Fashion Wok is a restaurant nestled in the walkway between Murphy Street and the parking lot off of Frances Street in downtown Sunnyvale. Established in 2015, the spot is a relative newcomer and small franchise with only one other location in Foster City.

Fashion Wok is better known for its catering and dine-in experiences with an expansive menu of over 150 food offerings, but the restaurant is also a competitor in one of the downtown’s fastest-growing sectors: the boba scene.

Sandwiched between six other storefronts dedicated to boba — Chaiyo Tea, Teamoji, Bambu, Teazzi, K Tea Cafe and Bober Tea — Fashion Wok does what it does the quickest, cheapest and largest drink for its price point, despite not marketing itself as a “boba store.”

Fashion Wok only offers six fresh teas and juices — the least of any spot in downtown, not including its pre-packaged options, soft drinks or alcoholic offerings — boba milk tea, Thai milk tea, passionfruit juice, peach juice, strawberry juice and lemon juice.

With such few offerings and only one drink size to work with, their staff has less to worry about with their drink menus (though they offer extra sugar and less ice but that’s about it), delivering a refreshing experience every single time.

The spot includes pearls for its boba milk tea and Thai milk tea but charges an extra 50 cents (55 cents after tax) to include pearls in its other offerings.

While Bambu and K Tea Cafe also charge 50 cents to put pearls in their drinks, they do not have any options that include pearls in their original price point. Additionally, the drinks at both spots start at $5.50 without pearls ($6.01 after tax) and $6 with pearls ($6.55 after tax).

With a monthly rotating “specialty” discount of $3.50 ($3.82 after tax) on one drink, Fashion Wok leaves Teamoji’s classic and oolong milk teas in a distant second place at $4.95 (tax included) for a medium size without pearls; the restaurant’s other drinks that month are $4.75 ($5.18 after tax), edged out by Teamoji after tax but with much more drink than Teamoji’s medium offering and pearls included.

Considering that it’s unfair to call a drink boba if pearls in the drink — and adding boba at Teamoji costs 75 cents (tax included) — it’s safe to say Fashion Wok offers the cheapest boba in downtown Sunnyvale by a landslide, even if it only has its two tea offerings and its monthly special in the running.

Wait times are also significantly shorter at Fashion Wok with its smaller drink menu to work with, as my visits over the last four months averaged around only a minute of waiting after putting my order in. Unlike their other orders which go to the kitchen, drinks are handled at the front and are prepared in batches. The longest I’ve had to wait for drinks was two minutes and that was because I ordered multiple drinks at the same time, making it a faster experience per drink.

Compare this to other spots in downtown that have averaged around three to five minutes of waiting for their drinks without taking queues into account, partly because of their bigger menus and the fact that their storefronts are dedicated to boba, boba and nothing but boba, as well as the fact that they prepare their drinks individually.

That comes on top of the fact that Fashion Wok is open later than any other boba shop in downtown, staying open until 11:30 p.m. every day except Sundays, where it closes at 9:30 p.m.; the second latest shop to close, Bober Tea, keeps its doors open until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays but closes up shop by 9 p.m. every other day.

Overall, Fashion Wok’s boba impressed me — while the boba itself was in the middle of the pack for downtown, it caught me off guard by being that good and that big of a cup at its price point, for a restaurant that is not explicitly a boba store.

Payment options: Cash, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday

Phone: (408) 739-8866

Rating: 4.8/5

Distance from De Anza: 20 minutes by bus