DUMPLING CAFE — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Regrettably, our visit to Dumpling Café with a party of four left us deeply disappointed. We had high expectations, having heard positive reviews, but our experience fell far short of what we had anticipated.

The culinary offerings were, to put it mildly, lackluster. The dumplings, in particular, left an unpalatable impression, resembling the taste of ashtrays, while the rice was devoid of moisture and stubbornly hard. Even our efforts to salvage the meal with liberal applications of soy sauce couldn't breathe life into the blandness. The noodles shared the same fate, as they arrived dry and devoid of any delectable attributes.

The sesame chicken, which we hoped would redeem the meal, was a hollow rendition, devoid of flavor and lacking in any discernible charm. To exacerbate our dismay, the restaurant had run out of all boba-tea options, further dampening our spirits.

While the wait staff was efficient, their haste in presenting us with the check left us feeling as though we were being hurried out the door. To top it off, we were presented with a bill exceeding $80 for a dining experience that had brought us no joy or satisfaction.

It is with a heavy heart that I cannot, in good conscience, recommend Dumpling Café based on this unfortunate experience. Despite the positive reputation we had heard, the reality of our meal was far...

Read rave reviews of this place in a local publication. My wife and I decided to give it a try. The place has ample parking. Upon entering you are greeted by an electronic kiosk with an adjacent sign saying “order here”. We ordered, indicating on screen that we’d dine in. Host seemed confused as to why we didn’t sit down and order. The decor seemed to be Goodwill mix and match. Our order arrived promptly and sequentially. The chicken noodle dish was served room temperature, which complimented the unpleasant flavor. This was followed by scallion pancakes, pan fried dumplings, kung pao chicken and spring rolls. The scallion pancakes were not bad. The spring rolls were greasy but flavorful. The pan fried dumplings had an awful yellow color and worse texture and flavor, unlike any other pan fried dumplings we’d ever had. There was no accompanying sauce. The kung pao was revolting. Truthfully, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home, purchased Pepto Bismol and each took a dose, hoping it might protect us from potential illness from the room temperature chicken noodle dish. We did take out ample leftovers but were so put off by eating them later that we threw them in the trash. My wife and I love Chinese restaurants. Unfortunately this one, to our palates, was awful. Sad, because the staff were pleasant...

My first experience with this restaurant was take-out, and I probably should have stuck to that (...unfortunately). Thought the place was cute/wanted to dine in... but yeah...

Not a fan of entering an almost EMPTY restaurant, and being seated super close to the only other people there... if there were communal tables, it would have made more sense (also not a fan of the attitude when I asked to sit in a different spot; the dinning room is pretty small, so it's not like there was a trek from section to section).

Also not a fan of the waitstaff placing a fork (that I assume was clean -- ??) on a dirty plate (that was already on the table when I was directed to sit there 😳). No napkins. Table hot sauce was kinda gross (garlicky; might have been better fresh -- ? Their fresh noodles/dumplings are great).

It's cool though/attempted to reacclimate myself to chopsticks. 💃

Food was good -- so, I'll try take-out again at some point (😬) -- but not likely to attempt another sit down meal. (One dude was very professional and kind,...