Dumpling Hours

Had a lovely lunch here on a rainy day. They had a great selection of Chinese dishes and they were all great.For appetizers we got the pig ears with cucumber and red oil. The pig ears were generously portioned and well seasoned, but the cucumber slices I think could have been better prepared if they were cut to smaller pieces Both the pork Xiao long bao and pan fried pork buns were amazing. The crispy underside of the fried buns and the juicy interior of the Xiao long bao were very delicious! Definitely on par with those at din tai fung!The dan dan sesame noodles were quite good too. Felt more like sesame noodles with ground meat, but still delicious!

Food 3/5 Thought the Dan Dan noodle sesame paste was too thick and dry. Also didn't have the fragrant sesame flavor that you get from a good dab Dan noodle shop. The cucumber garlic salad was a little under-seasoned too. The saving grace was the cucumbers came in thicker/larger cuts and super crunchy, which nice. The hot and sour soup were a little bland and could use a bit more black vinegar. Their dumpling meat wasn't the freshest and the skin was a little on the thicker side though. Service - 4/5 fairly fast except dumpling which is normal to take a little longer time.

I had high hopes for Dumpling Hours, but the experience was a bit of a mixed bag. My friends and I planned to meet here at 7 PM, but as expected, everyone was running late. Since I arrived first, I put our party of three on the waitlist, but somehow, we got skipped. That added another eight minutes of waiting, which wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it definitely didn't start things off on the right foot.Once we were finally seated, we ordered a ton of food--so much that I completely forgot to take pictures (rookie mistake). We tried the beef tongue with special sauce, which had a nice depth of flavor, and the pan-fried pork buns, which I really appreciated for how warm and flavorful the soup inside was. The crab and pork xiao long bao ended up being one of my favorites, bursting with juicy goodness in every bite.The chicken with shiitake mushroom dumplings had a nice chew and a deep, umami flavor, while the cucumber salad with crushed garlic was super refreshing--honestly, I'd love to recreate it at home. The vegetable dumplings, on the other hand, were just okay, nothing too exciting. Green onion pancakes, as always, were a safe and satisfying bet, especially when dipped in sauce. We also got a noodle dish with carrots (I forgot the name), but it was a decent addition to the meal.Overall, the food was solid, but the experience of getting skipped on the waitlist left a bit of a bad taste. I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to come back, but if I were in the area and craving dumplings, I might give it another shot.

Came around 8:30pm on a Saturday night with one table ahead of me and they were told the kitchen closes soon. We opted to sit outside and ordered right away.Xiao long baos were great! This restaurant was better than what I had remembered at the one in Walnut Creek years ago. Xiao long bao's skin was so thin and light, but held up and didn't break when transporting from the steamer to the red holder cup thing.Heat lamps weren't working unfortunately, but we ate quickly and warmed our hands on the steamer lid hahaNote: Their vinegar is sour!

I thought this place was just ok. I came here for lunch last Friday with some friends and we had a good time all around, but the food itself was about a C-.I thought their best items were their pan-fried pork buns and ginger scallion noodles. The Dan Dan noodles was pretty good too. We were not big fans of their wonton soup; it was too seaweed tasting and had too much of this white peppery flavor. The wontons were small and didn't taste like the traditional wontons I'm used to. The prices were pretty high too with about $15-$17 each dish. The pan-fried pork buns are steaming hot with broth inside. I've never seen anything like this item before. It's a must try!It's obvious that prices would be this high especially being in downtown but there are plenty other dim sum places that are low cost and more authentic tasting. Maybe this specific place is from a different region? whatever it may be, I'm just not a fan of the flavors. I won't be coming back but I do recommend people coming here to try; maybe you'll have a better time than I did!

Great Chinese addition to the Palo Alto food scene. We sat down quick for a party of 5 Sunday night. It's great that the servers are pretty quick paced and are attentive to tables. I pretty much enjoyed everything we ordered off the menu. Some highlights were:- XiaoLongBao (probably what you came for) pork was good, but the pork+crab was even better. Thin skin and lots of savory broth inside.- Green onion pancakes. Thin and plenty of green onions inside- DanDan noodles. A little on the oily side but so nutty and flavorful- Pan Fried Pork Dumplings. Again, very crispy on the bottom and juicy- Green Beans. A must, lot of good "wok-hei" flavor- Dry fried chicken wings. Crispiest batter ever. I was only really disappointed by the soybean noodles (Zhajiangmian). Very salty and overwhelming with beancurd sauce and not much else.Since I'm always looking for a good spot for XLB, this one makes it to the list!

Food (5/5)XLB were terrific. Highly recommend the hot & spicy if you can handle it, the spice level is medium. The soup inside had a lot of flavor and I loved the ratio of dumpling, pork, and soup.String beans were also amazing! The pan fried pork buns were delicious, similar flavor to the XLB but with an interesting crispy texture on top. The ginger & scallion noodles were fine, would skip them next time.Service (5/5)Waited around 15 minutes for a table. Service was fast and attentive, you order via a QR code on your phone then pay with a standard check at the end. Not my favorite experience but it was quick and worked.Ambiance (4/5)The restaurant is medium sized and has a good amount of seating. It was on the louder side but the music was pleasant and vibes are good. You can see some of the cooks making the XLB depending on where you're seated.Will be coming back to have more dumplings, string beans, and try some other dishes.

SOUP DUMPLINGS IN THE SOUTH BAY ARE BACK, BABY!Ever since my absolute favorite soup dumplings placed closed down in Cupertino, I felt like the South Bay had a really tough time with decent soup dumplings.Not to exaggerate, but that place in Cupertino that made imo THE BEST XLBs closing down was essentially my 9/11.And no, no, no, don't ever tell me Din Tai Fung XLB is good. It's not. DTF is hella overrated. It's just a spot to go for work lunch with co workers because you are too insecure to admittedly eat somewhere 100x better albeit at a shanty hole-in-the-wall place.This place is apparently the sister restaurant to Dumpling Kitchen in the city.It took over the old Bevri spot. More recently Bevri is on the main University Ave road now.The restaurant is quaint and fast. The dishes and utensils are nice and modern. In lieu of a soup spoon you get this soup spoon-ish ramekin that is nice to use.The pricing is high though. Got 5 dishes and it was $105 out the door (taxes and tip included) which is closer to $21 per plate. It's that downtown PA pricing I guess. But also it's a pretty fast casual dining experience, so the price is steep for the food and experience you're getting honestly.I ordered:Juicy Pan-fried Pork Buns(6) $15.95- Delicious, very nice to look at as well. It's always described as regular XLB but pan fried, but usually most places don't do it that way. This place does, as it clearly resembles their XLB and just pan fried at the bottom half. Definitely soup in it as well, so be careful! You should order this.Pork Xiao Long Bao(8) $16.95- Delicious as well, a must order! Lots of soup broth, and it's incredibly flavorful as well. Lots of places that claim they can do XLB often times will have soup that resembles chicken noodle soup broth from a can or something. Not this place, though. This place is very similar to my favorite place in Cupertino that closed down, it's hearty and you can see the fat chunks in the broth. So much flavor. You should remember: Fat is flavor!Hot & Spicy Pork Xiao Long Bao(8) $16.95- I was pretty skeptical about ordering this but it was basically just as good as the regular XLB but a nice hint of spice to it. It's more gentle and not super spicy. I can see some people skipping this and that's fine, but if you want some slight variety to your meal instead of all regular XLB you may be interested in this.String Beans Sauteed w.Garlic Sauce $15.95- Decent, no complaints. If you're someone who has to have a veg dish with your meal, maybe get this.Ginger & Scallion Noodles $15.95- I was kind of stoked to get this because of how good it looked but honestly it was underwhelming. The noodles were way too chewy and the flavor was just not "punchy" enough compared to the rest of the food. It tasted more like burned onion pasta, but the pasta wasn't al dente.No point in gate keeping this (as if I ever). Honestly the Bay Area food scene has crashed out so bad these past few years anything worth checking out will travel very quickly through word of mouth, through word of hungry mouths that is. Bay Area got hella foodies but the options are severely lacking these days.

Saw that a new dumpling spot opened in Palo Alto so thought we would give it a try when we were in the area. We came here on a Saturday for lunch and waited for 30 mins or so.Ordering is easy - you just scan via their QR code. We ordered the pan fried dumplings, soybean paste noodles and braised beef noodles. I think most people order the pan fried dumplings and they keep making them because ours arrived within a few minutes of us placing our order. The pan fried dumplings were pretty standard, good but nothing to rave about. Maybe we shouldn't have over indexed on the noodles at a dumpling house, but I found both noodles dishes to be pretty bland.

Quick take: Really good dumplingsThe dumpling skin is super thin but it didn't break while removing from the steamer.All very good and the wait for lunch wasn't too long.