Soupy Dumpling & Fancy Cuppa Bubble tea — Restaurant in Washington

Ever since I saw the sign go up on 14th street I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of this place and it did not disappoint! The soup dumplings are fantastic. They are on the larger side, loaded with filling, and absolutely delicious. They have a soup dumpling sampler (called the Lucky Six) which comes with each of their flavors. I highly recommend getting this and then choosing your favorites to get whole baskets of! I ended up getting seconds of the chicken soup dumplings and the gourd luffa, shrimp, & pork soup dumplings (though I was tempted to also get truffle & pork... so hard to choose).

In terms of service, it's seat yourself and you order from a QR code which I personally enjoy because you don't have to wait for anyone, you just order (and order seconds) when you are ready. Once you do, the food comes out rather quickly! And just because you order on the QR code, we still had serves come around to check on our table and make sure everything was OK.

The space is welcoming, there's a robot that delivers food, and the staff are very friendly.

Bonus points for the tea having an option of sweetness level and the cucumber salad being refreshing and...

Was excited for this authentic modern Chinese restaurant but the food was sooooo oily. Vegans and vegetarians usually want healthier options. So the only veg options on the menu being super oily is not good. There weren’t even veg dumplings and it’s a dumpling place. The noodle soup had little flavor. The ma po tofu was swimming in oil, which isn’t necessary to be tasty and authentic. Steamed bok choy was dry and had sauce sprinkled on top. I couldn’t stand to eat that much oil so I blotted the tofu off each bite and couldn’t finish the entire side dish due to the oil. You’ll see the napkin full of oil and the little dish has 3-4 tablespoons of oil that I was able to remove from the tofu and it was still too oily. Are you trying to make us all sicker with this much oil?! Everything was very clean. Staff were quick and nice. Service was quick. All cooks are Chinese. Restaurant concept is really cool and something DC needs more of. I hope they work out...

Having some sort of background music to drown out the sound of the vents would have really helped the atmosphere. As others have mentioned, because there is no host the area in front of the doors can get very crowded with people coming in and standing while they try to figure out where to go. We were asked at least 5 times if we would be eating in or getting take out. That was really the only thing we were even asked while there. The robot that runs the food was having issues bumping into tables so they were eventually turned off. There was no one running or calling out the drinks as they were being made which resulted in 10+ people standing by the counter.

The food itself was just okay. It would take about $30 of food to get full for one person. We spent $40 for two and it felt like an appetizer and ended up eating lunch somewhere else after.

The food wasn’t great but wasn’t bad. the drinks themselves were good but the boba was...