Hot dumpling — Restaurant in Lake Forest

It's OK.

Looking to find a closer go-to place for wontons and other things, I came across this restaurant. My girlfriend and I decided to give it a shot.

When we arrive in the evening (closer to 7:30PM on Tuesday), we were seated almost immediately. There were only a few other parties inside so there were quite a few tables open.

At the end of each table there is a QR code that you scan with takes you to the online menu where you can place your order. We were given a paper menu to look at as well. The paper menu wasn't helpful at all, there were minimal photos and pretty much no description of the items as far as ingredients goes. The online menu is also missing a lot of the descriptions and only has a few photos as well.

After some quick browsing and going based off of the names of the dishes, we played it "safe" and ordered: Shrimp & Pork Wonton in Chili Sauce, Beef Dry Hot Noodle, Dry Fried Lotus Root, Cucumber Salad, Beef Tripe Rice Noodle Soup.

It was not long until the food came out. How was it all?

Shrimp & Pork Wonton in Chili Sauce: These were OK. The sauce was a little sweet compared to other places.

Beef Dry Hot Noodle: This dish requires you to mix it well since all of the sauce is on the bottom. It came with a few thick, well-done pieces of beef. They were a little tender and had some flavor. The sauce was OK. Nothing special. Noodles were al dente.

Dry Fried Lotus Root: Pretty much lotus root fries. These I liked, even though they had the tiniest sliver of lotus root in each of them haha. It's a large, shareable portion.

Cucumber Salad: Not a fan. I normally like it but not here. They seemed a bit bland. Maybe a hint of sesame oil on them or something but that's about it.

Beef Tripe Noodle Soup: This was my girlfriend's dish and I don't like tripe so I really don't have any input on it. I did try the broth and it was alright. She wasn't a fan.

Service could use improvement. No one helped us at all during the meal. The only interaction we had was when the server sat us and told us that dumplings take a little longer since they're made fresh.

Parking is difficult here depending on the time of day. There are neighboring restaurants and businesses and the lot is pretty small.

I don't think I'd come back to give it another shot, but that doesn't mean you...

Hot Dumpling replaced the former Good Time Cafe in Lake Forest. It's located in a small center at the corner of Bake Parkway and Trabuco Road, so parking can be hard to come by during peak hours. There is also an El Pollo Loco and an AYCE sushi restaurant located in this same plaza.

We've had the pleasure of visiting this restaurant twice at the time of this review. I was not too impressed with the presentation of the Juicy Pork Dumpling and Wuhan Siu Mai, but the taste more than made up for the appearance. The pan-fried pork & chive dumplings were fabulous and I also tried their pan-fried pork buns on my follow-up visit, so I can say that their pan-fried dishes are def worth trying. The green onion pancakes, shrimp & pork wonton in chili oil, pan-fried pork dumplings and chongqing spicy chicken were also solid dishes. The biggest surprise for us was their Mapo Tofu dish which ranks up there with the best we've ever tasted. The only miss was the Spicy Beef Tendon appetizer. Service is friendly and attentive too, so I recommend a visit if you enjoy...

The food here was not good. We tried the chow mein which was fine, definitely over salted. And the dumplings need a complete revamp on the flavor profile. The cucumber salad was good, I was pleased with this dish. There were little bugs flying around, I highly recommend installing a fly fan at the door to keep these out as this didn’t help our experience.

I did really enjoy their in house chili oil, it was more so a chili crisp, which I prefer. The heat was great, not overkill, but much better than the standard chili oil most places have.

I don’t think I’ll come back as the food was so bad along with the very high price on some of their dishes. Some dishes were reasonable and some were not, it just seemed like they were making them...