Steamed — Restaurant in Middletown

My boyfriend and I moved to Middletown in October of 2020. We love dumplings and found Steamed, merely right down the street from where we moved to. Our first impression was great. We were excited that it wasn't far, it was convenient to order online, and we could get the dumplings pan-fried for a small extra cost. We LOVE dumplings and ordered often.

Fast forward to the staffing shortages and things went downhill. We haven't been able to order online multiple times (no biggie) so we would call in our orders. That worked for a bit.

Then we couldn't get our order pan-fried. I have spoken to multiple workers over the phone and in the store, and we cannot pay extra to have them pan-fried. Strange, but okay. We kept ordering regardless. It tasted okay and we could pan-fry at home if needed.

The last straw was raw dumplings. Again, I had requested them to be pan-fried and was told they cannot do it. I ordered anyways and picked them up in person and brought them home. As soon as we opened them, the dough and pork meat inside were raw and severely undercooked. We had to cook them ourselves in a pan to make sure it was safe to eat.

While we really loved Steamed for a multitude of reasons, we will not be coming back until the staffing is back to normal. Too many times have we called and the staff had no idea what we were requesting or what the pricing should be. Not to mention the unprofessional attitude we have received both in-person and over the phone by current staff.

We understand it is a tough time for restaurants but we cannot risk eating undercooked food at the...

The good: the spicy beef noodle soup. Tender beef simmered for hours, spicy, hearty, and a generous amount of noodles and veggies all in a bowl. Also solid bubble tea. Lastly, the pork belly in the buns were great, with a small scattering of mustard greens (but missing the iconic and traditional crunchy ground peanuts) A++

The bad: virtually everything else.

The dumplings were all underwhelming and mediocre. Half our soup dumplings were “damaged” (torn, leaking). Their skins are thick, so I’m assuming they’re frozen anyways, and shouldn’t have been hard to handle in prep.

Chengdu dumplings were small, mildly flavored and with a subtle heat in the chili oil. But the skins were mega thick.

Shrimp chive dumplings my wife said were dense and dull, and didn’t arrive hot.

Two dipping sauces were given to us, one was labeled “soy mix”, other unlabeled , which left us guessing.

Arrived with our table splattered in red chili oil, of which we only noticed after handling our menus and seeing the streaking drips.

Food wise, I’d say it’s an enjoyable meal, maybe when they’re not understaffed (we came on a Sunday noon), perhaps more attention could be paid. But don’t come with high expectations if you’ve ever eaten in Asia.

My biggest qualm is hygiene: the staff were polite, quick and professional, but the one handling our food was constantly twisting their short hair in their fingers (at register, in kitchen, walking to/fro tables) which I felt like wasn’t good for someone handling food.

I’d give “Steamed” another try but perhaps in a...

With how poor this service was, I can assure you that I was more STEAMED than the food put out by the kitchen.

They were out of both salads at 6pm on Friday night...ok.

It took 15 minutes to get our ice tea. They only have four beverage options besides teas (coke, ginger ale, fiji water, and Perrier).

The two young ladies in the kitchen/waitstaff could not tell me what dumplings were included in the sampler when trying to order more of beef with scallion. They were trying to say it had shrimp.....and could only put their hands to their face and giggle While saying sorry before going into kitchen to check and not coming back with a solid answer.

The wonton soup was different, had seaweed in it- my wife liked it but I would not recommend. My pork rib soup was ok- rib bones and broth were solid but the noodles were very mushy.

There was a tremendous wait for anything you ordered. Good thing the beverages (not teas) were self serve so I could get my own Perrier.

Whom ever is running this location needs to get it together. Your staff should know what is in the sampler and there should not be a 10-15 minute wait when there are only two tables being serviced in the restaurant.

Madison Steamed is much better and I can not recommend anyone come here with the current staff and lack of knowledgeable management.

Maybe it was an off night, but when going out to eat on a date night it should not be a regret. Money is too valuable to waste and this was just below average service and food...