Tasti-Tea will leave you filled with joy just by looking at their delicious bowl of spicy beef noodle soup. The Chinese and bubble tea restaurant, which opened this past March is located on Melville Avenue off of the Delmar Loop. Tasti-Tea always uses local farmers’ market ingredients to ensure the quality of its food.

When you enter the restaurant, you see a big screen with the menu, and you order and pay first before eating. Their menu provides a long list of appetizers, chef specials, starters and drinks to choose from. With a variety of classic Chinese appetizers including squid rings, fried dumplings, salt and pepper chicken and pork buns to name a few, Tasti-Tea is fit for a friends’ gathering to share dishes. Street food like the chive pocket is a must-try with its warm and welcoming smell of chives and scrambled eggs. The crab rangoon also provides a satisfying crunch.

However, make sure to pace yourself.

The starters come in deceptively large portions. In particular, the Sichuan cold noodle gives a plentiful amount of peppercorn spice with cold noodles fit for a hot summer day. The beef noodle soup, which can be spicy or non-spicy, comes with tender beef that’s hard to find elsewhere.

In addition, the scallion pancakes, featuring the classic savory onion flavoring, pair well with the beef noodle soup. As for drinks, Tasti-Tea offers classic milk tea, fruit teas, teas with Yakult flavoring, cheese tea (with salty foam) and smoothies. The mango Yakult tea is a great refreshing drink that does not have the typical artificial taste of syrup flavors.

Tasti-Tea is a great place on the Loop to visit with friends and enjoy authentic Chinese dishes. It’s geared towards students, so it’s fairly priced and, in addition to their delicious Chinese food, the ambience is perfect for a casual meet-up. The wood-based decor provides a cozy and homey feeling as well as a contemporary flair.