Dumpling House — Restaurant in Cambridge

Before you read the 5 star reviews, read this 2 star review before considering dining here. No hate to the staff or management but this was our experience dining at Dumpling House. The purpose of this review is to both educate diners before making a decision and to inform restaurant staff on how to create a more pleasing dining experience.

This review follows up after my second visit to Dumpling House a couple months after my first visit. Also, this review will be a combination of both experiences.

Arrival: Upon arrival, we were greeted and seated almost immediately. The setting was somewhat busy for a Saturday night so you can understand that the servers are rushing around.

Service: After being seated, we were not approached for another 10-15 minutes. We eventually flagged someone down to take our order who seemed to rush our order very quickly and left.

Food: I ordered myself a sprite and waters around the table. I don’t know what ice they use but it completely destroys the taste of the drink it is mixed with. I had to drink out of the can rather than having my beverage cold. Our 3 entrees arrived BEFORE our appetizers which is a mistake at any restaurant which means that the kitchen and waiters are not communicating properly AND there is poor timing. No one wants to eat their entree and switch off to appetizers back and forth. That defeats the purpose of an appetizer.

Out of the 3 entrees that were ordered, only 1 of them came to meet our standards which was Sautéed Beef with Mixed Vegetables. This dish in my opinion was cooked well and seasoned properly.

The second dish was a Dumpling soup which was bland. Maybe a shake of salt and pepper but the broth consisted of an aftertaste of the vegetable and dumplings that were inside it. Wouldn’t recommend this dish.

The third entree was sliced beef Szechuan Style. This was AWEFUL. If you search up Sliced Beef Szechuan Style on any online search platform. It is not at ALL what we were served. It was pretty much soup. Also, the beef inside the soup was not at all the same texture or taste of the one inside the sautéed beef and mixed vegetables. To lastly mention, this dish comes SPICY. It is given a one chili rating however it is extremely spicy. To the point where we couldn’t even enjoy the dish. Not much to enjoy if the dish isn’t even what is expected.

The appetizers that were ordered were both of fair quality but get cold very fast. That is why you should serve them before the entrees rather than after.

The reason this restaurant is getting a 2 out of 5 stars is there is much to improve. Even though some of the food was decent, there was more cons than pros. Considering this place has 1.4K reviews and 4.4 stars, there should be no reason for such a low level experience. Maybe consider hiring better trained staff who handle a dinner rush AND consider putting more time and care into the meals you produce.

I will not be dining here anymore as I and many others believe there are better options for this type of...

I would hate to write a bad review since I am Chinese American and it would always be my first priority to support a Chinese owned restaurant. However, I had a horrible experience during Chinese new year’s eve. Firstly, I called before hand to ask to book a reservation and I also asked if I can call ahead to avoid wait time and they denied me of doing both things. This was important to me due to the fact that I lived thirty minutes away and I am a college student, so I need to spend money to book an uber just to get to Dumpling House and cannot afford to book one back if I have to wait. When I arrived there there was an insane amount of people waiting outside to get a seat. I waited for about 40 minutes then finally got a seat, when I was seated I was met with the rudest waitress I’ve ever experienced. I sat down and started ordering my dishes in english and she started speaking Chinese to me so I politely spoke back. Then I miss read a word on the menu and she started yelling at me, asking if I can speak English. After this incident, she completely ignored my table, didn’t provide us with any utensils, plates, or napkins. We had to eat over our dishes the entire time. We had no water and every-time I would make eye contact with her asking her to come over she would ignore me. The entire time we dined she ignored us completely but as soon as we put down our card for the check (that I had to find another waitress to bring me) she immediately ran over to get it and said Happy Chinese New years to us and ran off. This whole experience was extremely upsetting me to me and my boyfriend. It completely through off our night since we had to wait so long to get any attention from the waitress to order our food or get anything as well as the wait. Since my boyfriend was visiting me from out of town for only a few days, we had plans to go ice skating and get dessert, all of which we couldn’t do. I was very excited to share my culture with my boyfriend for Chinese New year, but sadly because of this experience it all went downhill. I am a big fan of this restaurant and visit constantly which was why I was counting on it to spend my first Chinese New year away from home and...

I had traveled to Cambridge for the Dumpling Festival only to discover it had been cancelled. With my heart set on dumplings, I did a a search in the area and was led to Dumpling House. I am so happy I was. I ordered the steamed pork and leek dumplings. For $12.95, I got 10 delicious dumplings. The wrappers were tender and were house-made rather than pre-fabbed and the filling was succulent and flavorful. The order was probably meant for two people but I loved them so much I ate Every. Single. One. Happily.

Service was friendly but I noticed only after I was ready to leave that others were given hot tea whereas I was not. Some tea would have been the perfect accompaniment. Sadly, I missed out.

Even though there are dumpling shops closer to me in Boston, I'm planning on heading back to Dumpling House with my husband as I want him to experience these tasty morsels (and I want to try some other items, too).

UPDATE AS OF OCT 22, 2023: I indeed went back with my husband. The steamed pork and leek dumplings were just as delicious as last time. We also had spinach with garlic--also delicious. There was a depth of flavor that other restaurants don't always have with this dish. My husband agreed that we need to come back.

As for the tea, it turns out you have to order it yourself because it is not complimentary--it is $3 for a pot. I had assumed it was automatically served gratis and that I had missed out last time. My mistake. We ordered tea--it was jasmine--and it was lovely.

This was Sunday night around 5:30 and the restaurant was completely packed and had a wait list. Our wait person was impressive dealing with all his tables quickly, efficiently while maintaining professional yet friendly demeanor. Changed rating for service (given I was mistaken about not being given tea, previously and the exemplary service we received on...