Dumpling Time — Restaurant in Berkeley

Service Kitchen 5/5 Take out exists as of last Tuesday 9.1.22. Delivered hot from the kitchen 14 mins on a crowded Monday Labor Day night. Wait for a table was 30 mins.

Service front staff service 1/5 Front staff. When asked whether they would take cash for a take out order, she prefer we do not pay in cash because that would mean she would have to get her manager to handle the transaction. She said we prefer you not pay in cash.

Food: Ordered Hao gow, seafood gyoza and Tom yum xlb.

When I received the order, the portions seems small especially the xlb.

Hao gow $9.50 4 pieces 5/5 The shrimp was perfectly cooked al dente crunchy shrimp morsels and seasoned well with sesame seed oil wrapped in a glutinous rice dough. It came with a green salty cilantro and sesame seed oil paste dipping sauce...that was not needed nor adds to the dumpling's flavor profile. The dumpling is perfect by itself. This dish was fantastic . . . but also expensive relative to other places that serve Hao gow equally as good.

Seafood gyoza $15.50 6 pieces 2/5 Pan fried seafood dumplings Shrimp, scallop and ground fish meat. It had a mild spicy kick and lemon grass reminiscent of Tom yum soup. Taste wise it was good. I bit down on something hard and found shrimp shell inside my gyoza. The shrimp was cooked more than the hao gow and was a little chewy.

This dish when plated in the restaurant comes with a beautiful hong kong style lace of rose water and flour that makes a pretty lace display over the gyoza. In the take out box, however, the lacing fell apart and has a texture of stale chips.

The gyoza was greasy for my tastes.

Tom yum xlb $12 6 pieces

The XLBness: There was a little bit of "soup" to suck out. You suck the juice out of each dumpling like an oyster first. Each one comes in its own pie tin. But the xlb dumpling skin sticks to the tin and all the juices pour out if you try to remove the dumpling from the tin before sucking.

These xlb dumplings seems small relative to Din Tai Fung's ones.

I didn't like the texture of the meat filling. It was chewy and not consistently ground.

It is a tasty different take on the standard pork and shrimp xlb dumpling.

There is a 4% surcharge for living wage. Instead of a surcharge I would rather the prices be incorporated in the menu prices.

Please bring back frozen dumplings that DT offered in...

I only rate places that I think have an overall rating inconsistent with my experience. I had several items via Uber Eats, and most were terrible. I would highly recommend you not order delivery from Dumpling Time; I cannot speak from experience about dining in, but I would not take the chance.

I ordered Chicken Fried Rice, Chili Pork Dumplings, Edamame, Rainbow Slaw, and a Trio of Dessert Buns.

The only thing that was a 3 out of 5 was the slaw, with decent taste and texture while being overdressed.

The dumplings had a bit of flavor but tasted like they had poor ingredients and were soaking in a paper box in a quarter inch of chili oil. Entirely too greasy, and not in a good, tasty way — 2 out of 5.

The edamame were a disgusting 0 out of 5. No flavor. Mushy. Just a disaster.

The chicken fried rice was genuinely the worst rice I’ve ever had — 0 out of 5. It was burned to a crisp, included tiny specks of chicken that were tasteless, and had absolutely no flavor or spices whatsoever. I cannot believe they thought it a good idea to serve that to someone for $12.50 on Uber.

The sweet buns were okay — nice texture and okay flavor. Almost 3 of 5.

Overall, again, please...

Extremely mid. Do not be fooled like I was. Tried a variety of menu items, all were lacking in flavor.

I feel misled by the reviews for this place. I saw it recommended on TikTok, and decided to give it a try-but I should’ve trusted my gut when I saw the restaurant nearly empty at peak dinner time. I came to the harsh realization that the TikToker, being a micro influencer, was probably paid to post and isn’t a credible reviewer.

Another review, on Google this time, mentioned dumplings, but the reviewer said they were vegan and didn’t even taste them. They also described a variety of “refreshing drinks,” but there were only the basics: beer, wine, and literally two cocktails.

Be sure to not order the one rice dish they offer-a subpar fried rice with corn. When I asked for regular steamed rice, I was told they didn’t have any, which was surprising given they make fried rice.

The empty dining room and the lackluster menu spoke for themselves. I wouldn’t recommend spending...