San Diego will get its first taste of the Alley on Tuesday, August 1 when the Taiwanese chain officially lands in Clairemont. The new store will be open starting at noon all this week with a grand opening event scheduled for Saturday, August 5 that will kick off with a lion dancing performance at 10 a.m.
A different franchisee is behind the outpost of the Alley that’s coming to Westfield UTC later this summer.
Founded in 2015, the popular bubble tea shop has gone global, with over 400 locations across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. It’s known for making its boba, or tapioca pearls, from scratch, dubbing it “deerioca” after the brand’s deer logo. Slow-cooked in brown sugar syrup, the boba features prominently in its most popular drink, the Brown Sugar Deerioca Milk, which comes in variations flavored with matcha, cocoa, ube.
Other beverages range from teas topped with cheese foam to milk teas and fresh fruit smoothies. The Alley also serves croffles, trendy croissant-waffle hybrids topped with classic, chocolate, or matcha creme brulee.
Creme brulee-topped croffles.The Alley
Jimmy Nguyen, who co-owns the Clairemont franchise along with Lam Nguyen, Phuc Vo, and David Nguyen, tells Eater that the group is also planning a location near SDSU at 5854 Montezuma Road, but that branch isn’t slated to open until late 2024 or early 2025.
