Xiao Chi Jie — Restaurant in Bellevue

A bit of a mixed experience. Xiao Chi Jie / MìLà has great flavors and consistency for mass-produced, robot-assisted dumplings, but they are lacking a consistent, delicate human touch and miss the point, in some areas.

I wouldn't say they're as delicious as Supreme Dumplings or Din Tai Fung on a good day, but they're totally passable and hit the XLB spot more than many smaller Taiwanese restaurants. For something produced at scale, they're impressive.

The employees cooked everything to order, and the steam times were spot-on; but the container situation is where it literally falls apart.

The Xiao Long Bao skins are a little thicker than normal (I suspect they have to be for the machine), but the flavors are decent. The biggest issue is that the steamed dumplings are traditionally spaced apart to prevent sticking and skin rupturing, but here, they are jammed rather haphazardly into a tiny to-go box (where the dough hardens and the skins rip, dumping all of their soupy contents).

There is about a 25% chance your dumplings will be intact when you eat them. Some of them were already ripped in the box.

We purchased four rounds of the XLB while the restaurant was rather quiet during the Farmers Market, and consistently ran into the same issues.

Skip the Jianbing. I'm not sure what happened with these, but they were severely underwhelming. I didn't try them when Eggy Pocket moved here from Portland (and if you're ever down there, Bing Mi makes the best one in the country), but these are certainly not the same. The sauce was too sparse; the crepe was too soft and disintegrated; we ordered extra egg, but could barely find any; the cracker and the youtiao were too small and soggy; the ratios were all wrong, and the lap cheong portion was too little. Overall, extremely disappointing, given how expensive it is.

The fried Sheng Jian Bao are satisfying (and definitely intact, as the skins are about three times thicker), but not traditionally accurate, as they aren't fluffy with a starch skirt, and are easily surpassed by Dough Zone's far superior "Q Bao" (which are the best in the industry, currently, and also sold frozen). The meatball inside is also extremely small, which feels a bit disappointing, given the price.

The XCJ version will also 100% "squirt" into your eyes (happened to all four of us), even if you carefully try to tear a corner with your teeth, covering your face with hot pork grease. But some people are into that, I guess.

The production is impressive, but the price of mass-produced dumplings is the same as that of hand-rolled and they are prepared and served with less care, in an extremely uncomfortable space with the worst chairs. There is no service, you aren't given any plates, and it's just too messy to eat there.

Unless you live in the building, I don't see much point in eating here. Parking downtown isn't great, and the spots in front are reserved for the Adult Daycare (Tech Worker) Bus. Perhaps, if you can find the frozen dumplings at Costco (I checked two locations and still haven't seen them), it's nice to have some of these to more carefully prepare at home.

I love the idea, as I cook many of these dishes myself, and appreciate the quality and cleanliness of the ingredients and the overall ambitions of the owners. I'm sure the frozen business will take off. I just wish the "restaurant" portion was better executed, and some improvements could be made to the recipes.

If you have a steam basket and wok at home, maybe try a bag of the frozen XLB. Just be aware of the sticking and...

I’ve only received their online ordering for frozen delivery and not dined in. It’s in my future plans to dine in and experience the full menu as I actually live 30 minutes away. But the frozen dumplings are so easy to cook and absolutely delicious. I also love their 3 sauces for dipping. Their packing is excellent, everything is always frozen. I recommend you cook in smaller batches because when they get cool the soup turns to a gelatin and it’s disconcerting to eat. So do 6-8 and then spend the whole 11 minutes to cook more if you want for the soup experience. To remove them from the steam paper at first they were tearing and spilling soup everywhere. I found that lifting the paper up then gently pulling them sideways to flip them upside down gets them safely removed. Then take a spoon to transfer it to your bowl or plate. Even doing this though, we still have a couple “man down” dumplings that have torn and spilled the precious soup experience straight down into the steamer water. I really feel the entire upper part of the dumpling needs to be thicker, some are so paper thin I can see the insides of the dumpling through it.

We just received our second order for dumplings, their new noodle combo pack, and a pouch of combo skewers. The price for the skewers seemed incredibly high for the small amount you get. I was for sure expecting larger pieces for $4.50+ each (including tax), especially when you have to cook them yourself. My husband could easily eat the whole pack as part of a meal.

The noodle packs were super small amounts and I’m sad they charge $50 for this. For per dish (supposedly 2 servings, maybe for kids), having to make at home and add our own protein and fresh veggies, I feel taken advantage of. The dumplings are 80¢ each, which seems fair because they are hand made. The food is excellent and unique. The price needs to come down or the quantity needs to come up. This is supposed to be street food, not fine dining. I’ve spent around $300 for both orders and this will unfortunately be my last. They have excellent marketing and I deeply admire this young couple making their dreams come true. I understand that they’ve had some bumps in the road. I just hope they listen to their many customers who aren’t impressed with the quantity...

TLTR: Poor business management and ethics

This review is solely based on their online ordering/execution/fulfillment, or the lack of. Recently they launched their limited time Pho flavored dumplings. I ordered a bag for about $45 and to save the shipping costs, I opted for self pick-up at their Bellevue location. I never received an order confirmation email. That was already a bad sign. I contacted them through the chatting feature and the chatting agent said my order was successful and that it is ready for pick-up at Bellevue.

I didn't have time to go right away. I paid for the order, so I wasn't too worried. (There is no disclaimer on their website about pickup time frames.) About a week later, I called the Bellevue store to make sure my order was still there. The gal on the phone said my order was there and WILL BE AVAILABLE till I get there. I told her I will be there in a few days. I finally make my way there to get my order and the employee said "Your order is not here. We are out of the pho dumplings." She couldn't explain clearly what had happened, but basically my paid goods were sold to another customer without me getting notified first of my order getting canceled/refunded. Feeling frustrated, I called customer service. The lady was quite cheerful and kept apologizing for the "mishap", but also couldn't provide a solid explanation on why my purchased goods were sold to someone else without my prior acknowledgement. This is not how you do business!! She gave me a refund, but I wasted my time going there only to find out my paid goods were sold to...