Mount & Bao — Restaurant in Seattle

Great place for authentic Chinese dishes! They have huge portions, decent prices, and quite the variety of dishes. They’ve even got a few dim sum dishes, like shu mais and shrimp balls! However, the service is VERY slow. You order using the QR code and place orders on your phone, which makes things somewhat easy; I just wished the food came out quicker. Although slow, they are very friendly here!

The food, for the most part, was good. Xiao long boas didn’t really have any soup in them. The hot and sour soup had a TON of white pepper in it. I was with my MIL and she said it’s hard to find the shredded pork and pickled noodle soup that they have. And she really liked it! I wished the fried rice had more of a wok-flavor to it, otherwise it was okay. The flower-edged shu Mai’s were really tasty; juicy and seasoned well!

The pan fried pork buns had a thicker breading than I would like, but the filling tasted good. The pork spring rolls were packed with a lot of filling and had good flavor to them and crisped to perfection!

We would definitely come back to try more of their dishes…I just hope the service gets...

Came here with a friend after a sunny day out on Lake Union. We’d seen a few local foodies recommend this spot, so we decided to give it a try.

Between the two of us, we ordered: • Shrimp dumplings • Pan-fried beef dumplings (worth the extra $1) • Pork and chive dumplings • Spicy wontons • Beef noodles • Green beans

Every dish was flavorful and the portions were generous enough that we both had leftovers for another full meal the next day. The dumplings were especially well-made, and the crispy skirt on the pan-fried ones was a standout. The green beans had that perfect wok-charred texture and just enough heat.

The vibe is casual, and it got busier as the evening went on. While the menu is similar to Dough Zone, the quality and flavor are better. It’s also a solid (and slightly more affordable) alternative to Din Tai Fung.

Only docking half a star because we were charged for takeout containers - it was under $2, but still a bit of a surprise at the end of the meal.

The total came to approximately $100 for two people including tip, which felt fair for the amount and quality of food.

Would...

I have no idea why this place is rated so highly. The shrimp dumplings were so undercooked that we tasted the frozen center. Half the xiao long bao were dry with no juices and the rest had a stale taste. The chow mein was too salty.

There was only one waitress serving 6+ tables and it was far easier to grab our own stuff from the station than to flag her down.

Worst of all, the place reeked of chemicals. Not sure why they don’t clean overnight or vent the place. We would never have entered at all due to the smell, but our friend insisted the place was good. She didn’t even notice the smell so I’m worried that it’s so common she got used to the noxious fumes.

It was just a horrible experience overall. Would not recommend anyone come here. We’re planning to take our friend to a good xiao long bao place as she’s missing out on how good...