Dumpling Inn & Shanghai Saloon — Restaurant in San Diego

Now i know what the hype is about. This food is paradise, heaven, and everything amazing adjective you can give for food.

Got here around 8 pm on a Friday night and were told it would be a 20 min wait. We were given the option of sitting at the bar, but we decided to wait for a table. They give you one of those long-distance vibrator discs so you do not have to wait in the loud restaurant. And it gets pretty loud due to the crowd and the open spacing.

Decor is very oriental. You do feel like you've entered a high-class restaurant in the East.

Because they are crowded, the servers sound harried and a little pushy to make you order quick. I haven't felt forced to choose something on the menu within a minute of sitting down. But, I will ignore that, because the food was SO SO SO GOOD!!

We ordered the shrimp chow-mein, the pork soup dumplings and then the orange chicken because it looked good on the table next to ours.

The chow-mein was fantastic. Properly steamed and cooked, so tasty and taken to another level with the chili sauce they provide on the table. I could not stop eating it!

The dumplings were delicious also. Probably not as soupy as the ones at Ding Tan Fung, but really really good! I've never added the peanut oil to my soy sauce before, and it really worked.

The orange chicken was very orangy with a good balance of sweet, sour and a hint of spice. The jasmine rice was probably the best part of that dish.

We were in a food coma through the whole thing and after. Normally we talk a lot, but there was silence as we devoured our way through it all.

The drinks were a bit disappointing. We had the gin mule and the vodka with citrus drink (don't remember the name now). They were both sweeter than we anticipated, so I was more than happy when my food arrived later.

The food is so good here, you can ignore everything that is less than stellar about the place, including parking. Start looking from about a mile away as the parking lot is...

Visited them today around noon with my family. Not great but decent enough. Dumplings were a bit too thick though, especially the ones with pork and chives - the dough for dumplings was super thick. They invented a new type of dumplings. ;) Their Deluxe Noodle Soup was noting to remember either. We paid our bill plus regular 15% tips and left this restaurant with intention not to memorize this place. However, what happened next changed our intention completely. Now we memorize this place for some time.

Here is what happened. The same person who greeted us once we came inside the restaurant booted us out from the outside place when we were waiting for our ice cream from the neighboring place. Consider a huge tent on parking lot with 10-15 tables and with only one table occupied by eaters. And there were us just hiding from the sun being technically in the same premise where we just paid for our food and left some gratitude for people who served us.

Guess what the host told us: This place is not for non-paying customers.

I wish we wound't leave him any tips at all for such an exceptional greediness.

In response to owner's response: No, we were just sitting and waiting for our ice cream in order to go home. Our three orders were done with different speed. The very first one was received and consumed right away next door on the parking lot - and not under the tent. The second one was received next and we've just been waiting our last order to go home with it - not to consume under the tent - since we had another...

FOOD & DRINKS We came here specifically for the Pork & Shrimp wantons in hot oil to compare it to the ones from Din Tai Fung. I think the first letdown was that the item came out lukewarm while Din Tai Fung served them hot and steaming. Also the hot oil was more vinegary than actually hot oil and we had to ask for more of the so called hot oil cause it wasn't a lot to begin with. The wantons themselves were yummy though. Good amount of filling in a thin wrapper. And that is the keyword for the second letdown. We also ordered pork & chive as well as shrimp & chicken dumplings. The dumpling skin was doughy and thick. Also I couldn't neither taste nor see any of the shrimp in the filling. I wish there were some actual pieces of shrimp in the filling. All I tasted was either the doughy skin wrapper or just the meat.

SERVICE Our waiter was very helpful, quick and nice. Very good service.

ATMOSPHERE At peak times this place is bustling. You don't just see Asian people here. Everyone is coming here to have a good time. Either to sit at the bar, in the saloon or at a table to drink and eat. Shanghai Saloon is practically a part of Dumpling Inn. The interior is modern and fun. There is an open kitchen to look into while waiting to be seated. Really nice place to hang out on the weekend.

RATING This is hard. I want to give this place a four star rating but in my personal opinion the refinement of some items is...