Ping's Dumpling Kitchen — Restaurant in Melbourne

food is actually good, and service is great! i've patronised this place since their opening and I have but only good reviews, and they also catered to my special request which is simply adding 4pcs extra of wonton to all the noodle soups i ordered... i've never had problems with this and i was more than happy to pay extra, everytime, of which i always do...

that is, UNTIL TODAY 03 June 2014 at around 6.30pm at the PRESTON OUTLET...

I called to order for take away (1x #34 Fresh Beef & vegetable in noodle Soup and 1x #21 Braised belly pork in noodle soup.) Rachel answered the phone. already when she answered the phone there was no warmth nor was I felt welcome... there was no life in her voice, as if this was too much of a chore... nevertheless i placed my order, with my usual special request of extra wonton... outrightly she said she can't do, without offering any explanation, even when i have already mentioned that I was always accorded this special request... still she just kept on repeating "we can't do it" or "there is no way we can do it" (all in the Mandarin)... until i insisted that and asked "why" when the lightbuld moment for her clicked and she asked somebody there whether my request is doable... in the end when everything is now fine and settled she never said thank you on the phone, nor did she take my name nor my contact number for reference of this phone order...

so my friend and i went and picked up our order... when we entered the venue she (when i found out later it was Rachel) kept on chatting to another staff while sitting at the cash register, without acknowledging me and my friend, until one of the staff acknowledged our presence... when i mentioned that we were there to pick up our called-in order, did she turn around to look at us and handed our order to me and said the total price in huff without looking at me, without even managing a smile...

this left a bad total experience with this place... it almost erased all the good experiences that I had before... I hope management could handle this Rachel girl and ensure that she is trained to welcome guest with a welcoming voice and a warm smile... The owners/management should realise that their FRONT LINE STAFF (whether answering phone calls or welcoming guests) are the ones responsible for making and breaking of the initial and final impressions that customers have in their mind as part of their total experience with the venue...

i am giving this experience a 2 star... i am more than happy to change it when i see an improvement in their staff (especially Rachel) with customer services and...

The service at this place is hilarious to me, haha.

I walked in today, and a lady from across the restaurant signaled with her hands: "How many people—two, three, four?"

I held up one finger. She gestured toward a table, and somehow, I knew exactly which one she meant, lol.

I sat down—no table service. A minute after sitting, I realized, "Ah, they probably want me to order using the QR code."

After placing my order, I didn’t have to wait long. I got my fried pork dumplings in 13 minutes.

I find dumplings at most Chinese restaurants to be relatively similar. But the difference is in the details.

Big chunks of cabbage. Crumbly, moist pork mince. And not overly oily like at a lot of other places.

In fact, the dumplings tasted refreshing—probably because the cabbage and chives were a little more prominent, instead of being shredded into tiny bits and condensed within the small ball of minced meat.

I’ve had dumplings that looked just like the ones in the picture below come out semi-raw from a different place, so I was a little skeptical. But luckily, these were all cooked to perfection.

A lot of the dumplings weren’t super crisp, and for the price ($15), I couldn’t find much that made Ping's stand out from other places. At $15, that’s one dumpling per dollar. It’s a little pricey compared to some spots.

Luckily for Ping’s, though, compared to other foods (like burgers, burritos, sandwiches), $15 is still relatively cheap. And for that price, you get a meal that fills you up for the rest of the day.

I'm a tad disappointed to see hygiene issues mentioned in quite a few reviews after the fact. Luckily, I didn’t encounter anything like that during my visit. But after reading those reviews, I’m a bit put off, and I don’t think I’ll return to Ping’s anytime soon—even though my experience was quite positive.

I’m in a bit of a predicament. Do I recommend Ping’s? I would—but only if Ping’s is careful with how they handle hygiene in the kitchen and dining area.

It seems to be an ongoing issue, considering a lot of the one and two-star reviews mention it.

My message to Ping’s: be very careful. Some establishments get...

It was a fine sunny day and we decided to head for Clayton's one of the famous dumpling place and being Friday evening it was very loud with people chatting their hearts out.

As we sat, menu was handed over with a warm smile and it had vast variety of foods, which was amazing. We decided to order Peking pork dumplings (10$) and Shanghai Crispy Duck (16.80$). They had Tea flasks which were placed on table but we didn't had one so we requested twice before it came with an apology, which is absolutely fine as it's busy time.

In came our dumplings, which were boiled but had good flavour though,can use their spicy sauce kept on table as accompaniment, as I prefer my dumplings little spicy. Then came duck which was as crispy as it was mentioned and seasoned pretty good as well but what could have been amazing is some accompaniment of veggies or any sauces could have made it look more palatable as it came in a simple small size platter whereas when we saw the dish it didn't looked that good at all. I mean common you can't serve duck by itself.

So overall I will review it average restaurant with 3stars as a complete experience as if you want food which is decently priced and don't care about the LOUD atmosphere in weekends evening, Ping's Kitchen will not disappoint you at all.

P:S: I did had Shanghai Vegetable and Chinese sausage rissoto there, yes RISSOTO which is not really rissoto but a tasty fried rice with greens and cured Chinese sausage/meat, tasty though, dunno why they...