Shanghai dumpling — Restaurant in Washington

Listen, maybe my expectations have really cratered since moving here, but I was genuinely excited to see a Chinese takeout restaurant opening in the neighborhood that doesn’t also have subs on the menu. I ordered the pork with garlic sauce (listed as 鱼香肉丝 on the menu in Chinese which literally translates to “fish fragrance thinly sliced pork”). It’s a dish I would usually order to judge the quality and flavor of a Chinese restaurant. It is a very popular and basic dish, I think of it as the equivalent of a Margherita pizza in a Neapolitan pizza joint. It’s a dish that cannot hide behind a spicy sauce such as the dry pots (干锅） or the broth (水煮）dishes. It demonstrates the basic knife skills of the chef and whether they can get the sauce flavor and consistency right.

It left much to be desired, to say the least. The meat was tough (not silkened) and in various shapes, the sauce flavor is off and too runny. Deeply disappointing.

I also ordered the spicy pork wontons - they were under seasoned and the sauce was lacking. I can confirm that these are indeed made fresh in house because I saw one person making it when I was picking up.

I understand this is, after all, just a takeout restaurant. And they recently opened so I will return and try something else and...

Ordered the double cooked sichuan pork, stir fried green beans, and pickled cabbage cabbage + fish soup. They were all delicious, decently portioned and came with a small box of rice each. The soup in particular was a standout, really enjoyed it. It’s a takeout only spot, the whole place was really clean. 10% off if you pay in cash. I would order their chinese chinese food, not their American chinese food or dumplings which seem to be less good.

Our order was only ready 30 min after the estimated pick up time (so 50 min after ordering). Unfortunately they don’t pick up on the phone number provided when you place an order, so there’s no way to check if your order’s ready soon except to go there in person. And the waiting area is unheated….so wait for the text message saying your food’s ready!

I understand it’s a small operation that just opened and they seem understaffed, plus I ordered on a busy Friday night. Hopefully they can fix these issues soon! They are really nice. Five stars still because the food was really good and it’s awesome to have an actual chinese place in the...

Yo. hitting WAY harder than one would ever expect for a basement carryout.

Every dish was good, every ingredient felt fresh and not overcooked. Also kitchen was quite clean. Dude was careful in the packing and reviewing the order ticket. No seating, no restroom, no greeting. But top 4 Chinese i've had in 23 years living here.

We had: veggie steamed dumplings, veggie fried dumplings, sesame balls, the green beans (dry wrinkled like at some Taiwanese places), ma po tofu, veggie spicy dry pot (nice drying heat, lotus root!? Black fungus mushroom!?), the rice, cucumber salad (more garlicky and flavorful than most)

Would gladly go again, and get any of those...