Uncle Dumpling — Restaurant in Roseville

Great and authentic enough considering where we are.

Have to go to LA to get scallion pancakes better than these. A little greasy/oily resulting in too much floppiness and chewiness, but the crisp parts are beautifully crisped and caramelized.

Beef noodle soup: the noodles aren't hand-pulled or knife-cut but they're fine. Warning: I love spice, but this was really spicy despite ordering them mild and the receipt saying "not spicy" - it was like straight chili oil floating in a couple tablespoons of water. Allergy warning: Not sure if the menu mentioned this but there were whole peanuts in this dish.

Xlb were a disappointment. The soup filling wasn't hot and the skins were the thin leathery DTF kind. At least the bottoms weren't undercooked like DTF. There's a warning sticker explaining how to eat them so you don't get burned but it was unnecessary due to their being lukewarm. These are supposed to be burning hot and the farther from boiling they are the less tasty they get. They should have made the other things first so the dumplings didn't sit and get cold.

Also they came with red vinegar instead of black vinegar so the flavor profile was weird/off (and they didn't lid it up so the red vinegar ended up soaking all the dumplings so there was no avoiding it). I did appreciate that they weren't sweet or overly gingery, though.

Finally, the restaurant is really hot and there's no air conditioning. It's like they're trying to save money by driving away customers. And it's only a matter of time before the cook ends up in the hospital with heat stroke, and down time is expensive too. It's a...

I was in Roseville when the dumpling craving hit. So I used Yelp to find nearby places. What da ya know, I found two dumpling places right across the street from each other. Me-nee mi-nee moe... I choose Uncle Dumpling due to no particular reason. Not a wrong choice at all. Great customer service, super cute interior, and delicious eats. To boot, the pricing was not outrageous.

For the two of us, we ordered green beans, sesame balls, and chicken dumplings. The green beans were Chinese long beans wok stir fried with garlic and ground pork. Darn delicious! The beans had a nice blister to them and a freakin delicious flavor. What did they put into that sauce?!? Mmm. The sesame balls were ah-mazing as well. Luv eating them fresh n hot. Crisp exterior with a sweet bean paste interior, but not as very sweet. Bite size deliciousness. The steamed chicken dumplings had the classic look and taste. The dumpling skin had a nice thickness, not too thick or thin... just right. They provided a ginger soy dipping sauce that was divine. Great flavors going well with the dumplings. Also, they provided hot chili oil as well.

Another cool thing about this place was that there is a glass viewing wall into the "dumpling making" section of the kitchen. Real human beings making dumplings the tried and true old fashion way... by hand. The staff work at a table directly facing the window so it could get a bit strange staring at folks...

We've been here twice and loved the food every time. We've tried almost everything on the menu at this point and the soup dumplings are the best. If you've never had a dessert soup dumpling, I highly recommend you try theirs.

That being said, we weren't wowed by the service on our second visit. The first time we went was their soft open and we expected hiccups. Aside from not having menus, the service was actually great. During our second visit, it took a bit for the server to take our order, which wasn't a big deal. What bothered me was we wanted to order additional items and had to flag someone down to get our server. She was polite but didn't seem pleased we placed a second order and brought our check with the second order. It felt like she wanted us to leave. This was frustrating since we would definitely have ordered another round of dessert but since she brought our check we took the hint and left. I also must add that this was not close to their closing time or anything. We got there at 6:30 pm and it was maybe 7:30 when we left. We were also not a large party (2 adults and one child).

I really hope the service improves because their food is quality and delicious. Now that they have actual menus it's even convenient to order (when your server is willing to do so).

We'll definitely visit them again and hope the...