Dough Zone Dumpling House Lacey — Restaurant in Lacey

Long time dough zone customer here. I was thrilled that one was finally opening up less than a mile from my house. Husband and I have been going for years after performances in downtown Seattle or after hiking in Issaquah. And we've never had a bad meal at those locations. But honestly this Lacy location is absolutely horrid. I feel so stupid recommending this restaurant to my friends because everyone that is gone has had a bad experience. I've gone three separate times since they've opened and each time it got worse. The servers are terrible. I'm tired of being asked what hasn't arrived at my table yet. When I have a party of three or more people, I don't know what everyone else ordered. I don't know what everyone else is eating. Stop asking me questions you should know the answer to. I've never had this problem at any of your other locations. But it's constantly an issue at this location with people not getting their food and then waiter stopping by confused as to what they have not received yet. It's absolutely astonishing to me that a restaurant cannot figure out if a table has received their food or not. Not only that, but the food half the time comes out lukewarm. I have to ask for refills constantly for water. No one is actually waiting tables. The food is bland as hell. What has happened? I bought the gift cards from Costco cuz of the deal but now I don't know if I'll ever use them including the 2 dish comps I got from last night because my food came out cold.

Management has a huge problem on their hands. Why haven't they...

We were seated right as we walked in despite the large parties ahead of us also waiting. As we were seated, we waited for 30 minutes just to get water. We had to ask someone to give us water and when we received it, it was lukewarm while other tables received ice water. Other tables also had their orders taken before us and also had their food given before us. People who were seated after us got their water and food before us. Our server also didn’t check on us once but we seen him at almost every other table. We didn’t get any water refills. We ended up having to cancel 2 orders (ube milk tea, steamed buns) because it just never came- even after almost an hour of waiting which we were bummed about because we really wanted to try the ube milk tea. We seen a lot of ube milk teas pass us so we assumed they just forgot. When we asked to cancel the orders, our server just said “ok” and walked away quickly and got us our check not even a minute later. He was quick to cancel it and didn’t try to satisfy us in any way.

As for the food, I give it all a 2. Our pork and shrimp dumplings were cold and tasted as if the dumplings sat out from being frozen to thawed. All pieces were cold. Some of our xiao long baos didn’t have soup- which was odd because isn’t it a soup dumpling for a reason? I’d steer away from here and just get Trader Joe’s frozen foods if that’s the case. The only good thing was the sweet and sour cucumber. We won’t be recommending it to anyone as there were a lack of taste in food and lack of service...

Dough Zone Dumpling House, Lacey: A Mixed Bag of Culinary Adventures

Dough Zone in Lacey offers a dim sum experience that swings between delightful highs and puzzling lows. Let's talk about the undisputed champion first: the Pork and Crab XLB (Xiao Long Bao). Seriously, if you walk into Dough Zone and don't order these, you're missing out. The broth is a fragrant, savory explosion, and the delicate wrappers hold it all together perfectly. These are the kind of dumplings that make you close your eyes and do a little happy dance. Absolutely, unequivocally, get them.

Now for the items that had us scratching our heads. The Beef Pancake Roll? Oh, sweet heavens, skip it. It's the culinary equivalent of elevator music—just… there. The beef itself is fine, but it’s wasted in this flavor-vacuum of a pancake. You can get that same good beef in a bao that actually tastes like something. Learn from my mistake; don't subject your taste buds to such blandness.

Then there's the Kale Salad with Sesame Dressing. This one's a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde situation. It's definitely not your average sweet, store-bought sesame dressing. Instead, it’s got a bold, fragrant kick that's almost there but leans a little too heavily into the sour and tangy, lacking any real sweetness to balance it out. It's an acquired taste, for sure. So, while some items soared, others left us pondering the mysteries of flavor, or lack thereof.

Overall, check this place out but realize that it is a chain dumpling place. Keep your expectations...