There’s this really cool trifecta of businesses downtown on College Ave called Mr. Wish, Hibachi Express, and Aone Market.
I was with a friend downtown last week on the hunt for bubble tea (boba), and google led us to this special place called Mr. Wish. My mom and sister actually went there a few week ago when they visited for parent’s weekend, and they told me I needed to check it out. When I finally went inside and saw three different businesses all in the same large room, I was intrigued about this culinary Frankenstein. To the left was Mr. Wish Natural Fruit Tea, to the right was Hibachi Express, and down the center was an opening into the Aone Market. When I saw separate registers for each in the front, I deduced that there were in fact three different institutions in one building. I ordered a brown sugar boba milk tea from Mr. Wish and my friend and I split an order of custard waffles. While we waited on our drinks and food, we walked down into the market. This was the real jackpot.
The second I walked into the large market, I saw way more Asian snacks, treats, and cookable products than I’ve seen in a long time. The first area I went to was the frozen treats section, where I saw mochi, ice cream treats, cake slices, and many other goodies that I’ve never seen before. Since I just ordered boba, I didn’t snatch any of the sweet treats, but I plan to go back and stock up at some point. Next, I went to the dry snacks section where they had a lot of unique and unfamiliar potato chip flavors, and we tried the “Roasted Cumin Lamb” flavor. They were kinda weird at first, but once I adapted to the new flavor palate I really enjoyed them, and thinking about them now makes my mouth water.
When we picked up our Boba from Mr. Wish, I took a sip and my eyes widened as it was the best milk tea I’ve had while being here. I do declare that the drink was delectably delicious! Even better were the little paw-shaped custard-filled waffles. The breading was so light, fluffy, and flavorful that I almost drifted into a peaceful sleep while biting into it.
I went back this week and got another flavor of boba as well as some chicken fried rice from Hibachi Express. I didn’t like the 3Q boba flavor as much as the brown sugar, but it was still good. The fried rice was also good, but to be honest Kondu’s chicken teppanyaki was better and came with way more food for the same price.
Overall, I rate Mr. Wish a 9.5/10, Aone Market 10/10, and Hibachi Express 7/10. You all should definitely check it out if you haven’t already!
~Asim~
I really appreciate that you tried all three since they seemingly work together well and are probably strategically placed together—maybe even being owned by the same people just differentiated by their names and registers. I also liked that you compared your experiences to other places we’ve read about, like Kondu, giving us a better gauge of the quality of the food.