Marco & Luca Dumplings — Restaurant in Charlottesville

Visited Virgina and UVA with my friend last month (Oct 2014), we walked down the main street and saw this dumpling place. Being a Chinese and spent my childhood in HK in the 70s/80s, there are some food you don't get to see them anymore even in HK, sesame cold noodle is definitely one of them. At first, I didn't pay attention to this dumpling place as I was thinking that this is just another usual chinese fast food place (especially this place has a Mexican name and 2 Latino working at the front counter) :-)

I saw they serve cold noodle on their relatively small menu, I was a little packish and wanted some snack, so I decided to give it a try. (Didn't have any expectation at all). It turned out very authentically prepared and taste!!! I know a lot of people (not just westerners, even asians) have never tried a real sesame cold noodle before, but I can tell you that after the first bite of their cold noodle, it did bring back all my happy childhood memories, when I used to have the same type (and taste) of noodle at some local dim sum restaurant back in the early 80s in Hong Kong!

They even present them correctly by using the shredded cucumbers (could be a bit more finely shredded), with the right amount of peanut sauce, sesame seeds and surprisedly the same type of noodle (not just any noodle)

If you have an open mind to try new things, I think this cold noodle was very authentic (especially in Charlottesville, not NY china town or somewhere with more chinese), you should try the cold noodle just to experiment somewhere in China this type of noodle is served (back in the old day)

Unfortunately they sold out the hot and sour soup at the time I was there (it was late in the afternoon on Sunday) and I wasn't hungry enough to try their bun and dumplings. (partially I was too touch that I found my childhood food! almost tears at the corner of my eyes) haha

Finally, their prices seem very cheap as well!!!!

2 thrumbs up to Marco & Lucas (I assume they are the owners) and thanks for brought me back some good old memory.....

P.S. This review is a little bit personal based on the cold noodle but at the same time I would recommend if you are in the neighbourhood, you should give this place a try as an...

Really disappointed.

I've been a fan of their dumplings (pot stickers) since they opened their first little window off the Downtown Mall. I followed them to York Place and was happy to see that they still had the same high quality in their menu. Until tonight. The dumplings are still hand made, but it's clear they aren't following the same kind of quality since they expanded their stores. I ordered six dumplings and an order of sesame noodles. The dumplings were small, misshapen, and not cooked properly. Clearly they had been boiled previously and then sauteed on one side. That said, the sesame noodles were the biggest disappointment. I loved the cold sesame noodles they used to serve- which were firm, cold and perfectly flavored, accompanied by crisp cucumber spears. What was served tonight was mushy noodles swimming in what I can only describe as sugar water, with limp, seedy cucumber spears that had clearly expired their freshness date at least by a day. The "sesame peanut sauce" was watery, and devoid of any flavor except sugar.

I had so been looking forward to experiencing the quality of this once wonderful niche restaurant. I won't make that...

When I was a 4th year, I came into this Marco and Luca and sat where I could see them cook. I then saw them cut open a bag of frozen dumplings and fry them. And charge $3 for 6 of these fried dumplings.

Pretty ridiculous. You know you can buy these exact same frozen dumplings (brand is Way Fong and you can find them in practically every Asian grocery store) and boil/steam/fry them yourself. And a pack of these Way Fong frozen dumplings is just $3 for 24 oz, which is about 30 dumplings! Marco and Luca is seriously ripping everyone off by charging $3 for only 6 of them when you can buy an entire bag of dumplings for the same price. You can even make fresh, homemade dumplings for $3 and make a large batch. I know students are busy and don't always have the time to make food, but this is infuriating.

The only reason I'm giving them any stars is for their sauce. However, having grown up eating dumplings with soy/vinegar dipping sauce (as most traditional Chinese people do), I'm not even that impressed with their sauce. It's a good, different sauce, but certainly not mindblowing. Sorry but Marco and Luca is just...