Panda Dumpling House

They changed ownership. My favorite items are no longer on the menu and it looks like a generic, Americanized Chinese fast food place now. I won’t be returning anytime soon, sadly…

It’s now called «K Tasty Dumplings». One of the best and cheapest dumplings in town. Really good if you’re in a hurry and just need a quick bite of Chinese burgers (bao) scallion pancake or hand-​pulled noodles.
And free wi-​fi.

the lady is sooo sweet here.
it really looks like a family owned business cause theres a little girl that works behind the counter with the lady.
i ordered the potstickers, 5 for a dollar? thats pretty damn cheap
its not as bad either!

If you can stomach watching customers picking their teeth after a meal, or some customers that come in looking very unkempt and unsavory, dirty tables and counters, and cakey build-​up of sauce on the Sriracha (hot sauce) jar tips, and an unattractive, huge black garbage bucket thankfully with lid, then you can find yourself in some very delicious dumpling territory.
Panda Dumpling House is a no thrills cheap eatery that has also upgraded their menu to include hand pulled noodles. Inside there are counters with bar stools and a small round table in the center. Not as much of eating room, but more room for customers to come and place orders. The place is clean except for the counters and table, where customers make a mess and don’t clean up after themselves.
At the counter, there is this cute, little Asian girl who looks way too young to be working. At times, she is confused and overwhelmed by the numerous requests for food. My heart really goes out to her. Behind her in the counter, are 3 hardworking men chefs and one lady chef cooking up the orders.
I placed an order for boiled pork dumplings with bok choy for $ 2. You get a total of eight for $ 2, a real bargain. My order was definitely confused and I waited and got to see others eat their juicy dumplings and my mouth just watered. Finally, my order was called and the young girl apologized and said they would take off a dollar because they messed up and I had to wait so long. The total would have only been $ 2, but since they offered, I gave $ 1.
I sat on a bar stool with the window, overlooking the street. As I was eating, I heard some yelling in the back but could not make it out; obviously the young girl and the lady chef were at some disagreement. I hope she wasn’t reprimanded for messing up and I felt really, really bad. They didn’t really have to offer a discount I would have paid the $ 2. The young girl never did come out afterwards, and the other chef had to take orders. I looked back and no girl. This totally distressed me.
Other than that strange altercation and some undesirable elements, the dumplings are fabulous. The skin is handmade and not from a pre-​made wrapper. There is such a big difference. The softness and silkiness of the skin is well matched with the juicy, succulent dumpling filling. These little pillowy pocket bites are extremely yummy. This place has dumplings that rock!
There are loungers with computers set up taking advantage of free Wi-​Fi. There are young girls and boys from the neighborhood coming in for quick, affordable meals. Some pluses included the giant blue menu and the hand-​pulled noodle menu with large print. Nothing on the menu is over $ 5.00, except the frozen dumplings which you take home and cook yourself, but for 50 dumplings $ 9 – 11 is definitely way cheap. If you eat on the go, you can take out. This is delicious, affordable food at its best!

Crazy cheap and dericious! My friend rented out the place (not a huge undertaking since the entire space is about the size of a shoebox studio apartment) for her birthday and we had a blast ordering all kinds of food and boozing on BYO drinks. The restaurant wasn’t particularly helpful in letting non-​guests know there was a private party, but I’m guessing they don’t do this kind of thing often so there’s probably not an established protocol. No worries — my friend had no qualms letting intruders know what’s up.
Next time I’m in the area and itching to cancel out my workouts for the entire week, I’ll hit up this spot.

I usually go to Prosperity Dumplings to get my frozen dumplings but I’ve always been curious about Panda Dumpling House. This place is more like a SUPER cheap restaurant without a wait service like Suanne L mentioned. They have all sorts of cheap and filling Chinese Soul food items ranging from noodles, dumplings, burgers, pancakes, and much more.
I got their Peanut Sauce Noodles (Large=$ 3.50, Small=$ 2) and they looked super greasy but they were actually pretty filling and savory/​tasty. The portions were decent as well. I also got their Duck Pancake for $ 2 but it was alright. There was wayy too little meat and the pancake bun was dry but at least the radish and veggies were crunch and fresh. They also sell Dumplings which I haven’t tried but what caught my eye was that they have Frozen Dumplings with Pork, Shrimp, and Crab Meat in them which was different. 50 of those for $ 11 is really not bad considering it’s not just Pork and Chives. I’m actually chowing down some of their Pork/​Shrimp/​Crab dumplings right now and they are pretty decent!
Things to note:
1) The Chinese guy behind the counter reminds me of a Panda for some reason lol (yeah the guy with the tattoo on his left arm)
2) Staff speaks limited English but they are able to understand you.
3) The customers are not only Chinese or Asians but I’ve seen hipsters and non-​Asians frequent this place for a quick bite/​snack which basically means it’s pretty safe to eat here.
4) CASH-​ONLY
5) They have a restroom here
To sum it up, I’ll probably stick with Prosperity for my frozen dumplings but I will come back to try other Chinese soul food and their hand-​pulled noodles!

wow, the prices here sure are unbeatable. A definite plus for starving students!
$ 1.00 for 5 delicious fried pork dumplings
$ 2.00 for 8 delicious boiled pork dumplings
Options for «pork hamburger», dumpling soups, and pork buns.
You’d be surprised how these small dumplings fill you up so quickly. It only took 6 – 7 dumplings for me to feel like I never wanted to eat anything ever again. soooo full! A filling, warm dinner for less than $ 3.00 is pretty much unheard of! :P
Overall, a good, cheap place to fill up, but there’s probably more delicious/​quality dumplings in NY.

Wanted to relax and have some dumplings and other treats from Prosperity Dumpling down the block but they have virtually no place to sit so we came in here as we walked by cause we saw it was much larger and heard it was good. Ordered a bunch of goodies to share:
Leek pancake: large fried pancake stuffed with a tasty leek filling but it was barely warm so it made the dough kind of rubbery
Pork and chive dumplings: larger with a thicker skin than Prosperity to hold the extra filling. very good especially w/​dumpling sauce and sriracha (actually, I put that on everything I got!)
Pork and crab dumplings: couldn’t distinguish the crab in these and they were good but the others were much better
Beef noodle soup: not to be mistaken w/​Phở. This was a large bowl of soup with chunks of beef and a very good earthy broth but not enough for the amount of noodles.
Pork bun: large white steamed bun filled with tasty bbq pork I haven’t been able to find in a lot of place around there.
Sesame pancake w. pork: large thick triangle shape pancake (like a small pizza slice) stuffed with pieces of pork, lettuce and tomato. Over at Prosperity, they use pickled veggies and cilantro in the filling and its 100x better
All in all it was really good and we got all this food for a whopping $ 14! Would stop in again to get certain things, but not others.

Great value!
If their fried dumplings weren’t too greasy, we were going to give this place a 5 stars!
Fried dumplings = 5 for $ 1
20 fried dumplings + 1 bowl of wonton noodle soup + 1 bowl of dumpling noodle soup + 1 can of Coke = $ 12
The fried dumpling here is actually pretty tasty, lots of flavor, & juicy. The size of the dumpling is perfect, not too big or too small. Minus one star because they were just so greasy! We actually love greasy food but this is just too much. As we were eating, we had to keep wiping our lips. Our lips were so greasy as if we had lip gloss on!
The place looks clean. Friendly service.
Definitely worth stopping by…
We’ll definitely go back…

After seeing those pictures of the peanut noodles, I couldn’t wait to return to NY to try! I ordered the pork dumplings, peanut noodles and a soda. It was $ 4! There was a lot of food too. The noodles are fresh, rich, and creamy. The dumplings are 5 for $ 1 and they were good too. Not the best dumplings in NY but tasty. This is a cute place if you want some tasty Chinese food for cheap. Friendly service and the place is big and clean.

Ooh I love you Panda Dumpling House but why you disappoint me? Once you had thin skinned boiled bok choy dumplings… now they are thick. Please oh please my love don’t be so thick skinned. I need to see who you are inside with your thin skinned version. Now you hide under your thick skinned self. Sad oh sad Sally.

Most people will come here for the dumplings. Luckily for them, the ones I had here (with pork and chive) are excellent and among the best I’ve had for cheap Chinatown dumplings ! They are very juicy and moist. They are not that crispy if that is your thing, but still delicious and flavorful. As a plus, the srichacha sauce here is also not watered down.
I also tried a bunch of other things from the menu. The scallion pancake was so-​so. I am not sure why, but the scallion flavor was very lacking, but it was served fresh and hot. The Chinese hamburger (with pork) was also disappointing. It had only a few pits of roast pork in it and was overpowered by the large thick bun.
I also tried the peanut sauce noodles. I was expecting steamed fun noodles with peanut sauce, like most Chinese street food vendors sell. However, they serve wide egg noodles here with peanut sauce. This was not as good as the steamed fun version, but still satisfactory nonetheless.
In conclusion, dumplings all the way for this place.

Panda Dumpling House is the new wo tiep place on the block. Similar to the other 5 dumplings for $ 1 joints, this place is busy, sticky, and hot. Panda is more of a full fledged restaurant, with about 15 seats, a rest room, and some fans. They do not have waiter service, but do offer about 40 items on the menu (as opposed to the 10 at Prosperity). Note, that they do not have A/​C, but have free wifi (for girls only hehe) although I can’t imagine who would want to sit here for an extended period of time.
We ordered the regular pan fried pork and chive dumplings and a Chinese «hamburger». The dumplings are a tiny bit smaller and sweeter than Prosperity, which weirded me out as I wanted them to be heavier and fuller. I think the skins are thicker too, which makes the outside of the dumpling prettier, but increases the carb count. The Chinese hamburger is diced cooked pork, not ground patties of beef. Its served on a chewy white flour bun with the same consistency as the dumpling skins — not your standard bun. It’s tasty, but dry without a condiment.
Sad to say, Panda House didn’t satisfy my dumpling craving. Perhaps I should try the pork and bok choy like Rich and Sally!

I was on my way to my usually cheap-​as-​hell dumpling spot when I noticed Panda Dumpling House on the corner. Always one to be an adventurous eater I walked over to peek at the menu. The prices seemed fairly good; dumplings were the same price as my other spot. So I decided to forgo the extra half a block to my usual spot and ventured in to try something new.
Immediately upon entering Panda Dumpling House you’ll notice one big difference compared to the other «famous» dumpling spots in Chinatown. This place was big and spacious! Like several tables and plenty of seating kind of spacious. The lighting was nice and bright too.
But enough of the space. What really matters is how the food is. For the dirt cheap prices of any and all food that comes out of Chinatown dumpling joints, that already earns a star in my book. I was eating alone but in an effort to give my fellow Unilocalers a thorough review, I ordered the works.
Fried Dumplings — I realize that the place is still fairly new and probably not popular. Not a lot of people come in which in turn means that not a lot of people are ordering dumplings. What am I getting at? Well a big batch of dumplings are fried up and if nobody orders it them it just sits there and gets all soggy. Mine were quite soggy. Not only that but they had this off taste to them. It didn’t go bad but some ingredient in there just did not belong.
Steamed Pork with Chive Dumplings — They were ok tasting. Nothing special at all. I probably should have gotten to these sooner as I let them sit for about 5 minutes and they began to get hard.
Peanut Sauce Noodle — Gross! I like noodles with peanut sauce but I think I’ll stick to getting this from street vendors or making it myself at home. The egg noodles were thick and the peanut sauce was so liquidy. It actually resembled more of a peanut flavored soy sauce then a peanut sauce. No thanks.
Fuzhou Wonton Soup — This was probably the saving grace of the meal. I love FJ style wontons. The wrapping is nice and light and the meat in the center is a small piece of well seasoned meat as opposed to the usually large glob of ground pork in normal wontons. I drank some of the soup but told myself to stop because it was most likely msg soup anyway.
I’m going to have to say pass. I’ll take the extra half a block and get freshly fried dumplings. Soggy is a no go.

So it all comes down to «what dumpling shop is open after 11?»…how fortunate for me that Panda was pretty much my only option.
8 steamed pork dumplings for $ 2? Check. Massive bowl of wonton noodle soup for $ 3.50? Check. Nicest guys behind the counter? Hells yeah…
I can now sleep with a happy belly.

I told my friend. I am bringing you to a place call panda «something»… He was like. What? Panda Express in Chinatown? OMG… OF COURSE NOT!!!
This is probably the oiliest but the tastiest dumplings! They are not as famous as prosperity dumpling but is still as cheap. and guess what. the place is so CLEAN and just 1 dollar for 5 dumplings.
We waited for 10 minutes for the new dumplings to be made. Fresh ones. The skin is thin and the meat in it is so flavorful. Even though is so oily. I just used a napkin to kinda suck the oil out. These dumplings aren’t like many other place where the skin will be attaching to each other. each individual dumplings are crispy and yet not «black». Is so perfect with the hot sauce.
I love you Panda Dumpling! :)

I’ve been to pretty much every single «cheap» dumplings place on Eldridge street and this one really sticks out.
While they also sell the same generic cheap fried pork and chive dumplings that everybody and their mommas sell on Eldrige, where they set themselves apart is the steamed dumplings w. bok choy.
Although I dont know how much bok choy is actually mixed in with the dumplings (mostly pork) the dumplings was well flavored and balanced and the texture of the dumpling was cooked to an udon like consistency which was nice. You also get 8 dumplings for only 2 bucks which is still a very solid price and its only about 30 feet from Prosperity on the corner.
This place is like 3x the size of Prosperity with ample seating and better tasting dumplings so I’m not sure why people would go Prosperity unless they are dumpling noobs, like waiting in long lines or prefer being in claustrophobic environments.
While I can see this place being clean, I don’t know if I came at a busy hour but it needed a solid wipe down and definitely could use some napkins dispensers in the place if you aren’t going to hand it out with each order.

Wow — a CLEAN and somewhat SPACIOUS place in Chinatown that serves up delectable and cheap grub? Definite fan in my book!
I swung by here on a random Tues evening, a tad after 8pm and there was only 1 other patron here. I placed a quick order for steamed dumplings w. bok choy ($ 2!) and they were served to me after I took a counter seat.
The dumpling skin was thin, the filling hearty and filling. The sweet sauce was the perfect complement to the dumplings and the jasmine green tea I purchased rounded out the meal!
Gogogogogogo!

Within one week they changed their price scheme.
Dumpling (pork with bok choy) is NOW 8 for $ 2– my favorite; delicious and thin skin. Rate 5/​5/​
Fried Dumplings 5 for $ 1– no change in price; fried is a little to greasy for me. Rate ³⁄₅.
Fried thinny buns– NOT AVAILABLE YET. (sad).

I was going to Prosperity (wow, how sad is it that it feels like a walk of shame, and the admission feels even worse) when I saw this place. I thought I’d give it a try, seeing as things were essentially the same price, and I’m not tied down to one dumpling house. You hear that Prosperity? That’s what you get for years of dirty looks towards me, lao touzi. Just kidding! You’ve always been fairly nice to me. I’ll split my time evenly between the two of you, I promise.
On a more serious note, the guo tie here are just ok, but the steamed dumplings are amazing. Yes, as everyone else said, get the Steamed Pork with Bok Choy.
*Also, protip: they’ll totally mix and match things. Another way of saying that is you don’t have to get five pork and chive dumplings and can instead get a few each of a few varieties. Then again, they could have done that exclusively for me, since I amused them to no end by asking ‘neng bu neng da zhi’ in typical laowai fashion. (That’s an expression roughly equating to ‘can you give me a discount?’ I was of course rebuked.)