown Sugar Deerioca Crème Brulee Milk and Brown Sugar Deerioca Crème Brulee Milk (both with Oat Milk which is a free alternative by the way), the Ube drink was a slight sweetness, nothing too overwhelming despite it being regular sweetness. The Deerioca really dominates the flavor profile on this one which is a good thing. As for the Brown Sugar Deerioca Crème Brulee Milk, it was refreshing, but didn't really peak my interest as much. Tasted similar to an Oat Cereal. Since my girlfriend opted for less sweet for her drink it might explain why it didn't stand out to me.They had a lot of people working in the store (to prepare for their busy weekend I'm sure), so no shortage of employees to bounce off questions or get quick service from. No complaints whatsoever, all were helpful and informative.Ambiance of this place seems very clean, and reserved. The classic deer mural is plastered across a good portion of their interior, with small decals mounted on the wall that are similar to something you would find from Louis Vuitton. Really sleek. The seating isn't excessive, so I do worry it might become limited once this place gets busy, so I would expect to get your order to go. With that said, the seats were really cushy and comfortable to lounge in! All in all, I'm happy that they finally opened up in the mall after such a long time. I will most definitely be back during their grand opening.