Dumpling Kitchen - Castro — Restaurant in San Francisco

We came here for lunch on a Friday last summer. It was pretty busy all throughout, but we didn't have to wait. We sampled quite a few items, and had leftovers (3 people).

The highlight for me, unsurprisingly, was the rice cakes/niangao. They were much longer than I'm used to, so I think they may have been handmade/fresh? They were quite tender -- not al dente, but good in their own way. I thought the pickled vegetables added a really nice savoriness to the dish. This dish was different from the niangao I've had at other restaurants, but it stood on its own and was very good.

The soup dumplings were quite sturdy with thick skins. There wasn't much soup inside, but the flavor of the soup and the filling was really good.

The pan-fried dumplings were quite interesting -- I've never had it this way where it's a thin skin on the top and then a really thick, doughy skin on the bottom with a slightly soupy filling inside. I probably wouldn't get this dish again since it had a lot of dough, but it was interesting to try. It's also really hot, so be careful.

The eggplant in garlic sauce was better than I expected. The sauce was not overly sweet and had a thick soy consistency to it, which I enjoyed. The eggplant was cooked pretty well.

The Sichuan spicy chicken was the weakest link in the dishes we tried. While the chicken pieces were quite big, they were also tough. I'm not sure what the issue was -- if it was the cut of chicken, or marination. It was lacking in both flavor and texture.

Overall I enjoyed my time at this restaurant and thought the prices were pretty reasonable for the area and portion sizes. I could see myself...

After walking around the Castro in support of pride month we decided we needed a bite. We came upon the Dumpling house we entered the small quaint restaurant and were greeted with big smiles. So many dumpling to choose from i wish there were more in our party so we could get a bigger selection, We we decided on the the soup dumplings, Szechuan noodles, & combination fried rice (I know sounds boring) We were amazingly surprised the noodle were obviously house made with all thier lovely imperfections for the wonderful sauce to grab on to. The rice came sizzling coming straight from the wok have a delicious sired smell our mouths were watering. We finished everything!! Sharona was very pleasant...

Atmosphere is typical range of dumpling places from traditional to modern, for me, neither adds nor detracts. They do have the window in which the Dumpling maker shows how it's done. Front of place, bar space, step up back space, and patio space, tho for me the latter not yet ideal for weather presented. I like the dim sum variety and usually go in a group for that as it seems the theme for the group. That said, I go myself went I want to enjoy the Chef Specials, whether over rice lunch special, or entrées to take leftovers home. The Castro can always use another good place to eat, we've been in dire straits for years, tho the tide seems to be...