Dumpling Kitchen

My brother took me to this place while visiting San Francisco. We went right when it opened for the evening dinner rush and was seated right away.The place is very small, but cozy and clean. Their bathroom was super clean and easy to find. The staff was friendly and explained dishes to us that were in Chinese on the menu. We ordered the soup, dumplings, steamed dumplings, and the sizzling rice soup. We also ordered a scallion pancake. The food came out at different times, which is very typical in this type of restaurant. We got the scallion pancake and the soup right away. Both were delicious! The sizzling rice soup is made with a clear chicken broth and has some vegetables. The main ingredients are chicken, pork, shrimp, and the sizzling rice. When the rice arrived to the table it was popping... And when it is dropped into the soup, it sizzles hence the name.The dumplings were very tasty. And they were a good size. The pork dumplings are very hot when they come out so you need to be careful so you don't burn your tongue. The vegetable dumplings were pretty big and packed. The pork dumplings come six to a basket and the vegetable dumplings are four to a basket.The restaurant has other items on the menu, some of which are our favorites, like honey walnut shrimp. I am definitely going back the next time. I am in the area to try some of the other dishes.Enjoy!

January 31, 2025 I'm here for the Sizzling Beef. Several 5 star orders. One anomaly. Management responded & spoke to the staff. Anyway, the place is very popular, that's saying something. Interior is thoughtful, orders arrive promptly, friendly wait staff. It's really not fair of me to review the dumplings since I've only tried the har gow. Wasn't my favorite, shrimp filling tasty, but too doughy for me. If you're in the Castro, Dumping Kitchen a solid choice.

Food: 4/5Service: 4/5Ambiance: 4/5Price to Portion: 3/5Overall: One of the better restaurants I'd consider going to in the castro. Definitely a solid choice.The extended review...Food: 4/5 - Got a bunch of different things. Of course the ones to get always are the soup dumplings and the pan fried Shanghai buns which are delicious.Service: 4/4 - Friendly and attentive staffAmbiance: 4/4 - Nothing special about the ambiance but it's comfortable and spacious.

Always a solid and delicious spot, this place never disappoints and its easy to get reservations for large parties unlike dumpling home.A good spot for out of towners/visiting friends.The pan fried pork dumplings are a classic, the lions head was good as well, and the custard baos.We also got the salt and pepper fish that was decent. The soy milk was disappointing, the sugar added gave it an artificial taste.

I had dinner on Saturday evening around 6pm and we found easily a table for me, my husband and our daughter. We ordered the dumplings boiled fish and chive (delicious and my favorite) steamed chicken and shiitake baos (really good) and the black truffle and beef fried rice (good also this one and also my daughter ate it). We didn't try anything else because the portions are really good, so we were already full. But a friend of mine told me that their sesame chicken is a must have, so next time. Service was also good and it's a very easy ambiance.

Dumpling kitchen has been a family favorite for years but this is my first time at this location. We ordered shen jian bao, xlb, string beans, chow mein, salt and pepper fried fish, and dry fried beef. First thing I noticed is that you don't get sat with tea, which is what I'm used to from the original location. You actually have to pay for it here but I guess this location isn't typically Asian so they felt the need to do that here. Another thing I noticed was that they didn't have the same garlic chili oil. This location has straight chili oil, just the oil no chilis or garlic in it which was....interesting. The garlic chili oil at the other location is one of my favorite chili oils in the bay so that was a lil disappointing. On to the food. It was good!! Same quality and taste as the original location. The only new thing we ordered was the dry fried beef which was SO SO SO SPICY. The Szechuan peppercorns should've given it away but it had a good flavor! Just a tongue numbing experience if you eat the red peppercorns as well.

Yummy dumplings. Quick pleasant service. Family oriented atmosphere. My family and I enjoy eating here

3.5 stars. New dumpling place!Service is amazing and the place is cute. The food is good, but not super flavorful. The green onion noodles were pretty bland and so were the soup dumplings (side note: I'm not sure why the soup spoons were so small that the dumplings barely fit - no stars removed for this comment!). The fried dumplings were pretty tasty, though. The chocolate dumplings were interesting but pretty much just seemed like it was Nutella stuffed into a soup dumpling skin. Super reasonably priced though so I would definitely recommend if you want a good, not too expensive meal in the Castro!

Unfortunately a little disappointed by the items my friends I ordered for dinner here. We were in the area after our soulcycle class and was craving Chinese food so we popped in here and was seated right away. We ordered the mapo tofu, sizzling rice soup, pan fried pork buns, and wontons in chili oil. The mapo tofu was pretty good, it had the sichuan peppercorn numbing taste and the tofu was soft and silky, I just wish it had a little bit more meat in it. The sizzling rice soup was very tasty and probably my favorite dish of the night. The two dumpling dishes felt a bit lackluster than my expectations (since this place is called dumpling kitchen). The pan fried pork buns weren't bad, but I felt it wasn't as crunchy on the bottom as it could've been. The meat inside was good though. The wontons in chili oil were not good, the chili oil had no spice to it, it was a very pale orange, it didn't feel like true chili oil. The wonton skins were also really thick in my opinion.

Everything was so good! Ordered via DoorDash tonight. The Kung Pao chicken was very spicy, honestly slightly too spicy for me today, and I do like spice. So maybe ask for it less spicy or order something else. But the chicken was tender and veggies were perfect. The Shanghai-style pan-fried dumplings rule! Excited to go here in person and will be ordering delivery again.