Dough Zone Dumpling House Seattle Pine Street — Restaurant in Seattle

A good friend LOVES this place and was really excited to share it with me, as she had with several other friends, all of us from out of town and here on business. I’m the only one with a limited menu, though (vegan/vegetarian), but I had looked ahead and knew there were options, so I was excited to try this place!

Unfortunately they were out of both kinds of vegie dumplings and potstickers—it was a Monday night at 8pm, and we did have to wait about 15 minutes to get a table (not as long as they said we might need to, thankfully—the line moves quickly!).

I ended up ordering the green onion pancake, which was fresh and flaky but also really dry and uninteresting, as well as the cucumber appetizer, which for me was the star of the evening (10/10 recommend that!). I also ordered the vegie noodles as an entree, which was disappointing because it’s basically ramen with some dried vegies in it, and I’d been eating ramen in the hotel room all week. The noodle dish, while larger than my friend’s order of Dan Dan Noodles (which she loved), lacked any flavor. I had to heap it with soy, vinegar, and chili crisp, all of which are provided on the table, thankfully. Our drink order came halfway through the meal.

Overall, this place was a disappointment—maybe I need to find out when they make the vegie dumplings and potstickers and make sure I come on that day? But, then again, I didn’t feel well the next day nor after eating my leftover noodles, so I’m suspicious of some pork cross-contamination. I was hoping to leave this place as excited as my friend was to show it to me, but I’ll recommend leaving it to the meat eaters...

OK food. Poor service.

Here are things that did not happen:

We did not have anyone take our order until we hailed someone. We did not get a water refill. We did not get one of our items. We did not get anyone checking in about the quality of the food or how things were so we couldn't tell anyone of the deficiency until flagging someone down. We did not get acknowledgement any time we thanked anyone. We did not get an explanation of differences between two menu items the first time we asked ("did you look at the menu?") Yes. We did look at the menu but the difference was not enumerated on the menu. We did not get a smile or a friendly tone at any point in the night from all but one staff member. We did not get a table that was located in a clean area. We did not have anyone clear the dishes for the first 45 minutes of our meal, although, to be fair, we didn't get food for about 20 minutes after we ordered either.

Interestingly, a lot of these were offered to the table besides us. I have no idea what the discrepancy is.

Anyhow. The food itself was just OK. I'm a big fan of noodles and dumplings in general but even I had some trouble getting some items down. Most of the items were definitely in just the OK range. It was greasy without being tasteful. Many of the spices were used in quantity without balance. For a few of the dishes all I could taste was grease and the mala spice. The only exception was probably the special noodle.

I made my concerns known and paid the bill in full except for an item which they took off beforehand for it being 45 minutes late.

Wouldn't...

Tldr; Food is legit with some rough edges. Service is a bit disorganized, with room for improvement. Happy to have them in the area!

Food: 4/5 Service: 4/5

Service: We had a few hiccups with our service, which is sort of excusable given its a soft opening. However, I'd expect better given how close the other locations are. The ordering process took many attempts at calling for a server, and it seems this location is shorthanded. A few items were unavailable as well, even though we came at opening.

Food: XLB were perfect, on par with the other locations. Our spicy wontons were light on sauce, but also tasty and quick to arrive. Dan Dan mein was sauce was watery instead of the expected thick peanut sauce they serve at the International District location. They remade it for us with thicker sauce, but it still wasn't quite there. Literally. It looked like they just removed the sauce the second time around. Despite lacking flavor, the noodles themselves were tasty with a nice bite. The Beef Sandwich was the same beef used in their rolls out in a soft bao with some lettuce. Definitely getting it again! Our QBaos took a little while to arrive, but they were definitely worth the wait! The buns were toasty and filled with juicy pork balls. Pan fried beef cakes had a lot of flavor, but oil poured out when we bit into them. If you don't mind draining your...