Tammy T.

$30 for all you can eat is such a bargain! I stopped by after seeing all the reviews on social media and was very happy with my visit. Dumpling Bar is located right off Huntington Drive and there are both inside and outside seating. It is a very small restaurant, so expect a wait you plan on coming on a weekend. You pretty much can go for the AYCE option or able to order a la carte, however what you choose will apply to everyone at your table. You are given 90 minutes to order everything you want for 3 dishes per person at a time. Example, for 2 people, you will order total of 6 items per round, for unlimited # of rounds within 90 mins. Price also includes ice cream and soda. I ordered many items, and although nothing tasted amazing ... it also wasn't bad either, especially when you are paying just $30. I was disappointed with the Braised Beef Noodle because I was expecting it to be soup noodles but it was actually dry without broth. Egg Fried Rice was pretty tasteless, and the garlic green beans was actually a cold dish. I really liked the Dan Dan noodles as well as the fried pork gyoza. Service was a 10/10 - our server was very nice and took his time to explain the menu to us. He was the only one working the dining room and did a pretty good job managing everything on his own. Overall, I am glad I had the chance to finally try Dumpling Spot, and plan on bringing my girls back because they are obsessed with dumplings.

Michelle W.

My family LOVES dumplings and who can say no to an AYCE dumpling restaurant. Well we've never been to one and we had to see what the hype was about. You get to order anything on the menu And there Is a time limit of 90 mins. So we ordered, scarfed everything down and got up so others could be seated in our place. We tried out Dumpling Bar in San Marino and honestly I see why it's hyped. Let me say the service is top tier. They have self serve drinks and ice cream but as far as checking on how we're doing that was constant. We were always asked how we were if we wanted another round and empty plates never stayed on the table. Now the food.... Omg so good. The family ordered: - cucumbers - sweet and sour ribs - fried shao mai - egg rolls - braised beef noodle - Wagyu fried pot sticker - pork xlb bao - beef dumpling - chicken with chili wonton - chongquig mala noodle with pork chop - shrimp shao mai - taro balls - chocolate bun They offer self serve drinks and ice cream stations and the ice cream is thrifty.... My kids fav Overall 10/10 we WILL be back.

Josephine C.

On a Friday at 522pm in early May, hubby and I found parking in front. We git a table and most of the tables was full. The 2 staff persons was nice and he explained ayce $30 per person with free sodas. We ordered 3 dishes per person-braised beef noodle soup, xlb, and Sui mai. Hubby ordered egg rolls, hot sour soup, beef dumplings.The dishes came one by one. The highlights are xlb and Wagyu pan fried dumplings, braided beef was tender in the noodles are good. After an hour, we were full and all the tables were occupied. It's amazing to watch the 2 servers clean the tables, explain the menu, take the orders, and serve the dishes. Inside is small of 6 small tables of 2 and 2 tables of 4. Nice ambiance inside except 2 small kids had their temper tantrums which killed the mood.

Cathy E.

Great spot for ACE dumplings!! This little shop off Huntington Drive serves their dumplings, noodles, sides, and everything else on the menu ACE or a la carte. However, I highly suggest ACE, since you will definitely be getting your moneys worth. The shop is pretty small so a queue builds up quick. I've been on weekends and weekdays and have waited 30 mins to an hour for a seat, be sure to be either come early to skip the line or grab a drink to its neighboring shops while waiting! Once you get in, service is fast, however be prepared of a little bit of a wait for dumplings. Everything else comes out pretty quick so I'd suggest getting the string beans a cucumber while waiting on your dumplings. My favorites were the boiled beef dumplings and their truffle xiao long bao. For desert they offer chinese churros and an ice cream bar. Our server suggest getting them both and eating together which was a perfect way to end our meal. Definitely come here to get some awesome ACE dumplings!!

Maricel P.

We came for dinner to celebrate my youngest's 21st birthday a couple of months ago and this was an AYCE dumpling house. This place did NOT disappoint at all! I highly recommend this spot if you haven't tried it yet. Everything was soooooo delicious that I'm still thinking about all those dumplings. I would absolutely come back. The wait time was not long at all. We waited 25min tops and they have a sheet to sign in right by the front entry. You can order a la carte, but the AYCE is worth it. Staff is super friendly. They don't have a huge variety of dumplings, but they have enough to satisfy everyone's tastebuds. If you haven't visited them you definitely need to check this place out!

David C.

Darn I really wanted this place to be good. AYCE Chinese dishes - mainly dim sum, in San Marino. Located on the main strip of restaurants on Huntington, we found parking easily enough. The place is small, as is the menu (although they have added a few more dishes since we went), but for lunch it was fairly cheap. Service was friendly and attentive. The big problem was the completely unmemorable food. The string beans were bizarre. They are served ice cold and are utterly flavorless. Just totally unpleasant. Why wouldn't these just be the common dry sautéed string beans with either garlic or minced pork or X.O. sauce or something? The cucumber salad was another huge misfire, along with the Taiwanese Dan Dan Noodles and Scallion Oil Noodles. All three of these dishes are drowning in five spice, which I hate. If you love it, you'll be fine with these, but they don't taste like these dishes done anywhere else in the SGV that I've stumbled upon. The Pork XLB are probably the best dish, though still mid for the SGV. Same for the Har Gow, char sui bao, beef potsickers (why not pork???), and shumai. All were okay without making me want to come back for any of them. The custard buns were okay. I don't know. They were nice and the lunch was only $25 per person when we went. It just doesn't matter how cheap something is if you don't really enjoy it. Can't recommend and won't be back. But if the other reviews sway you to try it, I wouldn't scream for everyone to stay away. Maybe it's just not for my palate.

Ingrid R.

I came to visit this spot on a Friday. There is street parking in front of this location. Seating inside & outside which is nice. Staff were friendly & open to questions. I went for the AYCE option in order to try the full menu which was okay since some items on the menu were not available. My favorite items were the spicy mala noddles with pork cutlet which was nice & crunchy. The wontons in sauce were also a 10/10. The other noodle options weren't as flavorful as mala noodles. Xiao long bao was okay & the pork buns were more dough than pork. Wagyu potstickers tasted more like hamburger in a dumpling , tough to chew. Green beans in garlic were yummy! I would come back to eat again during the week & maybe try their ice cream options for a treat.

Timothy Spencer T.

TLDR: It's an okay AYCE spot. You get enough options to justify the price point. You get some stuff that's good and other items that are subpar. Overall, I think it's worth trying and deciding for yourself. The line does get long though, so be ready to wait for an hour or 90 minutes. Hot and Sour Soup: It tasted like boxed hot and sour soup. It's definitely good enough to order again, and it's a good contrast between all the dimsum options. Too bad they only prepped one big pot, so they basically ran out after we ordered our first bowl. Sweet and Sour Spareribs: Solid. You get about 5-6 bones with very minimal meat. Taste wise, it tasted exactly like McDonald's McNuggets BBQ sauce. So if you like that, you're in luck. Wagyu Beef Potstickers: Top 3 for sure. They know it too, since it's the quickest item to come out. It's better than what you get from your bagged dimsum in the supermarket, and it's comparable to the specialty dimsum/dumpling spots. Pork Xiao Long Pao: Another pretty good option. Considering these were also flying out of the kitchen, I'm glad that the soup was still in the dumpling, and the dumpling skin held on. They tasted normal, which is all you can ask for in an AYCE spot. Truffle Xiao Long Pao: You take the same pork xiao long bao taste, but remove the soup. This one was on the dry side, but at least you could taste the truffle. Beef Dumpling in Chili Sauce: This one tasted exactly like the wagyu pot stickers, except that some chili sauce was put in it. The sad part is that the chili sauce wasn't spicy. Shrimp Tempura: Costco tempura. Order it for the kids who insist. Hargao: This tasted like boxed dimsum that you can find in the supermarket. It's not that good, or even good at all. I'd limit myself when it comes to this one. Shumai: It's a strong start, but it just got saltier as the meal went. It had a decent size, it's meaty, but it really started getting old after the 3rd or 4th piece. Braised Beef Noodle: Best thing on the menu. Could the noodle be better? Yes. But the beef was really good, so all is forgiven. Is it worth the $18.99 if this were not an AYCE? No. Is this item really good for an AYCE spot? Yes. I'd pay about $14 or $15 if this were a non AYCE establishment. Egg Fried Rice with Pork Cutlet: The rice was just sad. It tasted like plain rice that they threw in the wok at the last second before adding frozen peas, carrots, and some egg. The cutlet was fine, but it wasn't fresh, so it's highly likely that some tables will be served with dry cutlets. Ambiance: It's a smaller restaurant that fits 30-40 at most. Diners who have enough space to maneuver around to get the drink and ice cream, but it's not a whole lot of space for the staff to wiggle through. Service: The staff did the best they could. There were only 2 of them, and they tried their best to make sure nobody was waiting for too long. I don't envy them, as it was a full house and the line never really let up.

Ken D.

For $30, honestly it's not bad. Obviously don't come in expecting the same quality as Din Tai Fung. You also get unlimited canned sodas and self-serve ice cream, which helps make it feel more worth it. I think it's worth trying once, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to come back unless friends wanted to. The biggest letdown was the XLB. Don't expect them to have much soup like other dumpling spots. It felt really inconsistent... some had barely any soup at all. The rice and noodle dishes had decent texture, but overall they lacked flavor. The shrimp tempura also tasted very frozen/Sysco style. The reason I'm still giving it 3 stars is because there was only one server handling around 8 tables, and he was incredibly attentive and efficient the whole time. The service was much better than the food. To be fair though you can't really expect something on the level of Din Tai Fung, Mr. Dragon Noodle House, or Mama Lu's from an AYCE place.

Stephanie R.

3 stars because the food was good, but the service completely missed the mark. This was our first time here, and we were excited to try it after seeing so much hype on social media. Like most people, we checked Yelp beforehand to get an idea of what to order. They offer an all-you-can-eat option for $29.99, so naturally we had a few questions. My mom has a small appetite and only wanted a noodle dish instead of AYCE. We showed our server a Yelp photo of shrimp noodles and asked what dish it was. Her response was, "We don't carry those anymore," delivered with a noticeable attitude in both her tone and facial expression. When we asked if my mom could just order noodles while my husband & I did AYCE, the server told us that if one person at the table does AYCE, everyone has to do it (with an attitude.) I pointed to my toddler daughter and asked if that applied to her too, and the response was, "Is she not gonna eat?" I explained that my daughter only wanted a rice dish, and then the server informed us kids are half off AYCE. From all the great reviews I expected a much more polished and welcoming level of hospitality and professionalism from the staff. The amount of attitude that was received, from the female server with blue star pimple patches on her face, was mind blowing considering we were there within the first hour of opening & it was not busy at all. The customer service was surprisingly poor and honestly made the experience uncomfortable at times. Hopefully the restaurant improves the hospitality side of things because the food deserves better service behind it Har Gow - 9/10 Wagyu potsticker - 10/10 Scallion oil noodles - 8/10 String beans with garlic - 4/10 Chicken chili wontons - 9/10 Egg fried rice - 10/10 Shrimp tempura - 10/10

Jaddis H.

Veryyy worth the $32.99 for AYCE on a weekend! I went with a group of five and we were all very satisfied. There's usually a stigma with AYCE food quality but we were pleasantly surprised with how tasty most of the items were. I definitely recommend going with a group of four or more so you can try a variety of things. Most of the orders come in 4+ pieces. Highlights- green beans, bok choy, cucumber salad, wagyu beef potstickers, beef dumplings, shumai and chicken chili wontons. It was also super convenient that we could grab water bottles or soda cans on the side. You can end the meal will self serve ice cream, which was a huge plus Lowlights- braised beef noodle and boiled dumplings. They didn't have scallion pancakes, which was a bummer for us A majority of our group will come back and the service was fantastic. It looked like one or two staff members busted tables the entire time. although orders were so long, she was so patient and the food came out extremely quick

Denise L.

Was excited to try this place after seeing it on social media but once again I have been fooled! First off, THEY AUTO CHARGE 15% SERVICE FEE even for smaller groups. It isn't listed or verbally mentioned anywhere that they charged this - the menu only states that groups of 6 or more have an 18% charge. I hate restaurants that do this sort of underhand charge. My two friends and I went for lunch and were immediately put off by the attitude from the employee. They also only give out disposable plates and utensils. Since we wanted to order a bunch of items and share, we were pretty annoyed that the soup and fried rice didn't come with any serving utensils. When asked for a large spoon for the soup, she grabbed a small, plastic spoon, dropped it in the soup, and walked away. The food is obviously not made in house and most likely heated up frozen food. We were also given bottled water. Hot and sour soup - it was okay. When asked for bowls, we were given to go containers for our soup... Fried rice with pork cutlet - fried rice was so salty and the cutlet wasn't crispy. Shu mai - okay. Xiao long bao - probably the best item we ordered. Chicken wonton - all the chili oil but it still tasted pretty bland. Wagyu beef potsticker - sevond best item. Custard bun - definitely store bought, the inside of mine was a little cold. Free cheesecake - frozen hard. This restaurant has the audacity to charge you a 15% service fee and provide poor service and low quality food. Definitely save your money and your time. It is a huge overstatement to even call it a Din Tai Fung dupe - it's not even in the same ballpark as DTF.

Joyce D.

AYCE dim sum. That's already a plus for me. Their prices are very affordable. About $32 for weekends. It's a small restaurant with one server. However the lady working at the time did it all. One server who took our order, brought out the food, and still nice enough to check on us. Be patient and kind. She's doing the best she can. The entire menu is ayce minus alcohol. But drinks such as the sodas, water, ice cream is included. There's a 15% service charge already included in your bill. You have an option to tip more. For the value/price, I would definitely come back and have already recommended to others. Take note of the restaurant hours. They do close midday day for a bit.