Dough Zone Dumpling House — Restaurant in Houston

I lowkey think this is a pyramid scheme lol. In the interview the general manager Jin rushed to have me fill out paperwork, talked over me, and rushed through the interview questions. I was told I would be trained on all front of house positions (Busser,host,food runner) and eventually server. “Training” is just you being a Busser with no actual direction or plan to advance you to the next position.

The management created a hostile work environment by gaslighting the staff. They only actually move you to server if you are also Chinese. Then they will gaslight the rest of the staff by telling them they aren’t performing on the same level as their Chinese co workers even though the rest of the staff is constantly picking up the slack only to be nitpicked by management

The management is very rude. The company opened a new restaurant in Houston Texas a city with one of the largest black populations in America and hired an all black staff yet think less of black people. I noticed this with the shift lead Alex in particular who I witnessed be rude to employees on a daily basis. And even made a cook cry.

Was told by the managers we couldn’t “chit chat” on the job but they constantly speak in Chinese so it’s only a problem if you are speaking to your co workers in English. Was told we could not be on our phones without asking the GM (Jin) but anytime I’ve texted Jin during a work day he has answered immediately.

The pay is terrible you get $2 base pay no matter your position. The tips are shared between the entire front of house team (including managers who just pour water) so you are over worked for the pay you are getting. They also try their hardest to get you to work 12 hours shifts (open-close) even if you are hired part time. The last time I checked this is not a warehouse job or a hospital.

I mentioned to the GM (Jin) that I wasn’t being “trained” on anything but Busser and that if I’m a Busser I should get a base pay higher than $2 because that is a server base pay and it didn’t seem like I would become a server anytime soon. Jin fumbled over his words trying to make an excuse. First he said it was because I didn’t come to work enough. I’m in college so I work part time. If you can’t train a part time worker why hire them? Then he claimed it was because they didn’t have enough people to train me…again why hire someone you can’t train. And then he said it was because I called out for being sick which I think is because I ate their food.

I was given a bad check that was filled out incorrectly. HR lied and told me I was the only one who received a bad check even though other coworkers had a similar experience. I couldn’t cash the check anywhere I went to and was told by pls check cashing and chase bank that the company owed money and had cashed bad checks in the past.

Eventually I was fired after 3 weeks of not actually being trained and almost not getting paid. It was a text from the general manager saying I didn’t pass training. I went on indeed to read their work reviews and found that this is a company wide phenomenon even at their original restaurant in Seattle. They hire people for 2 or 3 weeks so they can get cheap labor and a percentage of tips and then fire them and replace them with the next person.

The only good thing I can say about this job is that some of my coworkers were really nice and they gave free lunch for the first 2 weeks. However they quickly started removing what was included in this free lunch and I believe it got me sick as I had an unexplained stomach bug after eating here. The food is honestly overpriced for the serving size and quality they provide. It’s all frozen and the water they constantly pour you comes from the kitchen sinks. They claim it’s filtered but who...

07/2024 update: The wontons in chili sauce look sooo small compared to my last review. Not sure if they started skimping out or if the chef at the time was making them tiny. 🤷🏻‍♀️

PARKING IS ATROCIOUS. But I mean, the food’s worth a 15 minute blood pressure spike

I have been waiting for a dumpling restaurant to open that is similar to Din Tai Fung. DTF will always be top tier, but we don’t have one in Houston, so this will probably be the closest you can get to DTF soup dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) & pork wontons in chili sauce. Their menu selection is the closest I’ve seen to DTF & this will be our new dumpling spot out here.

Prices are good too! The most expensive thing we got was XLB for $8.95/8 pcs. My husband & I only spent $48 for our meal and I think that’s a steal. Spices 39 in The Heights charges $12 for 6 pcs of soup dumplings. We’ve also been to Hi Trendy Dumplings and I was not a fan of their dough texture and their flavor was mediocre.

The only thing that really sucks is parking. We went on a Sunday afternoon & we had to drive around for a parking spot. It took about 10 minutes of circling to find a spot in their parking lot. Service was good, waiters were very attentive, and food came out really fast. The 2 of us only spent a total of 40 minutes inside the restaurant once seated, food started coming out in about 5 minutes.

We got the Pork XLB, Pork & Crab Meat XLB, Pork & Shrimp Boiled Dumplings, Pork Wontons in Chili Sauce, Sweet & Sour Cucumbers, and Romaine Lettuce with Sweet Spicy Garlic Sauce.

Both XLB were amazing, the dough had a nice texture (not too chewy/doughy and not too soggy), had a good amount of soup and the meat had a great texture as well. The dough didn’t rip when peeled off with chopsticks.

The Pork Wontons in Chili Sauce was similar to DTF Chili Wontons, but not exactly the same in flavor. The sauce had a nice kick and the wontons had a great texture.

The Romaine Lettuce was also a great side to have and had good flavor. I can say each dish had a good amount of flavor.

I just wish they had garlic green beans and chocolate XLB! The only dessert option they had was banana naan, and that’s not really something that sounds appealing for dessert.

Please please PLEASE consider adding chocolate XLB and garlic green beans...

The meat was the best part of the food at this restaurant. I could tell everything was made fresh from scratch (and if something wasn’t fresh, then it was good enough quality to fool me), but the bao (steamed buns) were like 40% dough and 40% air with very little meat inside. I believe if you’re going to serve large steamed buns like that, they should be filled with your ingredients, not with free air. The dough was good and almost certainly had to be freshly made to order, but nothing remarkable. Stay away from the dumplings too. These were the item I suspected might be a top quality frozen shortcut for them to offer an easy menu item.

The absolute saving grace and show-stopper was the Beef Pancake Roll! I think it’s filled with their “five-spice beef shank” which is also one of the appetizers, but I can’t describe the flavor — it kind of looks like bacon, but also shredded beef jerky, but it’s juicy, it’s like a corned beef of some sort — and it’s all wrapped in a freshly poured batter that’s been griddled to a nice crisp and used as a tortilla.

The chicken potstickers were good too, but that might have been the beef pancake roll talking.

The other really good thing was the Sweet & Sour Cucumber. The time it takes to cut the whole cucumber into the design it forms shows the handmade work that went into it. Very nicely done!

Stick with drinking the water. They serve 12-ounce cans of soda with ice in a cup.

They serve up an atmosphere that tries to feel small, local, and family-owned, and it’s evident that the owners have been successful at this before because it’s a new restaurant that must’ve taken a lot to build — there’s modern interiors where wood grain and wrought iron collide, and familiar accents that remind me of a vintage Japanese establishment — but the restaurant probably seats around 80 diners and you can find better steamed pork buns at smaller shops nearby, like Taste of Mulan and Wanna Bao.

In short, the food is okay with just a few outstanding dishes and feels like more of an experiment than a best kept secret. I look forward to giving them...