The best dim sum hands down anywhere around Madison. The service is spot on. The baked pork buns are to die for. 15 minutes from campus, well worth the drive with plenty of free parking. If you're looking for real Chinese fare, look no farther. I have dined at Nani several times and will be back. read more

Good food, delivered hot. I took a bit off because they sent no soy sauce along...a minor offense but I was out so it bothered me. Will definitely order from them again, though. read more

Awesome dumpling house find in Madison! Appropriately priced food, great portions, and tons of options! My personal favorite is the Macau Style Pork Belly and the Short Ribs! A close second would be their Siu Mai and Pot Stickers. All of this paired with either their Beef or Chicken Lo Mien tops off your meal and is sure to satisfy your visit! Be careful if your eyes are bigger than your stomachs! read more

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After reading the reviews I was hesitant. But I stopped in today and had a late dim sum lunch. Absolutely spot on, I'll definitely be back. read more

I have to give this rating because my husband never complains about food. Never! He was so disappointed, he was ready to leave after the bar b q pork appetizer. It was tough and very hard to eat. The only way we had flavor in our entries, seafood delight and chicken with broccoli, was to add the dipping sauce from the steamed dumplings we ordered as another appetizer, which was not that good. This was our last night of our vacation, and it left a sour taste in our mouths. read more

I learned about Nani thanks to Yelp and immediately added it to my "to try" list. Little did I know it would only be a few days later that I'd be asked me to decide where to meet someone for lunch. I am so happy we came here! The location is tucked just a bit out of the way, so folks might miss it if they're driving through, but it's absolutely worth checking out. I'd never visited the previous iterations, but agree with other reviewers who say that the interior is well done. For me, this doesn't always matter as much if the food is good, but I found it notable in this case. This is my first experience with Dim Sum, so I can't speak to authenticity or compare to other locations. What I can say is that I love most any Asian cuisine I've tried and thought it was amazing. It doesn't hurt that I'm a fan of dumplings of pretty much any heritage. We spent most of our time going over the vast menus. First we were handed the lunch menu, which seemed to cover the sorts of American-Chinese dishes I grew up with so we skipped it altogether. The dim sum menu was completely new to me, and my partner was enthralled by their main menu, which is HUGE. We were warned that the dishes in the main menu were meant to serve more than one person, and they were right, we had some leftovers to share with our housemates. I realized shortly after getting through the dim sum menu that I'd have to take a look at the rest later. I already wanted to try more than I could eat... so I chose the beef brisket with rice noodle in a pot, the pan fried vegetable and pork bun, and the sweet custard roll. Everything was delicious, although I was surprised by the ratio of bun to limited filling and just a little put off by the skin and fat/cartilage in the pot. Of course, I realize that's probably more traditional than what I'm used to so I just picked through it. The flavor was very good. I shared those leftovers with one of my housemates when I got home and he ate the rest, so it's clearly a matter of preference. The custard rolls were perfect... great fluffy texture while not too sweet. Mmm. This particular companion is more adventurous than I am when it comes to food, so many options on the menu were tantalizing to him. He ended up ordering the ox tongue with tripe in chili sauce and loved it. From the dim sum menu he chose the shrimp crepes, which received an emphatic thumbs up while chewing. He's going to have to find someone else to try the chicken feet or octopus with, but I appreciate that those items are on the menu. Service was great. Our waitress checked in regularly and another young lady checked in with us to see if we had any questions. She was extremely helpful to us first-timers. I was surprised by how quickly our dishes started coming out; we were eating in no-time. Extra bonus points for their tea service. I had a nice big metal pot of green tea to myself. No dinky mini-teapot, and this baby stayed HOT the whole time we were there. This alone made me pretty happy, but add everything else and I simply can't wait to come back again and again to continue trying other items on their menu. read more

Amazing food and Service, the workers are very kind. I love the bubble tea that they have I shared it with a friend and we had more then enough. read more

We ordered 5 dishes. 4 were great, 1 was pretty disappointing. 1.) Pork and shrimp dumplings (Good) 2.) Shrimp dumplings (Good) 3.) BBQ Glazed Pork Buns (Great) 4.) Cuttlefish (Outstanding! Buttery and chewy!) 5.) Braised Beef somethingrather (Pretty disappointing, I'd say this was 90% tubular sheaths of skin and fat and only 10% muscle. Maybe because we were doing takeout, they dumped some scrap beef parts on us?) read more

Entrees: Mostly not Chinese-American entrees, although there are a few standbys such as orange chicken. I enjoyed the crispy chicken w/ chiles, which is approximately half hot dried chilis and half fried chicken pieces. For dim sum service, they provide one laminated menu for the table and another menu on which you can write your selections. Each dim sum option is priced based on "size", with a price reference on the side. Notable items: taro puffs, which are basically little potato pancakes with taro and meats, BBQ pork dumplings, sweet egg custard. Service is not good, as it seems the servers don't have assigned areas or tasks, so requests are fufilled on a haphazard basis. Incredibly large restaurant and the busiest part of the dining area usually has a TV turned on. Bring a group, as the food is meant to share. read more

My husband and I loved it! The dumplings were all delicious! We loved the sticky rice fried rice with Chinese sausages. Also, you must try the honey comb cake! It was so good! Will be eating here again soon! :) read more

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I had heard about a Dim Sum restaurant popping up in Madison and I finally had the chance to visit. This place is pretty big on the inside so feel free to bring friends for a big party. They have a dedicated Dim Sum menu and with pictures in case you're unsure of what you're ordering. I prefer the traditional method of carts being pushed around which is much quicker and gets you munching on things faster. My main complaint was the time it took to bring the food out. With everything being custom ordered, this is the drawback to this system. The food was very good and I had no complaints. This is probably the best Dim Sum in Madison. The selection is very plentiful which is refreshing because some Dim Sum places are limited in what they offer. Not Nani! Overall, I will definitely put this on my list of recommended Asian restaurants in Madison. If you're craving Dim Sum, head over to Nani! read more

They do a great dimsum lunch/dinner, and people know it! Sunday lunch fills up pretty quick, and it is very easy to get a large group in the restaurant (half of the place is the typical 4-person booths and 8-person tables, while the other half is 10-person round- and long-tables). The location isn't super convenient, but it's worth the drive. Very tasty pork buns, turnip cakes, and dumplings! Drag your friends here and eat for cheap. Don't go whining about service here. If you need something, flag someone down :) read more

Great find while passing through Madison. The staff was attentive and kind, and the food was fantastic - some of the best dim sum we've had! Highly recommend Nani! read more

I was a bit turned off by the fact that many of their dishes were pork. Being a non-pork eater, it was a bit tricky trying to find something that was appetizing and porkless. Service needs some serious work. They gave my table a couple of wrong dishes that we did not order and it took awhile for the food to come out. I settled for the deep fried shrimp spring rolls, beef brisket with crepe noodles and shrimp and ped pod dumplings. The spring rolls were good but with them being so greasy, I could not eat more than two. I guess my waistline is thankful for this. Beef brisket was extremely fatty. I hardly got any meat. They did however fill the bowl with crepe noodles. Meh... I probably won't be returning. This was my first time having Dim Sum and I have to believe there is much better dim sum to be had. This just is not it... read more

I've been searching in vain for the past couple years for good Chinese food in Madison (Fugu, Dumpling House, Hong Kong Cafe, blech!) Finally, this is it. The first place with a great BBQ duck, plus ACTUAL DIM SUM (not that crap they microwave at Hong Kong Cafe). You have to come here. It's table service-based off a menu. Only problem is they bring the dishes out a bit more slowly, and I hope this improves, but the food is GREAT. read more

Have been there many times. We really love the Peking duck here. But they no longer serve half portion. An entire duck is too expensive as a dish. We'd like to try more things each time. Wish they will serve half Peking duck someday!!! read more

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Broke my dim sum virginity here. First time was with a group of 8 friends. We got to sit at a round table with a lazy Susan. Looked through the easy order menu and our group ordered about 2 plates of each item we wanted. A few steamed items - pork buns, pot stickers. Fried sticky rice - highly recommended. Shrimp egg rolls were delicious. We all ordered alcohol. The drinks were strong and fabulous! The dim sum was hot and fresh. Our waiter brought out a few dishes at once. Excellent customer service. Gratuity was not included. Candy as a treat upon your receipt. I had such a great experience that I decided to bring my family along to try Nani's. We had booth seating. Tried the milk bubble tea this time, excellent! I'm so used to ordering flavored bubble tea, but the black milk tea was great! Ordered sticky fried rice, honey short ribs, steamed pork bun, and shrimp shu mai. For a small family to dine (6-7 dim sum plates), bubble tea, and two beers cost under $50. Four stars only because our waiter wasn't very attentive this time around. We didn't get drinks quickly, not enough utensils on our booth, and had to get up and ask for the check. Not a deal breaker though...I will definitely be back for more. read more

Blech. A) the place is huge but we were one of only two tables. I assume everyone else already knows something I just learned B) the food is terrible. I mean absolutely wretched. We ordered a mix of dim sum and entrees, and only the sweet & sour soup was edible. I know reducing food waste is all the rage these days but we left at least 75% of the food we ordered behind C) it's way too expensive for the terrible quality. On the plus side, the parking lot is huge read more

C'mon, given that there is only ONE place in Madison with a reasonably-authentic and rather large Dim-Sum menu, how can you give it less than 4 stars if you like Dim-Sum? Yes, if they had any competition they'd get knocked down to three stars for the service (just flag a server down-- ever been to China? They just yell across the room and snap their fingers over there), and maybe even down to two stars for pissing you off for adding in a mandatory service charge. And yeah, they don't have carts, but so what? Bottom line-- go with as many friends as possible, order a lot of different stuff, and enjoy it for what it is! read more

First, the server was excellent. A wide selection of dim sum, and chef special plates. All plates ordered were tasty (more than 13), but I could not choose one plate that was superior to the others. All generally good and I would explore further with another visit. read more

Let me break it down to you. The food: Everything was salty, the only thing that tasted ok was the chicken feet. The service: There were about 5-6 waiters just sitting in one big table talking and they would look over to our table or walk past our table and that's it. No one asked us if we needed anything. We had to grab their attention every time we needed our water refills and utensils. Horrible management also. All the guy did was walk around and didn't stop by to check on us to see how we were doing and when we left he didn't even acknowledge us. We were excited that there's a dim sum in Madison but definitely NOT worth the hype. Won't be returning. read more

Being the only traditional dim sum restaurant in Madison, I was super excited to visit Nani as soon as I passed by it on my way back from West Towne Mall one day. It's conveniently located right next to the mall in case you wanna do some shopping before or after dim sum, and there's ample parking and seating inside the restaurant. It was relatively crowded when a group of 7 of us went in at ~12:30 P.M. on a Saturday afternoon, but there was definitely lots of seating. The food was pretty good! Given the relatively harsh reviews I've seen, I didn't have high expectations coming in. I think this place definitely deserves at least 4 stars, though! The xiao long bao was not super authentic but still fairly tasty! It's 10 of them for $7.95, which is pretty cheap as far as xiao long baos generally come. The other traditional dishes I got were all pretty good too! I'd highly recommend this place if you've been meaning to try dim sum in Madison. I will say that service was slightly slow though, but it was pretty crowded when we went. Overall, still a great experience though! read more

My first foray into dim sum. The food was very good. There were four us and we ordered 10 dishes. Waaaay too much food. My favorite dishes were the fried sesame with red bean and the pork soup dumplings ( which I am positive have a more official name). The service was slow and we were never sure who to ask when we needed something. The ten dishes came to $60 which I thought was a good price. I would definitely come again albeit with lower service expectations. read more

Nani Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Good soup dumplings here.Came here again after a few years, was still impressed.

Went here with some friends and finally - someone decided to invest in a Dim Sum place in Madison. Smart move on them, because they don't have competition due to the fact they're the only one. The decor was very modern and everything was really nice. I've been to other dim sum places before like in Chicago, but they did justice with the dim sum. Wide array of choices even and very spacious. Overall, great experience, and when I'm back in Madison, this place would be a great place to go with some friends for dim sum. Quick tip - ALWAYS bring cash for dim sum. read more

Poor time management and customer services. Called for take out and the front desk said it should be ready in 20mins. We arrived at the restaurant after 20 mins and then we waited more than half an hour in the restaurant and food still isn't ready. Of course they said some excuses like there were two big parties blah blah blah. If our order was ahead of those two parties, those two big parties should even matter because they were behind in the queue. If those two big parties' order was placed before ours, then they should time it properly. So watch out if they tell you the food will be ready in 20 mins because in reality it might take more than 50 mins!!! read more

My friends and I went at around 3:00 pm on a Saturday. The Dim Sum and the service were top notch. We will definitely be back. Favorite item on the menu (believe it or not) was the Turnip Cake. Most interesting item was the Deep Fried Crab and Seaweed Roll. read more

As someone who has lived in California, I had accepted that there was not quality dim sum in Madison... until Nani. The flavors and selection are good and definitely within a reasonable standard of authenticity. We sampled all of the 'typical' items like Shu Mai, Har Gow, as well as a 'menu' time (one of the seafood based chow mein dishes). The other half of our party had been to Nani multiple times and vouched for the consistency. Other comments: -No push carts that rolled around the restaurant for guests to order from. Dishes are chosen via a picture menu and ticket slip (indicate quantity, etc.) taken by the server. -Dim sum is served all day, everyday. (It does not convert to a more traditional HK / Cantonese - style restaurant during evening or weekday periods like you might see at other venues. Maybe hoping to be the Yank Sing of Madison?... ) -Prices are within reason but not cheap - similar to what you might expect to pay for decent, ethnic food in Madison, but more than an urban / metropolitan area that has an Chinese community. -We ate on a Sunday evening and we were the only party. The returning visitors in our party mentioned that's usually been quiet. So hoping for the word will spread and for Nani to keep making quality food.... read more

Alas dim sum on the west side! We walked in hopes of having lunch at the new buffet place (used to be the You Like buffet), but quickly realized as we got to the door that it was a dine-in restaurant. We decided try it out. Imagine the surprise and anticipation when we saw the dim sum menu in the waitress's hands. This would be my husband's 2nd time eating dim sum and we didn't have to go to Chicago! I thought the prices were a bit expensive. The dishes come in small, medium, large, and specials and range in price from small at $4.50 to special dishes at $6.95. Sticky rice fried rice was considered a special dish and we decided to pass on that. The shrimp dumplings, shumai and honey spare ribs was spot-on for taste and quality. My splurge for lunch was a plate of three sesame balls (considered a large dish) at $5.95. In hindsight, I wouldn't have gotten them when they're less than $1 at Asian Midway or Asian Sweet Bakery. The filling, however, was a tasty yellow(?) bean and less sweet than red bean paste. Total cost for our lunch was under $30. A nice treat once in a while..or until I learn how to make steamed dumplings. There are lots on the menu to choose from and even told that if you know what you're looking for, you can order off menu. Whole ducks, bbq pork and crispy pork can be seen hanging in a case on the side. I didn't ask if we could order by the pound like at the Garden Asian Market/gas station, but nice to know there's a close-by option. Dim sum and other entrees are served daily and on weekends, the rollings carts come out. We'll definitely go back and talk this place up with friends and family. Spread the word!! read more

PROS: Solid dim-sum, nice interior, 24/7 off-the-menu dim sum CONS: Very long wait times If you ever crave dim sum in Madison, this is a nice spot to hit up. They have a pretty good selection of typical dim sum dishes. The shrimp dumplings, curried cuttlefish, and crepes were pretty good and standard. I'm not generally a dim sum person, but when I get that once-in-a-blue-moon dim sum craving, I'll return. read more

Dim Sum. They've got me. There were mostly highlights here. The baby cuttlefish with curry sauce is phenomenal; I could get three orders and eat them all myself (not that they're small, just that I'm a hog and they are devourable); perhaps one of these and one other item would make a solo trip complete for me. The beef brisket with rice noodle bowl was very good. Of course, it looked nothing like the photo, so please don't Instagram an upset photo that there are discrepancies between the colors or amounts of sauce. It's dim sum. The rice noodles are rolls of noodles, which some might not like if they do not enjoy chewiness. The sauce is mostly juices of meat; for those who do not indulge in beef frequently, this is a treat - a very salty treat (warning). Moving a little lower on the totem pole were the BBQ pork crepes. I appreciated the slipperiness but they came pre-doused with soy sauce, or similar natured sauce. The BBQ pork was very salty and not evenly dispersed throughout the crepe, but still decent. Lowest ranking were the chicken feet. I was excited to expose my partner to these, but this didn't go well as they were very gummy. We left most behind untouched (gasp!). A 5th item was ordered for the two of us, however it apparently wasn't memorable enough to include. Next time I will, without question, repeat the cuttlefish and perhaps the beef brisket with rice noodle bowl. I will add XLB dumplings, hoping they are especially soupy. The bottled beer selection was great, however the first two beer selections we made we no-go's as they were out of both. This made the drink process take some time. This would be a decent place to have a somewhat special occasion with items to share. read more

My boyfriend stumbled upon Nani while driving for Uber and dropping people off here frequently. He suggested we give it a try, and we've beem there twice now. The food was very good, we tried a number of dim sum options and an entree which was some sort of delicious meatballs. Everything tasted great and very flavorful. I was really excited about the mushroom and seafood chowder, which ended up not resembling chowder at all (perhaps my inexperience at play here) but still tasted pretty good after I added enough salt. The service leaves a lot to be desired. On our first visit we had an excellent waitress who explained how to order, and that items would come to us as they were ready, and not necessarily in any order. It was nice to have that heads-up. Beyond that initial encounter we waited a long time for simple things like water refills, a beer, and even for someone to see how we were enjoying our food. On our second visit nobody even offered us beverages. I work in the service industry, and I don't enjoy servers who pop up every few minutes, but I do like it when someone checks in once or twice during a meal. Maybe it's just me being nitpicky, but I paid for our second meal there. The server took my card from the table, it was located right next to me, and when he brought it back he tried to give the card and slip to my boyfriend, versus returning it to me where he got it from in the first place. It's not 1950 anymore, and I didn't enjoy that aspect of my visit. We will continue to come in for the food, but with realistic expectations that service isn't their forte. read more

I went in a group of 7 for a late lunch today. We were seated at a large round table with a glass lazy susan in the middle to make it easy to share our food. Everything we ordered was delicious! Thanks for a fun afternoon! read more

Authentic Dim Sum! It's been a few years since I've had really great Dim Sum in San Francisco's Chinatown. Nani's was pretty darn good for what I expected to find in Madison, WI. Lots of Chinese patrons when me, my brother and bf visited, which is a good sign. Service was very helpful and courteous. I was not a fan of the Congee as it was watered down than how I make it, but everything else on the menu was on point. Will definitely be back for more. Also, this was recently renovated from the former Chinese Buffet restaurant. read more

I'm giving this establishment five stars for it's egg custards. These are some of the best egg custards i've ever had, and i'm making my comparison to michelin star dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong. Better yet, it's superior to your cantonese mom egg custards. They do, however, make you wait for it: 30min. per made to order from scratch. The result is this supper buttery, thin, crisp, flakes-off-with-every-bite multi-layered crust, and the softest, sweetest, melts-on-your-tongue warm egg custard filling. The combination is glorious. They also make sweet tofu pudding on the weekends. Otherwise, your usual savory dim sum plates are quite mediocre, but those custards were so impressive that I can overlook everything else. Update: The food quality has deteriorated significantly since my last review. From the quality of ingredients to the taste. I brought my parents here when they visited hoping to show them a great dining experience, but unfortunately everyone left hungry. The congee was especially unpalatable. Although this is the only dim sum restaurant in town, i'd rather skip dim sum altogether than spend another dime here. read more

Very large & beautiful inside. I ordered take out, which took about 20 minutes, so the food was freshly made. Tip: Confirm if shrimp is in what you order. Surprisingly quiet at lunch time. Food was very good-especially the egg custard tarts-like others said best I've ever had. We live in Seattle so know good Dim Sum. So why just 3 stars? Because the Pan Fried Vegetable & Pork buns had shrimp in it which I can't eat. I had just eaten 1 bite of this when my husband luckily noticed the shrimp, not a good surprise because shrimp makes me really sick. Luckily I had so little I was ok, but it could have been a disaster. read more

My favourite Chinese place in Madison ( and the only place you can get proper dim sum here so far).. The quality of dim sum is average, but no complaining since we're in Madison... Ever since they hired the new chief last year, the quality of dishes (Sichuan cuisine especially) had been taken to a whole new level. I've been so satisfied with those authentic tastes, just like what I've tasted back in Sichuan. The staffs and owners are nice and friendly too. read more

Nani Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Lets keep this short and sweet. Best Dim Sum in the area by far, but service is lacking. They expect you to call for attention if you need anything. If you do that they will be happy to help with anything you want. Also YES BEEF BALLS! read more

Been there once for dim sum this past weekend. So far so good. I ordered 7 dim sum dishes just to try a few different items. 1) Shrimp dumplings - shrimp filling was fantastic. Dumpling skin a little thick but passable. 2) Siu Mai (shrimp/pork dumpling) - when it was piping hot out of the kitchen it was pretty tasty, but overall it was good, not great 3) Pan Fried Turnip cake - Pretty authentic. Made well, and good sear from the pan. My favorite of the afternoon. 4) Shrimp Crepe - shrimps were a bit small, the crepe was a bit thick. Sauce was okay 5) Beef Crepe - beef was good, but same crepe thickness issue 6) Beef Balls - there were four of these. These were humungous. A little denser than I'm used to, but the taste was good. It was more of the beef balls you eat at hot pot than the ones you would find at a traditional dim sum place. 7) Shrimp/chive dumpling - really good filling, good chive taste. The dumplings were huge! It was well made. When I go again, I would pass on the crepes and try something else. There were many other dishes that I did not get a chance to try. Overall for Madison, this was fantastic, so I will go again for sure. The price is a bit higher than Chinatown in like Chicago or New York, but for Madison you can't really complain too much about that. Service was a bit slow even with just 10 tables, but I didn't have to wait too long for the food once I got the order in. So I would highly recommend this over driving 2.5 hours to Chicago for dim sum (which I've done!). read more

Was surprised to finally have good Chinese in west Madison! The potstickers and dumplings are awesome. Loved the steamed pork buns, but my tablemates thought they needed much more filling. We shared a pork and vermicelli dish that was super tasty. It was spicy, but not overly hot (I was tempted to add chili oil that was on the table). I could tell it was homestyle rather than over Americanized versions that tend to populate the Madison Chinese restaurants. Service was very good, as was the hot green tea. I think it was around $45 for three people, four dim sum choices, and one entree, with non alcoholic drinks. Looking forward to trying congee and other entrees! Will definitely be back. read more