Black Straw Tea Bar & Kitchen

A cute little spot tucked in a strip mall with a solid, familiar Chinese menu. I've never been disappointed here, though I've also never been completely wowed. One thing worth knowing — they don't serve beer or wine.

Black Straw is really two things under one roof: a from-scratch Chinese kitchen and a legitimate boba tea bar. The food covers the classics done well — honey walnut shrimp, orange chicken, kung pao, mapo tofu — while the tea side turns out things like sea-salt cheese foam over oolong and passion-fruit green tea with lychee jelly.

It's counter-friendly and family-friendly, and the no-alcohol thing is the main caveat if you were picturing a beer with dinner. But for dependable Chinese and a genuinely good boba run in the same stop, it's an easy call.