Dough Zone Dumpling House San Mateo — Restaurant in San Mateo

Utter fail. We ordered 8 items. 2 (pork ear and raw a-choy with sesame sauce) were pretty much just plate and go. These were great.

For the remaining six entree, 4 had various degrees of failure.

The hot and sour clear noodle was neither sour, spicy, or savory at all. It was just a pile of bland clear noodle that apparently sat in a pool of boiled murky noodle water with a layer of oil covering the top. Looks like the chef forgot to season it with vinegar, chili, and any kind of savory broth. I asked for a replacement, but the waiter simply took it away and deducted it from our bill. He just kept on insisting that it'll probably just come out the same, making it sound like we're the ones with poor tasting buds.

The regular pork soup XLB was fine, just don't expect Din Tai Fung or Ding Ding level.

The crab meat version was noticeably worse than the regular pork. The amount of liquid and the texture of the skin were a huge step down compare to the regular pork XLB.

The groundbeef cake never arrived at our table after we went through everything else 45+ minutes after ordering. Around 30 minutes after order time, we saw a wait staff trying to serve what appeared to be our groundbeef cake to a random table, only to get rejected and back to the kitchen. We haven't seen the groundbeef cake ever since. We're just got too bored due to a huge downtime after the last dish came to our table so we started counting the time the subsequent dishes took to arrive. We inquired about the beef cake during the downtime and simply got "it just takes longer" as a canned response. This was on a chill Monday late dinner hour. The first dishes only took 2 minutes to arrive. They only realized that the beef cake never came after they delivered the check.

The chive dumplings were fine, just not the style we're used to/prefer.

The beef pancake rolls were another major blunder. According to the menu, it consists of: "Grilled pancake with shredded green onion, cilantro, beef, and sauces to your taste." What we actually got: pancake, beef, lettuce (??). There was no sauce, so the whole thing was extremely dry and required external chili oil intervention.

Seems like the chef, if there was one in house tonight, was in an extremely bad mood today. They did give us some discount at the end. There were no mentions of soft opening anywhere, but I attribute all the mishaps to that. Unfortunately we don't be returning to...

Finally visited this clean, comfortable spot! I ordered just the vegetarian spicy ma la noodles ($7.75). The portion was neither large nor small, although if I had been very hungry I would have wanted to order another item off the menu. As it happened, I was not, so this was a solid quantity for me. With a 20% tip, this brought my total to $10.20 - a pretty affordable price for a satisfying, dine-in meal these days!

The noodles were excellent in texture - firm, with a great bite. You can really sink your teeth into these noodles. The spicy ma la broth was, imo, a great introduction to numbing szechuan flavor in that the spiciness was quite mild, letting the ma la shine through as the star of the show. Usually spicy ma la broths get my nose running a bit, but not this one. Just enough chili oil for a bit of color and flavor. If this is your first time trying this cuisine, this is a great dish to start with!

There are several vegetarian options, and my server was very clear and helpful about identifying them on the menu for me, including asking if egg was okay. Unfortunately, all of these options are low in protein - all starches and greens, no soy or meat substitutions. I wish they had a spicy tofu salad or maybe a dumpling option with tofu. Even an edamame appetizer would be a major improvement to their menu. Lastly, my server initially said that the best option for first-time visitors was their lunch specials - but none of those are vegetarian. In summary, they have a surprisingly broad range of vegetarian options, but those options don't offer much in the way of protein and don't underscore Dough Zone's specialties as well as the meaty options.

I will probably be back to try out their vegetarian steamed or pan fried dumplings, yibin noodles, and one of the veggie salads. This seems like a great place for a social dinner with friends that eat meat. That said, I can't imagine this becoming a regular spot for me due to the menu limitations. I'll probably check their menu every now and again to see if any higher protein options are added, though, because my experience really was very positive...

I used to love this place but not anymore. Somehow they change my fav dish “pan fried beef pie” 牛肉餡餅 into a weird shape and cut it like nobody know they want to save the money serve to customer cheat food. Taste not the same. And the whole pie is thiner than a paper. Feel like I’m eating a fried cardboard. I don’t understand why they change it like this. We pay what we get. But why you all of a sudden change it to a cheaper version of the food and that’s not what 牛肉餡餅looks like. I’m beyond disappointed at this moment and asking myself. Why? Why? why? Is it so hard to keep it like original? And I asked the waiter, this is not the pan fired beef pie. He’s super confidant and tell me yes! That’s the pan fried beef pie. We just change it to a different shape not round anymore. And look at me like I’m a stupid person who doesn’t know what’s pan fried beef pie. Ok, I know I’m not coming back. And That guy gave me attitude makes me feel I’m wrong. Of course we kinda argued about the “pie” and he did say that he can return that order. But hello???!!!! I don’t care bout money problem right now. I care bout the beef pan fired pie, the taste the shape the thick pie!!!! So sad why is a good restaurant has to change it and later on close the restaurant. I know I’m not coming back. All because of that. Oh, and we also have pan fried dumping 鍋貼. Guess what? They change it too!!! They don’t serve with soy sauce paste 醬油膏 anymore. They give you kimchi which I don’t understand. And the kimchi taste so bad. I ask them and they just denying “we never serve the soy sauce paste醬油膏 before. WOW Fool me once is ok. Fool me twice….. Sorry byeeeee~ Enough for arguing. I’m just paid and bounce not even...