Din Ding Dumpling House Union City — Restaurant in Union City

After the first time I’ve been there a few weeks ago, my daughter wanted to go here again, this time we tried something new and we weren’t impressed with the new dishes. It was a hot day, the restaurant doesn’t have AC, this is bad, we’re expecting a nice cool environment and we got a warm and sweaty one with fans blowing hot air all around. I wad going to leave but my kids were lazy to choose a different restaurant. Hot and sour minced pork noodles soup, very sour, the pork meat even small chunks are tough to chew. The noodles are good as usual. Combination chow mein is extremely salty, even my son who likes salty food had to complain. My son pork shrimp and egg buns he said they’re good, I haven’t tried it because I’m not too crazy about buns. My Mongolian beef was also flavorful but salty too. I couldn’t believe a little rice now was $3.50. Shrimp and pork potstickers my son had to bring home because they’re not so great any more. This may be the last time I would come here. I would prefer Hongkong restaurant instead. With prices like these, AC is a must for a restaurant.

A few weeks ago we went to Bing dumping, was a disappointment. Yesterday my daughter wanted to go to Din Ding Dumpling, so we went without my son because he didn’t like wonton in spicy sauce here. The place was so crowded on a Friday, we had to register on line for the waiting list and waited for 30 minutes. The parking lot is huge because sharing with market and many other businesses, we had to park far away from the restaurant. The restaurant is remodeled very nicely, airy and modern looking. Every party gets a takeout menu and a pencil to mark on what they want to order, this is quite efficient for waiting in line to be ready when seated. Everyone here is extremely helpful and efficient. The service is fast and attentive. The food is the reason why this place is crowded. It’s a full restaurant, not just dumping. All the dishes people ordered around us looked so delicious and inviting. We ordered brisket noodles for me and it warned only tendon and fat, but I like those. There’s no brisket meat at all but everything is so delicious, the soup is excellent and the little fat and tendon are tasty, the noodles are just right, love this bowl. My daughter loves to share this one too. My wife got the spicy chicken peanut noodles which was so tasty, although the chicken was shredded thin. The sauce and peanut are just right with the noodles. We all like this one. My daughter got her favorite spicy garlic beef noodles and we all love this one although there are only a few slices of meat, but the whole thing was delicious. The soup dumplings are tasty like other dumplings places, I’m not crazy about eating these because I have to put the whole bao in my mouth to prevent the soup from squirting out. The kids seem to like this. The spicy pork wontons that my son didn’t like and it tasted better than other place. They’re just wontons in hot sauce, they don’t do anything for me, just the kids. I would like to come back to try all the real dishes they offer on the menu although it seems this is a noodles and dumplings specifically. The sauces and noodles are so excellent here. The prices are reasonable except “where’s the beef”, but...

Okayyyy lezz talk about DDDH. Bc omg, this was a totally new discovery to me. My east bay buds have been raving about it for a while (that it’s the BETTER version of DTF), but I didn’t get a chance to try it out until this past wkend for Mother’s Day.

First of all, Mother’s Day is an aggressively busy day for any Chinese restaurant in general. But I’ve heard that DDDH is busy on any other day too. Insider secret (that apparently no one else knew except our group) is that you can make ressies. I didn’t make it, so I’m not 100% sure what the criteria is for making one...but thank god we did! The line was literally out the door, around the corner, and then some. Honestly, I was feeling real bad for all those ppl that would be hitting the second wave. And there were plenty of them!

Let’s start with service. There wasn’t any. No lie, we were basically servicing ourselves. Like my cousin had to go to the front and grab five extra table settings and was nearly barked at by the staff bc they said they didn’t have any extra settings. We weren’t asking for EXTRA settings. We were asking for one per person...odd. Also, we couldn’t get a single wait staff for the life of us, but man, let me tell you how FIVE of them came swarming as soon as our bill was set to get us the f out. Hahaha I hadn’t seen a single wait staff prior to that.

Per usual with my fam, we ordered WAYYYY too much. Even with our group of ten. As the 15th item came out from the kitchen, it was starting to feel like we literally ordered the entire menu...which we likely may have ordered 1-2 items per category. ALSO, bc my fam has no chill, we started with our dessert first (brought our own Mother’s Day cheesecake) bc we thought the food would take a while to come out. It didn’t. Haha soooo we were SUPER full by the time only half of the food arrived!

BUT let’s talk about the food foreal. Seriously, DTF ain’t got nothing on DDDH. Portions are MASSIVE. Plenty of veggie and pescatarian options for my fellow seafood lovers out there. The fish was my fav. And the green veggie one was meh. Could’ve skipped it. The spicy fish cabbage noodle soup was packed with tons of diff flavors and packed a delicious punch. Noodles were al dente. Mm mmm. And lastly, while the piggy buns were cute for the insta, they were a bit pricy for basic buns. Prob wouldn’t opt for that dish again.

Would I come again? Yeah, probably. BUT set your service expectations WAY WAYYY low. Like almost non existent. 4...

Din Ding Dumpling House lives up to the hype, with delicious dumplings and a bustling atmosphere. Be prepared for a wait - we arrived before opening, and there was already a line! The Yelp waitlist only works in person, so keep that in mind. Despite the long line, service was surprisingly fast. Our food came out quickly, which was a relief considering the packed restaurant.

They offer indoor seating only, with both small tables and large round tables with lazy susans perfect for sharing. We tried a variety of dishes, and most were excellent.

The chicken fried rice was a crowd-pleaser, and the NE style crispy pork with peach sauce was a sweet and savory delight. The wok-fried chicken noodle with chestnut offered a unique texture, and the dry-fried string beans with pork were addictive (I could have easily finished a whole plate myself!).

Now, onto the star of the show - the dumplings! The pork xiao long bao was a highlight, with flavorful broth and a perfectly cooked filling. The pork and crab and shrimp and loofah variations were delicious as well. The fish dumplings were a nice change of pace, and the shrimp and pork pot stickers were good but a bit oily. The shrimp and pork wontons in spicy sauce were a slight disappointment - they lacked the promised kick.

On a sweet note, the piggy custard buns were a fantastic ending to the meal. The custard was perfectly smooth and sweet, a delightful way to finish.

Overall, Din Ding Dumpling House offers delicious food in a lively setting. Just be prepared for a wait. But with fast service and a wide variety of dumplings and other dishes, it's definitely worth...