Zen Dumpling — Restaurant in Brandon

It's so awesome to see a restaurant specializing in dumplings open up here in Brandon. This location is in Regency Square. They have other locations in Orlando and Jacksonville. It has only been open for a little over a week, and it's already quite popular.

I met a friend for lunch on a weekday. The best time to go there is right at opening time. We had the dining area to ourselves for a little while. It filled up very quickly. Our server (Rose) was there for us every step of the way. She offered great suggestions and answered all of our questions. We didn't try any of the bubble milk teas, but I can tell you that the hot jasmine green tea is excellent. Yes, and served in a beautiful cherry blossom decorated pot. Loved it!

I just had to get their Signature XLB Sampler. There are 6 different flavors. It's the perfect dish to start your dumpling exploration. My favorite flavors are the truffle (black dumpling) and the shrimp & pork (pink dumpling). I love the others as well, but these 2 are my absolute faves. The crabmeat & pork is my 3rd favorite even though it didn't have as much soup in it as the others.

We also shared the Braised Beef Buns, Shanghai Dumplings, and Dan Dan Noodles. The beef buns were my least favorite. I'll try the pork belly ones next time. The noodles are absolutely tasty with the mix of sesame paste and chili oil, although it was very spicy. I could feel a little of the numbing effect. The level of spice lessoned as my taste receptors got used to it. It was my first time trying them, and I'm officially a fan. I'd totally order it again. The Shanghai Dumplings were also a big hit. It was all very tasty. There is soy sauce, vinegar, and extra chili oil at the table if needed. I really appreciated having the thin wisps of ginger as an accompaniment. It really adds to the flavor of each dish (especially the XLBs).

These are handmade dumplings. You can see them being made behind the glass window. That was great to see on our way out. They make it look so easy, but it's not. Yes, it's a little pricey but worth it.

I can't wait to go back. There are so many other items that I want to try. I'm hoping my husband will love it too. I can see this being a routine stop for...

I wish I had a better rating for this place as I had high hopes from reading previous reviews. We were told the wait was 20-25 minutes. Got called in at about 40-45. Not a big issue. The space was open and clean. Since we live about 30 minutes away, we decided to order many dishes. We got the shrimp and pork soup dumplings, pork soup dumplings, jian noodles, braised pork belly noodle soup, pork belly Bao, pancakes, fried rice and the chili wontons. It took about 25 minutes for most of the food to start arriving. The baos were cold but it wasn’t an issue as I was going to just reheat them at home. My son enjoyed his noodle soup and the soup dumplings were good. Great flavor and filled with soup. Jian noodles were ok. The table enjoyed the pancakes. Our only issue was that the chili wontons never arrived. They were my daughter’s main entree so as the other dishes were nearly gone, I asked the server if they were coming. She looked at the table and said she would go check on them and came back stating that someone asked her to make sure we didn’t get it? There was no extra dish of it in sight on the table so I said we never got it. Then I believe she might’ve told the manager which comes to my table this time to inspect and ask AGAIN! I pointed at the table mentioning the dish isn’t there. Mind you NOBODY picked up our dirty dishes. Ordered 8 items and felt like they were accusing us of stealing food?? I will also add not one apology for their mistake. I will add that the server was nice and tried to do what she could towards the end to make up for the issue like offering to go drinks. I may just have to continue going to Orlando for my soup dumplings. This experience was extremely...

Update. Decided to go back and give them another chance and everything was better this time around. Service was definitely better and our server was amazing, came and checked on us time to time and made sure everything was good. Food was delicious and came out pretty fast which is great. Definitely enjoyed my time there this time around. Will definitely be coming back for those soup dumplings and cucumbers. .....................................

Did not get serviced at all. I had to wait to be seated which is fine, but when I got my table, no server came and introduce themselves as our server. While looking at the menu, a whole bunch of servers were walking by trying to look busy yet no one stopped by to ask if we've been helped or at least to get us some water. Nope nothing. My table sat for a good 10ish minutes, by this time the restaurant was fairly empty, and the servers were literally just walking around trying to look busy. There was two people who came after us, and were seated and serviced (got their water and food) before my table. Like how does that happen? I talked to the manager and I do hope she took in what I said because her servers do not want to do their job.

I was looking forward to eating here and trying it as I heard it was similar to Ding Tai Fung. Maybe I'll give it another shot, hopefully when that comes I'll get...