Shanghai Dumpling King — Restaurant in Bellevue

delicious pot stickers -

Food: 4 stars Service: 4 stars Price: 3 stars Ambiance: 3 stars Overall: 3.5 stars

This restaurant opened a few days ago and it was already popular. We came here at 6pm for dinner on a Saturday, and people were lining up outside. We got our seats after 10-15 min since our friends put their names down on the wait-list already.

This place was originally "little taipei", which didn't have a lot of business or dining space. The place can fit maybe 8 groups but that's it, and no seats for big groups either. You can order online through the QR code on the tables.

We ordered combo D 復興 for $23.99 that comes with the pot stickers, 6 large wontons, and either soy milk or tea egg. We picked soy milk. We also ordered the deep scallion oil dry noodles without the pork chop for $12.99 as we aren't super hungry (though I wanted to try it as it is the only dish with a thumbs up on the menu).

The food came quickly and the pot stickers were really juicy and sort of like a mixture of pot stickers and Xiao long bao due to the juice. The crispy texture was really nice, and the filling wasn't too salty. Take a bite carefully to prevent losing the delicious soup from the pot stickers.

The soy milk was iced and not overly sweet. I enjoyed it, but I can't tell if it's made fresh in the house or not. The large wontons were too, but they were more like dumplings than wonton. It also wasn't very satisfying as the veggies in the filling dominates the taste and all I could taste was chive.

The dry noodles were really nice, I just hope we have more options for the noodles as I prefer thicker noodles. They don't give you cups of water, but they provide a bottle of water per person, which is unique. They might change that later, but it's definitely less trouble than serving hot tea.

Ordering the combo was the right move for us as everything in combo D would cost about $29-30 depending on whether you want soy milk or tea eggs, but you pay $24 for everything.

Overall a really good dining experience, though I don't understand why the name wasn't translated as pot sticker king instead like their Chinese name. Either way you gotta try the pot stickers here, probably the best I've ever tasted since I haven't had any with juice inside lol. The simple menu here is also good, making it easy to make decisions.

Visit #2:

avoid braised pork chop -

I wanted the pot stickers again, so we visited this place again on a weekday around 5:30 pm. There were 3 empty tables and nobody was waiting when we left around 6:35 pm.

We noticed the free water bottles got smaller, and they now serve a complimentary boiled edamame on the house. We ordered the soup noodle with braised pork chop $18.99 and two dumpling kings $11.99 X 2.

The noodle soup came first. I didn't like it as much as the dry noodles, and we ordered the braised pork chop even though our friend said it wasn't that good despite it being a signature. The braised pork chop was dry even though it was served in the soup. The noodles were tasty, but not as tasty as the dry noodles. I also found the soup a bit salty, though I drank a ton of soup since it was cold.

The pot stickers were still great but I think 6 per person is too much. I think 3 was a better portion since I didn't really enjoy it that much in the end despite it being super juicy as last time.

Overall I think we ordered the wrong thing this time, and I had way too many potstickers. It's good since I could finally take a break from missing their pot...

Overall feedback: It’s worth checking out once, but I wouldn’t recommend going back regularly. Environment: It’s fine, typical decoration for a traditional Shanghai street-food restaurant. Service: Very good. Possibly because it wasn’t peak hours, the servers came right away whenever we called, which is much better than most Chinese restaurants in Seattle area. Food: Pork chop: Acceptable, fairly tender, but a bit too sweet for my taste. Green Oion oil noodles: Not bad, about average. Small wontons: Very good, the filling had shrimp, giving them a nice texture, the wonton soup itself was just okay, it wasn’t a rich broth, and it only had seaweed and small dried shrimp, lacked egg strips (maybe they just weren’t scooped into my bowl). Curry beef vermicelli soup: Thumbs down, absolutely bad, I’ve never had something this tasteless. Fried dumplings: about average, but the wrapper is a bit sticky. Price: Very expensive, two of us spent over $80, and with tax and tip it...

really authentic Shanghainese food (breakfast). I’ve been in most US big cities and have tried lots of Shanghainese food in past 12 years, but this place’s pot sticker I would say is 90% similar to what I’ve eaten in Shanghai. Other dishes are also served really well: for instance Shanghai cold noodles are served with peanut sauce which is exactly what my grandparents gave me 20 years ago when I was a child in Shanghai.

For those who don’t like the flavor the store: it’s not your fault or this place’s fault. That’s just how Shanghainese childhood food taste like. Highly recommend to those who born in Shanghai before 2010 and liked Shanghai breakfast style ( the reason I said 2010 is because past 2010 Shanghai breakfast, for example curry beef noodle that served in this stored, had changed a lot back...