Dumpling cafe is a really nice and tasty place to eat with friends and family with amazing service, also their food is amazing.

Delicious food. My husband and I tried this place multiple times and we've been pleased with the food. We recommend soup dumplings with their ginger soy sauce. We try new dishes every time and they've been good as well. Service is okay... a bit slow at busy times and the waitress don't bring things to you at first request so you might have to ask for things multiple times - but the food is worth it if you're not in a rush. It's cash only! read more

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This place isn't bad! I think it serves good Taiwanese food even though their customer service is NOT good and needs to be improved. The beef with long horn pepper is really really good, better than other places as well as the soup dumplings. read more

The Chicken with preserved vegetable noodles I ordered tasted fresh, delicious, and definitely home made. Noodles from the north are meant to be a little bit chewy and these were good! The chicken broth was a little bit oily, but nonetheless, tasty and reasonable at $7. The Xiao long baos (little juicy buns filled with pork) had really thin skin, just like it's supposed to be and definitely on the juicy side. The fried noodle portion was smaller than most of the other entrees we ordered, but flavor-wise quite delicious. The cuisine here is a mish-mash of Taiwanese, Cantonese, Shanghainese, and random other Chinese dishes. Good menu variety! Taste: 3.5/5 Plating: 3/5 Originality: 3.5/5 Value: 3.5/5 (depends on what you order...I thought the dumplings were a little expensive for the number you get) Service: 3/5 (No complaints. Fast, efficient...all that) I would go back, but nothin' special here. read more

Grilled chicken skin 3stars. Interesting to try, not much flavor, mostly you just taste the sauce. Beef stew noodle soup. 1 star. The beef sucked, soup sucked, noodles sucked. Don't bother. Taiwan style pork chop noodle soup 3 stars. Soup was bland, noodles sucked, but the fried pork chop was REALLY good. Pork and crabmeat juicy buns 3 stars. Too salty for my liking, although better than GDH. read more

I've been to dumpling cafe twice and have had generally the same experience both times. The menu is extensive. The friends I have been with are obsessed with the mini juicy buns with pork. They are little dough packets with a kind of pork broth inside. They are alright, but I haven't found myself craving them all the time. Worth a try, however, you may love them! Service isn't very good. The food comes out fast but once the food is out you have to fend for yourself. No refills of the tiny water glasses. It can get bad when you've finished your sodium-packed meal and are trying to siphon out the few drops of water you have left in your cup. Bring a water bottle! Also, be prepared if you are with a group - they only take two credit cards per bill! Prices are reasonable, environment and food are standard. Enjoy! read more

Wow this place is delicious! The soup dumplings were perfect and the mini pancakes were so good. I didn't know what to expect when I came in, but I'm sure glad I tried it out!!! Unfortunately the service was not so good. They never ended up bringing water or more tea so I was extremely thirsty (especially after having salty food). I also had to ask a few times for our check. The sitting is a little cramped, but overally I'd definitely go again! read more

I've never impressed with Taiwanese food, but would give this place a try to see what the raves all about. here are what we had: Pork & crabmeat soup dumpling: tasty & flavorful, but the broth was salty. Pork chop with rice: crispy & lighty sweet. One thing I've noticed the difference between the chinese and taiwanese when they cooked the pork chop was: Chinese people made it salty & spicy, which I like, while Taiwanese made it sweet. Herbal ox tail soup: very small portion to go with the cost, oh yes, I was surpirsed when they brought it out, obviously just enough to feed one person. But the soup was good. Mince pork meat w/ shanghai noodle: honesty, when looking at the picture up here, I thought It would be very good and couldnt wait to try it. Turned out it's so disappointed, the noodle itself was alright, but the meat sauce they put on top smelled awfully strong, very weird smell that my bf and I couldnt stand it. We both tried 2 spoons and gave up. Service was efficient. I must say this place is no extraordinary compare to other Taiwanese restaurants. read more

Good xiao long bao have become increasingly easy to find in America, but I love them all the same. Dumpling Cafe has shorter lines and still solid dumplings. Their other dishes are likewise solid. Prices are generous, though portions are surprisingly small for a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant has a crowded layout, and even saying that is being generous. I'm a skinny bastard, and I could barely squeeze past other tables to mine. Service is fine for me, but I speak Mandarin, so I might have in-roads. It's a bit difficult to get their attention though; I occasionally have to pull the potentially insulting hand wave. So it goes, I suppose. I like this place if only for the vastly shorter wait time. Solid food, but not necessarily my first choice in Boston's rather saturated Chinatown. read more

I was in the area for my Covid vaccine and stopped to get food after. The dumplings were phenomenal and the boba was great too. A good takeout option all around!! read more

Been here too many times to count. My go to place for dumplings. I can't speak for any of the other dishes, but I honestly think their dumplings are some of the best in Boston! I always find myself back here when I want dumplings. They are cheap and the food comes out FAST every time, no matter how busy they are. Their fried rice is also pretty delicious and we always get it every time. I highly recommend if you are looking for quick and delicious dumplings. My only complaint is that the servers don't really check up on you once you get your food, you'll have to interrupt one of them or call them over if you want some water or if you want the check. read more

It's kind of a given that in any cuisine, in any dish, the dumplings are going to be the winners. I don't know what it is about stuffing filling into dough, but goddamn if it doesn't hit any spot it comes near. So why not capitalize on these delectable little savory squishes and make them the main attraction? I'm only peeved that I didn't think to do it. I mean, picture it: you're trudging through the slushy cold of Boston Winter in Chinatown, and you come upon this warm, red little beacon. You sit down in dark wood and order yourself some tummy-warmers. You spoon a soup-fulled dumpling to your lips, bite a tiny tear into the top and race the broth as it dribbles out in a pool of warm, oily bliss. Slurp. Chew. Repeat. Sigh. read more

Heck yeah dumplings! Juicy buns (soup-filled dumplings), scallion pancake, bitter mellon with garlic, huge bowls of spicy noodle soup! Bubble tea, too! Nothing that fancy, but it's just good stuff. I love the food at this place enough that I'd probably give it five stars regardless of spotty service. But the service, in my experience, has been fine. Great place to go after a movie at the Boston Common AMC. read more

Let down by Bean Towns C town.... my second attempt brought me here, highly reviewed on yelp.. Had the shrimp scallion noodles, that was okay...for a noodle... Shrimp rolls, meh.... shumai, errrr.....icky Fried pork buns, stick to your gums and kinda good actually. So nowhere in this town are there hand drawn noodles?? Soo weird to me... read more

Delicious, and everything you want in a Chinatown eatery - efficient service, fresh and tasty dishes, and a wide-ranging, yet still true-to-the-cuisine selection. The soup dumplings were perfect - filled with soup and wrapped in a shell that doesn't break easily but also isn't chewy/thick. I would highly recommend the Szechuan flounder - the fish is lightly fried in batter, and served in a spicy broth over flames. The broth is not so spicy that it is inedible - and delicious if you pour a little bit of it over the rice. At $12.95 this dish is a real bargain. The stir-fried baby pea sprouts (dou-miao) were tender and sweet, as expected. read more

This is my go-to place for soup dumplings (xiao lung bao) in Boston. The skin is incredibly thin, soup incredibly flavorful, and the meat is well-seasoned. I take my Chinese friends and family who are out of town to Dumpling Cafe and it never disappoints. Their pan-fried dumplings are also terrific. I've tried many other dishes here, noodles, oyster pancakes, vegetables, tofu dishes. Everything is decent but nothing I've had is a real stand-out other than the dumplings. One thing I really liked was the oyster pancake with gravy. Prepare to share this though, as it is pretty oily! I like that Dumpling Cafe never has an absurdly long wait; the longest I've had to wait is 30 minutes, and that was with a party of 8 people on a Saturday night. As far as service, it is a little difficult to get the attention of the wait staff during peak hours. I've had to go up to the register to pay the bill before because it took so long for someone to come to our table. I really don't mind that though. read more

If this were a review on their soup dumplings only, this place would receive 5 stars. I like that the consistency of the wrap is the perfect amount of thickness. The soup inside is flavorful. All 3 orders of our xlb came out in one piece, no leaking soup dumplings here. Whenever I go to gourmet dumpling, at least one xlb is popped. Although the soup dumplings are great, I need other dishes during my meal for the variety. We ordered the following dishes as well, but was not nearly as impressed. - schezuan flounder soup: At gourmet dumpling, I like ordering the schezuan fish soup. It complements the dumplings very well. Unfortunately, the schezuan flounder soup here is quite bland. Not spicy or rich enough for my taste. - pan fried noodles: crispy and tasty noodles. Not a bad choice. - taiwanese pork belly: juicy and good sauce. Very fatty if you like that stuff All in all, not a bad place! read more

one of my favorite places to get XLBs soup and filling are both flavorful. If you order to go, they make sure to enclose the ginger dipping sauce. the crab rangoon is freshly made and the filling has more complex flavor than just plain cream cheese with imitation crab. They add some seasonings that add an extra special-ness to the rangoon. the beef scallion pancake is not that great.... so I just stick to the XLBs. tip: minimum $20 for credit card use and no more than 2 credit cards when splitting the bill. there is an ATM across the street near tufts. It's always better to pay in cash! read more

I ordered mini juicy pork/crab dumplings and taiwan style pan fried dumplings for dinner last night. Questionable meat, okay flavor. Had diarrhea just now. Will not recommend this place, at least not the food I ordered. Maybe others are better. Gourmet dumpling house is much better at mini juicy dumplings! read more

Good soup dumplings. Forgettable everything else. 3.7. Icy service but they end up being accommodating.

The dumplings were really soup filled and tasty. The other food we had was great as well. It was pretty cheap. Service was not great but wasn't horrifying either. Seating is a little odd and in some spots you'll share part of a long table with people you don't know. The smell coming out of the kitchen was strongly meat odored... Overall it was pretty clean. I'll be back. read more

Unfriendly staff, but what do you expect in Chinatown on a busy Friday night around 11? Anyways, the place is small, but we didn't have to wait for very long for a seat. You will most likely share a long table with others. Whatevs. We ordered the soup dumplings which were sooo delicious. I've never had them, but they are delicious little pouches filled with broth and spiced meat. LOVE it. We also ordered chicken terriyaki meatballs which we were surprised at how yummy they were and how much they give you, garnished with a green vegetable along the side. Yup, I will definitely go again when I am in the mood for dumplings but all the dim sum places are closed! read more

4 stars for the soup dumplings alone (they'd surely be 5, but the rest of the experience just didn't quite deserve it)! Those were amazing, and we will definitely come back just for those. The rest of the food was average - I've had much better Chinese food (though I've had worse as well). I'd recommend coming for the dumplings though, I could definitely have made a meal out of them, and forgot about the Vegetable Lo Mein, Stir Fry Beef Noodles, Scallion Pancakes and Chicken Peking Style. None were bad by any means, but no stand-outs either. Also have to give props for taking my friend's severe peanut allergy into account. They were very accommodating. read more

DO NOT EAT HERE! Came during covid and utensils were not even cleaned. The waitstaff took 30 minutes to take our order and they were very aggressive for no reason. The food was absolutely disgusting. One dish smelled so bad we couldn't even have it at the table because of nausea it caused. The beef fried rice was not fried at all! it was unbelievable undercooked. The rice was white and the beef was basically raw. We all left with upset stomachs and feeling like we were about to puke. We only took a bite of each dish before we decided to call it quits. They forced us to pay the full bill even for things we returned straight away. And on top of that, they tried to get us to pay an integrated 18% tip. Absolutely unbelievable. The staff was yelling at each other constantly. THIS WAS THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCE I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE! read more

I came across this location on a trip to the Wilbur Theater. It's right around the corner, and conveniently located right near a parking lot. I'm a huge fan of the scallion pancakes. They are delicious! I usually get the beef and broccoli, and the pork fried rice is delicious. I don't know if every place is like this in Chinatown, but it feels very authentic to me. The tea is strong, the soup is good and plentiful, you are served with chopsticks and only receive a fork if you ask for one. There are ACTUAL Asian people dining here, which is a very good sign. Sometimes I drive in to Boston just to have dinner here. Give it a try. read more

Unexpected GDH alternative! Discovering after a night of sport drinking that GDH was closed, followed some tourists into the Dumpling Cafe (DC?) for some fat and salt. Not sure if it was my state of mind, but the juicy pork dumplings were actually juicier than those at GDH, and certainly hit the spot. Only downside is that the ginger soy dipping sauce wasn't as pungent as that at its more renowned competitor, so overall quality felt similar. Service was fine - I went out of my way to be preemptively pushy about getting and paying for my food. read more

I came back here for dinner tonight and I just had to write about it right away! This place was packed tonight. So service wasn't amazing, but I'll let it slide for tonight... This time I ordered the crab and pork soup dumplings and they were amazing. Yes I've had Joe's Shanghai soup dumplings growing up, and all I wanted was to have some, so I ordered it, hoping for the best and I have to say, Boston, you delivered! I also ordered the rice cake dish with pork, and this too was really yummy. I was also looking around to see what other people ordered and I feel like there are so many more authentic dishes I should try next time! read more

Ahhhhh this is what it's suppose to taste like. Not like that other joint down the street, supposedly the "original" "DC" is bigger, cleaner and tastes WAAAAAAY better. What more is there to say? For Boston it's pretty good. Everyone is comparing to NY, but you can't! So for what it's worth, this is the joint for TW style grub. read more

Although not the best xiao long bao's I've ever had, they are definitely the best you can probably find in Boston. They come steaming hot and filled with soup. It is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the city. The other foods are also incredible such as the fried rice cakes, and the scallion pancakes. My parents are from Shanghai so I somewhat have an impression of what these plates should taste like and I think they taste pretty authentic. The prices are also so cheap (I shouldn't be saying that in case they raise them), but when the bill came, my friend dropped her jaw because we ordered so much food and it came out to like $15 a person. read more

My friend from Taiwan ordered for me, so I'm not sure exactly what the dishes were called, but I believe we had the pork soup dumpling. You nibble a hole in the dough and slurp out the incredibly rich broth...wow! Beef noodle soup had incredibly tender beef and rich, delicious broth. I stole a bite of a dish that looked like beef with chinese broccolli(?). Sorry to be scattered on the dishes, but I suspect that just about anything you get here is going to be great! The teacups are large and they left the teapot for us on the table. seating is elbow to elbow, but that's Chinatown - embrace it! read more

I've been here many times. Every time I go service is always great. It gets packed quickly here. Seating is very limited. So limited that sometimes you have to share a table with other patrons. So why would one come here? For the mini pork soup dumplings of course! I mean they have other food too, but it's called Dumpling Cafe for a reason.. If you need help learning how to properly eat a soup dumpling, there's plenty of help on blogs and on YouTube. I'm not particularly good with handling chopsticks, but a girl I was seeing taught me how to hold the dumpling for consumption. Anyway, do stop by here, you won't be disappointed! read more

Stopped here specifically to try the xiao long bao (soup dumplings). It seems I've been hearing so much about soup dumplings lately. It was very crowded on a rainy Friday afternoon , so I ended up getting takeout. Ordering was online and super easy. I spent my commuter boat ride back home forcing myself not to open the bag and try a dumpling right then. The xiao long bao I got had crab and pork. It was that or just pork (my next mission, to find just chicken or crab ones, since I don't usually eat pork). They were bigger than I expected- no way could I take one bite and let the soup roll down my throat to full effect. The flavor was good and the soup effect still worked, but in 2 or 3 separate bites. They were still hot when I got home. What I most enjoyed was my other dish- Taiwanese spicy eggplant. It was just the perfect amount of heat that makes you chase it with rice but still go for another bite. And another. I will come back here just for that eggplant! read more

Dumpling Cafe - Taiwanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I've been eating here for years and I've never had a bad experience. I particularly like their steamed veggie dumplings, but they have a broad menu of entrees as well, some of which will be familiar to people who only know American-style Chinese food, and some of which will be unfamiliar but are equally tasty. read more

Disappointed. Hair in the fried rice. Egg tasted burned. Waitress was moody. And then FORCED to leave a tip! No literally she chased us out the door and argued that we needed to leave a 6.60 dollar tip for the waitress? I told her I was not pleased with the food nor my experience so I was not going to leave a tip. I felt like paying for the food was being fair enough for them. She also asked for cash because there was a 20 minimum on using credit????? We ended up paying with card all together but this place wasn't cheap either .... bad experience. I work from tips too and know that the consumers of the place should always be content so they can return. Not going back sorry! Ps. I ended up leaving the tip only because she seemed so desperate. Who knows ... maybe something else was doing on ... read more

Authentic!!! Food was amazing !!! Busy, service was good. Establishment was clean, food was delicious!!! A must try !!! read more

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My friends and I found the food here divine. For the first time ever, I'm actively craving an eggplant dish. We've covered a fair sample of the menu, ranging from soup dumplings to the spicy Szechuan seafood medley, and everything tasted delightful. My friend who frequently visits Shanghai was impressed by the food authenticity at Dumpling Cafe, though obviously the portions are bigger here. The place is not small, but it's cramped. Expect to sit quite close to others and touch neighboring tables as you ease into the wall seats. But it's worth it because of the amazing flavors you'll enjoy. The only nitpick is that some dishes are spiced up enough to overwhelm the actual food taste. They're not too spicy to eat, they just feel like they'd taste the same even if squid was replaced by beef. read more

I've been to a couple of Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, and some of them are spot on. While others are on of a kind. But when I went to Dumpling Café. I knew it was going to be one of a kind. I tried their famous soup dumpling. It was heaven in a dumpling. Then I tried their friend squid with peppers. it was nice and crispy, but not too crispy. It was nice and the squid was soft and dissolve in my mouth. Then after I had those two dishes, I tried the scallion pancakes. It was nice and airy. I had it with a side of soy sauce! it was great. The service was very polite and was quick to deliver my order. I was very please. this is one of the places that college kids and people on a budget can go to ! this is the coolest place to hang out on a weekday or weekend, I will totally come back to this place! read more

I've been here a few times with my boyfriend and we absolutely love the soup dumplings! Little pillows of warm goodness. They come in a little bamboo steamer and taste delicious. We order them every single time. This time, we also ordered the mango chicken which was sweet, spicy and flavorful. The mango was ripe and the sauce was well seasoned. All the food they seem to bring out of the kitchen looks good so I'm excited to try new things every time we go. As for the restaurant, I've been here when it is extremely busy and felt really rushed. We got approached by four different waitresses asking if we were ready to order before we even really got settled. The second time we came here, it was much quieter and slow and we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. The food is tasty and cheap, and who can complain about that?! Looking forward to going back! read more

They have really good xiao long bao (mini soup dumplings); they're super juicy and the flavor is just right. Oftentimes I've had them at other places in Chinatown, only to be disappointed by the lack of soup or saltiness, but not here! Service isn't that great, but you don't expect much when you come to these kinds of restaurants. read more

Great foods! The dumpling are so fresh and good. They have about 20 difference kinds to choose from the menu. I also like the stinking Tofu( which are not stink at all) taste so good. read more

Dumpling Cafe - Taiwanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts