House of Dumplings

I was craving Dim Sum and when I searched in Unilocal,House of Dumplings popped up. Located in a very small strip mall in south Union City (off of Mission Blvd), it’s easy to miss. The place is small, but the flavors-​HUGE.
The one thing you must try is the 3 Flavors Chow Mein. Undoubtedly, the BEST chow mein I have ever eaten. We also ate the salt and pepper chicken wings. Those were the bomb, too. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a big dim sum selection, but rather, dumplings. Ha! I guess that’s why they call it House of Dumplings. We had the three flavors dumplings and those were pretty good.
It did take a small bit to receive the food, but you can tell everything was FRESH, pipping hot, and with great flavor. The owner is an absolute gem. Cute and Friendly. She made the suggestion for the chow mein. She said everyone «loves it,» … one taste and you’ll know why… By the way, a lot of people did take out, so if you have large party, you might want to consider it, since the inside is very small. Dang. I’m hungry thinking about their chow mein now.

The first thing I noticed was how ridiculously small this restaurant was. We were standing by door waiting to be seated cause every table was full. Luckily we were able to snag a table from a family leaving.
Since the place is pretty small I could tell they really only had one server. We have to wait about 20 minutes before anyone took our order, but our food came out relatively faster. We got the green onion pancake, the soup dumplings and some pork dumplings. All of which were delicious especially the pancake: D everything was super affordable too.

This place is such a cute little Asian restaurant! My friend and I Unilocaled for some food around the area and we found this little gem. The place was empty when we arrived on a Sunday night around 9PM, but the staff here were super friendly. This place is also super affordable, which made me really happy: poor college student status.
My friend and I were both just craving buns, LOTS OF BUNS. We ordered cabbage and pork dumplings, XLB, and the pork buns. All were really good! None of them were super duper special, but they were all pretty solid. The pork buns were a bit try though. I would come back if I am ever in the area, but probably wouldn’t make a trip out of my way to come here. Overall, a very solid Chinese restaurant for dumplings.

I’ve got a group of friends who are always up to try something new, so I thought this would be a good place to take them for some northern style Chinese food. It’s a small, unassuming place in a small strip mall, but sometimes the not so fancy places are the best! We were greeted by what I think is the owner, a very cheerful and friendly lady, who gave us tips on what we should eat and how much we should order.
We ended up ordering 3 types of dumplings, chow mein, and the green onion pancake and they were all tasty. We had the perfect amount to eat and the prices were very reasonable as well. Will definitely be back at some point!

I first discovered House of Dumplings a few years ago on Unilocal while I was browsing around for a fun, new place to eat. I had grown weary of a certain Chinese restaurant in Union City that my family adores (they’re pretty mediocre), and in my quest for authenticity, freshness, and quality, I decided to try this place.
My review will incorporate 4 separate experiences dining at this establishment.
The establishment is literally a hole in the wall. A small hole in the wall. I would not recommend coming here with a large party, and be prepared for others to be within earshot of every word of your private conversation. We ordered the 3 delicacies dumplings, the lamb dumplings, the radish cakes, and the xiao long bao. The gentleman waiting on us (the son of the proprietor) provided less than stellar service, and even copped an attitude when we decided to order our dumplings one order at a time. Maybe we wanted our food to come out fresh each time we ordered. It being our first time here, we didn’t realize that the bottle labelled as ‘soy sauce’ was actually black vinegar, the perfect pair for dumplings and XLB. Unfortunately, we had eaten most of our food by the time we had noticed. The food was fresh tasting and quite enjoyable. Would have been better with the vinegar and sliced fresh ginger.
During another visit to this place, my party had to wait outside in the rain for 45 minutes because the restaurant was extremely full. Once a few tables cleared, you’d think they’d be cleaned immediately in order to take in more covers during the evening, but no. The son just fumbled around completing tasks in no order that made sense. My rule will be to avoid being served by him at all costs.
However, the mother (proprietor) of the restaurant is absolutely amazing. We came in as a party of four and got the last open table. Despite being busy, she was kind enough to go over the menu with us in perfect English. She even made recommendations on what to order based on what we said we were looking for, and what would be more difficult to replicate at home. We ordered 2 kinds of dumplings, radish cakes, green inion pancake, and XLB. My sister asked for a dipping sauce to accompany the green onion pancake, and she brought out a hoisin sauce for us. Asked if they had fresh ginger slivers available, and she immediately brought it to our table. She even apologized for the mountain of green beans on the table behind us, stating that she goes to the market in Oakland Chinatown every morning to get the freshest ingredients possible. Not sure how true that is, but she was so warm and friendly, the dining experience was wonderful.
I had initially decided to give this place 4 stars, but I decided to give it a solid 3 stars because my XLB had a few dumplings with no soup, as it had leaked or was not properly made. Also, your dining experience will greatly depend on who is serving you, the mother or the son. Parking here can become really tight, and if it’s raining, prepare to wade through the pretty deep puddles.
PS. The noodles here are handmade but not hand-​pulled. Not a negative, but I thought I’d clarify. The radish cakes are absolutely delightful if you enjoy fresh radish (fresh radish baked inside a pastry). I’m also not posting any photos because the photos already on Unilocal pretty much sum the place up.
We’ll be back, eventually.

First time trying this place out. Not many pros…
Sitting was quick and got lucky that we had a table to take. Cause it was full already. Place is pretty small and compact, but there’s nothing we can do about that. But right behind is a big cart of string beans, Diet Coke cases and other boxes lol.
Gave us a menu, we were ready to order. But we waited for at least 30 minutes for them to come and I was ready to leave. I ended up just calling the guy to let him know we’re ready. Jeez if you see your customers just sitting looking into blank spaces take their order! Didn’t even ask us if we wanted water or anything.
As they brought our things out, it was one dish at a time. Every second I was waiting in between, I kept getting fuller. Even after the first dish. It was more than ten minutes I say for each dish to come out. We got the pork dumplings w chives. Shanghai soup dumplings, but with no soul coming out, hot and sour soup that wasn’t sour, and our spring rolls which happen to be egg rolls.
They gave us hot tea, but we didn’t want that so we asked for voter and they came back w hot water. Smh we wanted cold water. They didn’t have any of their beverages, Nicole or 7up. So we had to get Diet Coke.
The guy even messed up our order, we ordered two soup dumplings. So I asked if we had another coming out, and they just talk to me like I’m dumb and don’t know how to count. Obviously I know that there will be 12 instead of 6 in our order. Smh. At least I know not to come back.

In a tiny plaza located in Union City off of Mission Blvd, there exists this tiny restaurant filled with delight and delicious food. This restaurant, dubbed themselves the House of Dumplings, was indeed THE house for dumplings.
Jokes aside, I am so glad that my family and I stumbled across this place. With amazing service, as the owner can speak both English and Chinese perfectly, this place is my go to for dumplings. I’ve introduced my best friends to this place as well because it’s so amazing. I love the farmer’s fresh cucumbers, the green onion multilayer pancakes, the chicken and corn dumplings, and most of all, the soup dumplings (xiao long bao). I’ve also tried their noodles and their chicken plates, both which were up to par with everything else on their menu. Everything is super fresh and homemade, which makes it even better. What makes all of this better is that they provide this deliciously spicy sauce to top all of your favorite dumplings.
The restaurant is pretty small, and definitely picks up business throughout the day because it’s so good. So, usually groups with more than 4 people will have to wait a bit before getting in. Believe me. It’s definitely worth the wait!

Went there on Wednesday evening, and it was lights out. Tried calling just now (Friday) around same time (normal dinnertime) and no answer. Sorry, I’m not trying again.

YUMMMMMM! Small place with different types of dumplings. We got the 3 flavor one, the chicken and corn, and the pork and chives. We really liked the 3 flavor and pork and chives. The chicken and corn was different, but we wouldnt order it again. Their soup dumpling had hardly any soup and were probably popped when steaming it :(.
The parking lot is small. There was only one host that was running the entire restaurant and taking to go orders. We waited 20 minutes during dinner time to be seated.
will definitely come back!

Great food for great prices! Everything on the menu is extremely cheap but the portions are more than generous. Me & my boyfriend ate here one night & we had tons of left overs & we only spent a total of $ 25 for the entire dinner!
We walk in & was greeted by a joyful lady which I’m assuming is the owner of restaurant due to reading so many Unilocal reviews saying she was extremely friendly & nice. We came in around 8 & there was no wait. The restaurant closed at 930 & we came an hour & half before it closed but it did not seem to bother any of the workers. They weren’t in a rush to close either which was nice.
We ordered:
— 1 XLB
— 1 three flavor dumplings
— 1 beef chow mein with vegetables on the side
I am extremely picky with my food & I solely wanted plain chow mein with just noodles & meat with no veggies, but my boyfriend was the exact opposite. Therefore, We asked the owner if it was alright that we have the veggies on the side & she was more than happy to do that for us.
The 3 flavor dumplings was good as well. No complaints about it. It also comes with 12 of them! It’s hard to believe that you get so many for such a price like that.
Lastly the XLB, I was pretty disappointed with. Although, it was still good it did lack some flavor but nothing a little hot sauce couldn’t fix. This place doesn’t have a special XLB dipping sauce it usually comes with like other places I’ve tried but I ate it with the hot sauce & soy sauce they provided that was already at the table.
The verdict; we will definitely come back! What’s better than good food is amazing customer service to go along with it.

Everything here is absolutely delicious. I love their Shanghai Soup Dumpz, all their pork dumps, and their pancakes are amazing! The green onion pancake is a classic. Expect to wait at least 12 minutes for dumps to steam. So worth the wait!

Love this place! I came here with my sister on a sunday night, and we were seated right away. We ordered pork dumplings with napa cabbage, shanghai soup dumpling, sesame pancake with marinated beef, and crispy lotus roots (take out for our mother). Our food came within 10 – 15 min, and everything was so yummy! The dumplings were full of flavor, and it tasted even better with their soy sauce and chili. My mom loved the lotus roots that she wanted to try and make it herself. I wish this place wasn’t on the other side of UC from where I live, otherwise I’d probably come here often.

This place gets too busy for its own good. We came at about 6:30PM on 12÷30÷15, and things were relatively quiet, so things were looking good. But after we put in our order, hordes of people started pouring in, whether for eat-​in or take out. This wave of customers severely slowed down the output of the kitchen. This meant that 15 – 20 minutes would go by between each order of dumplings we had coming out… and that the dumplings were steamed for too long… the dumpling skins started fraying at the edges due to saturation of water.
Don’t get me wrong, the food at this place is definitely good and merits the 4 stars (except the XLB is just ‘meh’), and the owner is on the ball and friendly– but this place may be a victim of its own success.
Solution? Come during off-​peak lunch/​dinner hours is my guess.

Awesome service and good food. My gf doesn’t eat onions, but the onion pancakes here won her over. It was the first time I’ve seen her not pick out the green onions in something.
We got a variety of their pork dumplings and all were good.
Went there on a Tuesday night, and they filled up pretty quickly. So, clearly this is a popular destination if you’re thinking of North China style boiled dumplings.

Are you in or close to Union City and looking for a place to eat?
You need to try House of Dumpling. Kind of like a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant so don’t expect anything super fancy.
We ordered the Shanghai Dumplings, regular dumplings, the fried rice and beef cakes.
Everything came out pretty quick and tasted great. It was probably cause we were super hungry but hey… It hit the spottttt.
The Shanghai dumpling was exactly as expected. Very juicy on the inside. The fried rice doe. It was full of flavor with a right amount of soy sauce.
Overall: definitely return if in the area.

Hole in the wall sort of restaurant. Free parking. Next to the liquor store.
Very friendly family owned restaurant. Very decently priced. There’s very limited amount of seating but they try their best to accommodate. This place is good. One downfall is they didn’t offer the ginger shreds with vinegar as a dipping sauce for the shanghainese dumplings. Also, no sauce for the pancake.
Party of 5 shared (~$ 10/​ea):
1 order of 12 three favor dumplings: Get this!
1 order of 12 pork dumpling with napa cabbage: This one is okay, but I would rather get one with green chives.
Pig ears: Its pretty good here.
Salt and pepper tofu: deep fried crispy tofu cubes with seasoning. That is how I like it!
Shanghai dumplings with soup: so good!
Pancake of some sort.

Brought the hubby for lunch… we love xiao long bao…
This is a small place but the food is pretty good…
We ordered 2 xiao ling bao… spicy tendons… pork n chive dumplings…

Used to come here often when I was a senior in high school back in 2011. Ever since I’ve graduated, I haven’t come back since.
I decided to change that. I come here more often now with my sister when we’re craving xiao long bao and dumplings. It is literally a minute or two away from my sister’s apartment so it’s quite convenient to come by for lunch or dinner. It’s a small restaurant but it’s never crowded whenever we go. The owner is really nice as well. She will often refill our waters and recommend us dishes on the menu if we’re unsure of what new to try.
I also took my boyfriend here a week or two ago. He absolutely loved it and I’m glad he does because their food is pretty affordable and whenever we’re craving dumplings, we can just go here.

Had a really bizarre visit to House of Dumplings today. I came with my grandparents and we were the only customers there. The young waitress seemed to not feel well at all as she was sat at a table while her mother (?) was taking her blood pressure.
Anyway, my grandma has a very motherly nature and ended up massaging our waitress lol.
We’ve been ready to order by then and I had no idea if we should say anything so we ended up ordering after my grandma was finished giving this young woman a head massage LMAO.
—
I’m lowering my rating of House of Dumplings because the food to be honest wasn’t as great as I remember, although it is still pretty good. Honestly, it’s still a solid 4 stars if you limit yourself to the Tri-​City area when it comes to dumplings but there were a few parts of my visit that made me decide to drop it to 3. And it has nothing to do with the bizarre massage.
~ Food:
– XIAO LONG BAO –
We ordered 3 lots of Xiao Long Bao and instead of bringing it out in 3 steamers, for some reason they piled it all on one. Didn’t really see why they needed to do that (I guess to save washing) because it caused a bit of overcrowding. A few of the Xiao Long Bao were stuck to each other which caused a lot of rips meaning a good half of the baos were juiceless. The broth of the baos also had a strange taste that I couldn’t put my finger on but I’ll be honest I didn’t particularly like it. Just passable Xiao Long Baos.
– LAMB DUMPLINGS –
Very juicy — I really enjoyed these, though I’m a huge fan of lamb in general. 4 stars for the dumplings, not out of this world but yummy enough to eat a plateful!
– BEEF LAYERED PANCAKE –
Really delicious! Ironically, I came for the dumplings but the pancake ended up being my favourite dish of theirs. The dough was fried to perfection and the beef was very tasty. This is one of my grandpa’s favourite dishes in general so he was pretty excited to order it and it met his expectations as well.
—
To thank my grandma for helping massage the waitress, we were given a free plate of Green Onion Pancakes which again, my grandpa really enjoyed. He even said he liked it better than the pancakes are Darda (in Milpitas)!
Overall, I do like House of Dumplings. They offer tasty food at affordable prices and is a great option if you’re not looking to travel very far out of the area. When it comes to XLB in the Tri-​City, I would say they’re the best. However, if like me you’re willing to venture further for a XLB fix, I can’t warrant the 4^th star.

This family run business place is quite cute. We came in and the woman running the place was busy in the back so we sat ourselves down and got some menus. I got the trio dumpling special and the beef noodle soup. The meat in the soup wasn’t as tender as I was hoping for but the noodles were decent.
The reason you go here is for the dumplings and they don’t disappoint. There’s like a dozen different options for you to choose from. If you can’t decide then there’s probably other problems in your life. Regardless, the trio had pork, shrimp and I believe beef in the dumpling. I’m usually not a fan of mixing animal products since that seems cruel but morality aside, my stomach was happy.
I got to try the egg pancake which looked really simple but was great. It was surprisingly light even with dipping in the hoisin sauce. I was brave and added some of the chili condiments as well. YOLO.