Dumpling House 香饽饽 - CBD Express — Restaurant in Hamilton

Sorry, this is going to be a long review.

Unfortunately, I have to give 1 star as I could not give zero star. Had the worst experience with the customer service there. We had egg shells in our dish and my friend removed it with her finger which clearly is rubbish and have already eaten some of it. So, we wanted to report this to the owner. However, she had the worst attitude towards us when we pointed this out as if it was our fault. Then, she aggressively grabbed the dish and the shell from my friend's finger and quickly removing the dish without any apologies. Later on, she was yelling at the chef and minutes later coming towards us with a piece of paper pointing over my friend's face saying "she has always respected us in serving the food". However, from our view we have never felt respected by her as she never greeted us when entering the resturant and when she was serving us. From this situation everyone at the table lost their appetite and wanted to pay and leave. However, she kept wanting to argue with us further about this egg situation. The whole situation could have ended well if she had JUST APOLOGISE! but she kept blaming us that we said the dish was rubbish but we NEVER said that the whole dish was rubbish just the shell. Obviously, she misinterpreted our meaning as her English wasn't fluent enough to communicate or understand the situation. But we clearly explained ourself about the dish not being rubbish just the SHELL! She still didn't accept what was being said. Instead, she gazed at us like it was our fault. She was saying that she is a proud and successful owner in Hamilton over 20 years because she had opened 2 restaurants. (Never asked her) She stated that not every resturant is a 100% perfect (understandable) does this mean that it is common and acceptable for the customer to eat the shell or even hair in the $20-25 dishes? Later on, she used chinese with my chinese friend and we kept asking her to use English as some of us in the group didn't understand and wanted to know what she was saying. Overall, from the whole conversation she NEVER APOLOGISE which is basic manner for a resturant owner and she had too many excuses to protect herself sounding like it was ok for us to eat the shell.

As regular customers, foods were always good, but customer service was poor. The owner was successful due to the chef skills in cooking the food....not her. I felt like she treated us quite differently compared to local people. We are not angry at shell situation, just her attitude in solving the issue.

I cannot reply the response from the owner but that's ok i will just add it here, so obviously you didn't read the review and did not get my point.

We never judged the way you cook as I have clearly stated on this review that the food is good. And that's the reason we were regular customers and kept coming back. The problem was your attitude towards customers. And again we have always respected the resturant and never disrespected the people that provide us food but the way you talk to us...

I AM NOT RECOMMENDING TO ANYONE TO GO TO THIS DUMPLING HOUSE CBD EXPRESS. NOT GIVING ANY STAR TO RUDE BEHAVIOR, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE, I NEVER EVER FACE THIS KIND OF MISS BEHAVING ATTITUDE EVER IN NEW ZEALAND. I ORDERED BY UBER EATS CHICKEN AND CHIVES DUMPLINGS HOT AND SPICY. BUT GOT WRONG ORDER , CHICKEN AND CHIVE DUMPLING CHICKEN BROTH SO I TALK TO MANAGER AND WENT BACK TO DUMPLING HOUSE AND I DONT KNOW HE WAS A MANAGER OR OWNER BUT HE WAS ALREADY FRUSTRATED BEFORE I SAY ANY WORD AND HE STARTED SHOUTING AT ME WHEN I TELL HIM WE GOT WRONG ORDER AND I WAS TRYING TO SHOW THEM THAT AT CUSTOMERS END ON WEBSITE PEOPLE ARE SEEING THIS WRONG ORDER OR INFORMATION ITS SYSTEM FAULT THAT YOU HAVE TO SOLVE IT AND HE RAISED HIS VOICE AGAINST ME AND HE TOLD ME THAT YOU HAVE TO CALL UBER DRIVE, I WAS LIKE REALLY!!, IS THIS YOUR EXCUSE? UBER EATS JUST TO PICK AND DELIVER THE ORDER TO CUSTOMERS PLACE. THEY DONT COOK AND HE DID NOT TOOK MY ORDER, UBER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TAKING WRONG ORDER. HE DID NOT WANT TO LICENSE TO ME. BECAUSE I WAS CORRECTING HIM. HE IS VERY ARROGANT GUY. HIS WIFE CAME AND TALK TO ME VERY POLITELY. BUT HE HOLD HER WIFE HAND AND SQUEEZED. AND RAISED HIS VOICE AGAIN SAYING YOU HAVE TO TALK TO UBER DRIVER. I SAID I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU, HE REPLIED LIKE HE IS OWING HER "SHE IS MY WIFE" ME AND HIS WIFE ARE HAVING CONVERSATION IN VERY POLITE WAY SO WHAT IS HIS PROBLEM. AND I LEFT SAYING THAT THANKS FOR BEING RUDE...

Brought my Mama here for a late lunch and we loved it! The wonton soup was amazinggg whanau — so WHOLESOME, fresh, and perfect for a winter day. You won’t want to share it, it’s too good. We also love a bouncy noodle! The salt and pepper squid was next level too 🙌 soft, crispy, we basically inhaled it. Would 100% order again (just no mayo on top next time — mayo wasn’t it, but the side salad hits perfectly)

The Chinese burger was hard out umami vibes but was way too salty — would’ve loved something pickled or fresh to cut through. Fried dumplings? Cooked TO PERFECTION 👌 crispy, tasty… but the “secret” soy was super salty and astringent — it kinda stole the show in a bad way and gave that squeaky mouthfeel. Wish they had more filling, but I’d still order them again with a different sauce.

Vibes were cosy — you feel tucked away but it’s clearly a local fave. It was busy but felt so chill, really easy to relax and enjoy.

Definitely rate the squid and wonton soup — keen to come back and try more! Thanks Dumpling...