Dumpling Empire

Very good for the price. I ordered the XLB, garlic veggies that other Unilocal users photographed, and a bowl of the beef noodle stew. The portions are mostly generous.
Compared to other soup dumplings, there wasn’t much soup and the meat portion inside was below average. Everything else was large portions and on the noodle soup they won’t skimp you on the meat or noodles.

One of the best dumpling restaurant I’ve ever been to. Been coming here for a few years almost every weekend. They’ve not failed me thus far. Their service was and still a little slow depending on the time of day. But it’s a local favorite, I can tell. Love their spicy beef tendon, green onion pancake, pork and chives dumpling, beef stew noodle, black fungus and cucumber appetizer, green beans, and hot and sour soup. I recommend all to give this hole-​in-​a-​wall place a try!

This place is very affordable. It caught me off guard just how inexpensive the food was. I decided it was worth a try so I got a table. This restaurant is very small, which I really don’t mind. What does irk me is the dingy and unclean looking walls, floors, dishes, etc. but I’m not a wimp and I don’t fuss about that sort of thing. The tea was good and the waitress was very polite. I ordered xiao long bao and pork/​cabbage dumplings. Both were disappointing. They had great appearance but boasted poor texture and bland uninviting taste. Both dishes tasted vaguely like bad chicken noodle soup… I won’t be going back. If you really want good XLB, go to Millbrae and spend an extra few bucks at the Shanghai Dumpling Shop. Best I’ve had.

I used to like eating here because it’s almost an exact replica of Kingdom of Dumpling on Taraval. Everything from their orange hot sauce to their bright green chopsticks to their menu… all pretty similar. Why the 2 stars? Cleanliness. Has anyone ever walked to the back before? Their bathroom is straight out of a horror movie. Like the Saw franchise should consider filming here. Like I have to hold my breath and dont even want to touch the doorknob kind of scary dirty. I knew i shouldn’t have pushed it, but I peeked into the kitchen and I just knew– if these people can’t keep a decent watch on their bathroom, who knows how much the kitchen is running amuck with germs. I probably won’t come back unless the remodel the entire place. Taking my business to the sunset from now on

This is one of those hole in the wall places. But the food is pretty solid and pretty authentic actually. They do get busy pretty quickly though. So sometimes it might make sense for a takeout at their busy time.
One thing to note is that their obvious star products are dumplings, but their other dishes are pretty strong too. Highly recommend this place.

Their vegetarian dumplings are perfect with that orange sauce. I’m salivating just thinking about it. This place is no frills.
Get the dumplings, you won’t be disappointed!

Chanced upon this place being open as I was craving for Chinese food. I just have to say that their garlic green beans hit the spot!
We ordered take out on a Saturday night. Phoned in our order and they got our order right. We also tried their dumplings and they were good!

1 star — The dumplings were great.
0 star– The waiter was rude and provided slow service.
He said, ” you have to wait for it. I WILL NOT cancel the order for you no matter what.”

Place is packedddd during weekdays at lunch time. You might want to call ahead of time because even a to-​go order will take 20 – 30 minutes. The dumpling itself is great, but you have to eat some of the traditional dishes like green onion pancakes.
The price is pretty decent for the area and portion size. You can usually get around 12 pretty good handmade dumplings for about 6 – 7 $. Their noddles are okay, not the best, but pretty good for the area.

Great little find off the (or, atleast our) beaten path. Late night dumpling house — SCORE!
10 tables and 4 were full on a dark Sunday night. Place is hidden and not brightly lit on exterior… Evident by driving around the block 3x with Siri loosing her patience on last pass ;-).
Appears to be a hard working small family run operation with a very simple interior. (My other half used the restroom accessible via the kitchen and he gave me a big thumbs up upon return. Which meant. Kitchen and surroundings good)
Staff pleasant and attentive, bountiful menu offerings that were promptly delivered to our table hot, savory and fresh — this a great score!
Al dente perfectly cooked garlic green beans, chicken chow mein, pork and cabbage dumplings and Green onion pancake — all were amazing!!!
I would love to have this restaurant around the corner from me at every venture in my travels… I’d dine there once a week!

After traveling pretty much all day from across the country, you’d think I’d be hungry enough to eat and like everything and anything. Unfortunately, that did not hold true when we chose Dumpling Empire as our first meal. We thought the soup dumplings would be the highlight, but they were not soupy. We weren’t impressed with any of the food, and we even ordered based on Unilocalers’ tips and pictures. Honestly, the gyoza was the only thing we enjoyed.
We also received poor and rude service. They were slow, even though we were the 2^nd table to sit down for their dinner time. I’m not sure if it’s a language or culture barrier (even though we are also Asian, just not Chinese), but we did not feel we received friendly service whatsoever. We were ready to leave quickly.

This hole-​in-​the-​wall dumpling joint has a special place in my heart. My first time here was with a big group of fellow Chinese – we got a plethora of different types of dumplings, lamb skewers and their crispy sesame paste pancakes.
Since then, a few dishes have become a regular for me when I go there. I am a big fan of their cold dishes, and each time I’m there, I am sure to order their five spice marinated beef (酱牛肉) and marinated pork elbow/​hock (酱肘花), both sliced. Another classic is the pork dumpling with chives. All dumplings and noodles here are handmade. I saw a lady make them in front of me on a slow day, and she hailed from Shandong, a province of China known for their wheat-​based dishes (such as dumplings, buns, noodles).
It is a small establishment – a place to take close friends or family for the comfort Chinese food served, definitely not a place to impress.

The waitress was really earnest and the beef and carrot dumplings were passable.
But, the wrappers were gluey, the chicken skewers were overly seasoned with fennel and other spices and the restaurant looked like it needed some cleaning.
We stopped in for a meal because we’d barely eaten all day (literally a green drink for me and a yogurt for my little one) and it was at that «in between» hour of 4:30 before other places were open for dinner.
What can I say: Dumpling Empire will satisfy if you’re starving otherwise, I’d pass.

Tiny Chinese joint in downtown but surprisingly really good food.
The noodles were average.
Dumplings were good
Green onion pancakes were nice and crispy
The prices and quality are good value. Would come back again.

You know you are at a good spot when it’s a hole in the wall and packed with customers. A little grungy and the waiter had to clean the table before we sat down. It has about 12 tables maybe more all full so we got lucky that a table was empty when we arrived.
This place wasn’t bad for the price of their dumplings, 12 for about 6 bucks. The garlic green beans were awesome. And the gyoza was delicious. I also had the green onion and spinach pancake thing but I didn’t like it because it was a little doughy and tasted odd. The service was average, nothing spectacular.
I would come back for lunch next time I’m in the area.

Not such a bad place. This place is cozy with about 15 tables that seat 2 – 4 people per table. They must have a solid reputation as it seemed to be pretty busy.
The service was ok and friendly. The food took a while to get served to us. However once served it was piping hot. At one point, we thought that they had forgotten one of my friend’s orders since it took significantly longer to get her pancakes than it did for us to get our food.
I had the garlic green beans which were amazingly yummy. I had seen another customer eating them and decided that I needed to order them too! I also had a beef pancake. This was okay. Not something that I would order again. I was expecting something a little different.
The pricing was fair. And we were able to find parking across the street.

So in short, I wouldn’t go out of my way to get dumplings here, though the flavors are good, but the dumplings themselves dry out fast and it gets packed since it is a small place.
So here’s the long of it. We just finished a half marathon in the city and wanted some food. I took a look at my list of bookmarked places and found this on it. And as many of you know, I love me a good dumpling, I figured… hey why not? So the three of us traveled to South San Francisco and found Dumpling Empire. All the parking is metered, but good thing on Sundays it’s free. There was already a group waiting outside and apparently there’s no sign up sheet, you just kind of wait outside.
The menu has a variety of standard items from dumplings to cold appetizers to soups and desserts. We were served some green tea. On the table a home made garlic hot sauce that smelled like a bad night for me esp. after running a long time so as much as I wanted to have it, I didn’t have any. There was also soy sauce. We ended up ordering two kinds of dumplings, pork with string beans and pork/​shrimp with chives, an order of Shanghai dumplings (aka XLB aka xiao long bao), green onion pancake, and noodles with bean paste. It took a little while to get the food, but once one came, the rest of it came in a steady stream.
The noodle with bean paste was not served as piping hot as I was used to but apparently it’s not supposed to be served piping hot. More on the luke warm/​cold side. The bean paste can be an acquired taste as it tastes a bit fermented. The noodles themselves didn’t have the «qq”/chewy texture that I tend to prefer.
The two dumplings were okay but heavy on the veggies esp. the chives in the shrimp. The Shanghai soup dumpling had a very flavorful soup, but past that the wrapping was a bit thick and it was hard/​dried out after only a few minutes of sitting out. I also tend to like having some ginger in my vinegar, but they didn’t have any in their vinegar. The green onion pancake was thin and crispy. I wish it had more green onion in it.
Overall, it was really just OK. It’s definitely not excellent or special enough for me to travel all the way there for dumplings when I can get them nearby for the same price and same or better quality. But it was good to try.

Came here the other day for a late lunch… and despite it being around 1PM, this place still had a steady stream of patrons. When we left at 2, it still had a lot of people!
Had the Pork and Cabbage Jiao Zi (餃子), which was pretty good. I think they make the wrap themselves, because it’s a bit thicker. You can usually tell because the seam for the dumpling isn’t overly thick.
Preserved Veggies Noodle Soup — was also pretty decent. The noodles also seemed hand-​made, because there was some varied thickness to it. I wish the flavor was stronger, but if you’re looking for a light noodle soup, this is good.
Shanghai dumplings — nothing special. I’d avoid it, and get any other dumpling. Half of mine didn’t have soup in it anyway, so it tasted like a regular boiled dumpling.
Green Onion Pancake — we already ordered and saw this walk by. People don’t lie: its pretty good.
It’s quite affordable, and worth the trip over. Just not worth a long wait, I think. The space could use some décor update, but quite honestly it’s about the food here.

This place is a hole in the wall. Came here for dinner based off Unilocal reviews. Upon arrival I saw a small group of people waiting outside and the small restaurant was full! Their customers all looked Chinese. this place looked promising!
We were actually pretty tired from our trip to Norcal, so after knowing the wait was 20+ minutes, we opted for take out. The servers spoke little English, but we had no problem with our order.
We ordered:
— Chicken chow fun. $ 7.45
This was below average to me. The chicken was on the dry side… there was a strange flavor to the noodles and a weird aftertaste to it. I’m not sure, but this chow fun was different than what I’m used to eating in Socal. Just didn’t hit the spot for me.
— Chicken and spinach wonton soup. $ 6.95
This was okay. The soup was good, a light broth. There was a few pieces of bok choy and a lot of this mushroom thing (I think). The wontons were pretty good, a little peppery.
— Pork and napa cabbage dumplings. $ 6.45
I liked these. It was a tasty dumping. Moist and flavorful. I dipped this dumpling into the sauce and let me warn you… the orange one is spicy! The soy and vinegar sauce is okay. Mixing both together was good though. Give it a try!
Overall it was an okay experience and the food was just average.

At the risk of them eventually becoming too well known, I guess it’s time to let y’all know about my favorite dumpling spot around. Such is the downside to being a Unilocaler, seeing one of your secrets lose its shine to the crowds. Then again, a lot of you guys may have already tried the food here without even knowing it!
While I can’t say for sure, I’m almost certain Dumpling Empire is owned by the same folks as Dumpling Kingdom and King of Noodles in SF. The formula is the same — a hole in the wall restaurant serving delicious dumplings, green onion pancakes, and noodle dishes with some legit hot sauce. The menu is brief, but it’s all you need!
– GREEN ONION PANCAKE…$ 5.95
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I don’t mean to oversell them, but this ranks among the best I’ve had. They’ve been crisped perfectly every time, with just the right amount of green onions. The best part is the thickness though; not thick, not too thin. Delish.
– XIAO LONG BAO (6)…$ 4.95
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Dumplings are their specialty, but these are just as good. Like with the pancake, the skin has the perfect thickness. The filling is full of porky goodness too, with a good amount of soup inside to help keep the filling really juicy.
– PAN FRIED XIAO LONG BAO (4)…$ 5.95
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It’s a little pricey for the portion, and it’s not the best one I’ve found (Dumpling Kitchen’s is better), but the taste is fine. There could have been a little soupier though, as a lot of it was absorbed by the skin (it’s thicker than the XLB’s).
– PORK WITH NAPA CABBAGE DUMPLING (12)…$ 5.95
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The Pork with Chives and the Chicken with Corn dumplings are pretty good (the latter is better), but this one is the best of the bunch. Not only are they plump with all that meaty filling, but it’s flavorful as well!
– SPICY SLICED BEEF NOODLE SOUP…$ 6.95
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This bowl is loaded! There was a little too much fungus, but the noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth has some kick (though a little too much spice). The highlight was the sliced beef though, which was thick yet very tender.
– DUMPLING WITH QQ NOODLES SOUP…$ 6.95
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Pretty basic in comparison, but I liked the more subtle flavors of the broth. It’s cool how it also comes with QQ noodles, which I don’t see often in noodle soups. Plus, it comes with more dumplings! Can’t be mad at that.
If the food wasn’t enough of a draw, Dumpling Empire is super convenient. Yes, there can be a wait during peak times, but it’s usually not too bad. Plus, since it’s on a cross street, off the end of Grand, parking is a breeze (there’s a small lot across the street). Add in the cheap prices, and Dumpling Empire is an all around winner for me.
What’s that? Still not enough for you? Good. One less person to worry about getting in line before me!