We were in town for the holidays and needed some lunch on Christmas day before some late afternoon festivities. My nephew found that this place was open so we zipped across town. This is the second Christmas in a row that we had Chinese for the holiday so this was not an odd choice for us. I was pleased to see that they had some tropical drinks so I had a Mai Tai - which is a great Christmas drink. We ordered many different dim sum plates and some General Tsao's chicken. The dim sum experts were surprised that the dumplings were bigger and more items than at their usual spot back home - in the end they ordered too much! The General was very tasty. The server was friendly and helpful. Overall a good holiday experience. read more

Nani Restaurant - Christmas Mai Tai - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

this place sucks. food is over priced and tastes like crap. service leave lots to be desire. had to wait an extra 15 minutes for take out while i saw my order sitting on counte. by the time i got it home it was all congeale. complained. no discount was offer. was given an excuse "it is busy" which was bs, as i waited there for forty minutes for my order. i'm never eating here again. read more

Finally! There's a dim sum place in Madison!!!! Not as much as the Chinatown in Chicago, but the dim sum is already very good! Would like to come back very often :) read more

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We grew up in NYC so we have good baseline of what good Chinese food and dim sum is. Nani is acceptable and probably the best Chinese offering in Madison area based on large Asian clientele. Dim sum was a mixed bag. Some dishes were clearly cooked from frozen (ie. Har Kau, sticky rice in lotus leaf and soup dumplings. Others were made from scratch but not authentic Cantonese style. Competition improves the breed and in this case there's not a lot of competition. read more

Very good Chinese!! Authentic Nice decor. Table cloths. Not typical carry out. We have been looking for a good Chinese restaurant since we've been coming to Madison for 40years. This is the best yet. And we are comparing to Chicago china town!! We will be back. Matthew was our waiter. He was very helpful and good. They have dim sum all the time. read more

My favorite dish here is the steamed spinach with garlic. #161 Garlic Water Spinach. Just try it. It will blow your mind. My best friend's fave is the Dungeness Crab, which they keep live in a beautiful aquarium, not frozen in the back. It's very tasty. It's the only place in Madison that offers real dim-sum. Probably not the best dim-sum place in the world, but it's pretty delicious. Imagine Hong Kong-style tapas, plus the tea and/or sake of your choice. It's worth noting that the price point per plate is spot on. Delicately prepared small plates as well as huge family-style portions of rice, steamed or fried. Their soups are incredible. I had a particular craving for egg drop soup last time I was in, and it was not on the dinner menu, but they made it for me anyway. Absolutely outstanding, lick-the-bowl-clean good. It's a nice place for large groups, but also has intimate booth settings for a date. Overall, a great place to get real Chinese food. read more

Nani Restaurant - Nani has modernized an otherwise dated format with some beautiful wooden chairs and decorative dividers. - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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While this isn't the best Dim Sum I've ever had, it also isn't the worst and I'm happy to have a place like this in Madison. The General Tsos wasn't too spicy, but chili oil is available on the table. It was crisp and I like that. The meat was a bit grissled at times, but I would order it again. The steam buns were nice warm cloud like bao. My favorite items ordered were the honey beef short ribs and the garlic baby bok choy. Both had flaws, the ribs were tasty, but weren't cooked long enough to make the marrow edible and well.... it's the best part and the bok choy needed a little soy for my taste, but both were tasty and I will order them again. Now, I went for a meal with my family, but where I could see this place really shine is as a hangout- grab your friends, a cheap drink special and share some dim sum! Try new things! read more

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I think one of the nicer dim sum places around. They don't have carts but the food is fresh flavorful diliciousnes Peking duck!!! Sooooo good!!! read more

Nani Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I came in my first evening in Madison looking forward a spot to catch dinner and found this place. Must say very accommodating and helpful staff! Couldn't be more pleased! I had the salt and pepper shrimp extra spicy, they put did themselves. I also bought 2 bottles of the plum wine, which they only upcharged by like $2, couldn't be more pleased! I was overly full and very satisfied. They are also a dim sum restaurant so lots of choices. I'm not a fan of pork and lots of it had pork otherwise I would have tried them. read more

Nani Restaurant - Salt and Pepper Shrimp extra spicy - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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My family's go to dim sum restaurant whenever we're in town. I'm a big fan of the shrimp dumpling with green chives. We ordered that one and the shrimp dumpling with pea tips for the first time, and all agreed that the green chives one tastes better. We also tried the mini custard rolls for the first time, and those were pretty good! Very soft and not too sweet. Wait time is always short and the food always comes out quickly. read more

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So happy we have this great Chinese restaurant in Madison serving dim sum and other various dishes! I had the seafood chow-mien and short ribs with black bean sauce for lunch today. Plenty of leftovers to enjoy again at home. The seafood combination are of shrimp, fried fish, crab and cuttlefish, with Chinese broccoli, mushrooms, green & red peppers, carrots and crispy noodles that blend well with the sauce so you have a seafoody (if that's a word) & savory mouthfeel and taste, with a hint of crunch in your mouth. Of course, you can tailor to replace some type of seafood with another should you have any type of allergies, ie. Cuttlefish, as is for me. The space is nicely decorated using white tablecloths, is clean and is geared for small or large gatherings. The service is consistently good, friendly and accommodating. It is frequented by a lot of Asians - a good sign of its quality and authenticity in its offerings. This is our go-to when family and friends visit. read more

It was good and very fast the only issue is we got almost all fat on are ribs. Unfortunately I always forget to take pics until after I ate.

I loved this restaurant! I have missed getting dim sum since I moved to a small town. I've eaten dim sum all over Asia and thought this was a bit different but very very good! The green onion & chive cakes/ dumplings were wonderful as were the vegetable crepes. The buns that are filled with a spicy meat mixture were wonderfully light not heavy and doughy like many places. We're definitely going back next time we're in Madison. read more

I was in town for business with my girlfriend and we noticed this place sitting right in the parking lot of our hotel. We'd never had dim sum before and we're still not entirely clear what dim sum actually IS, but we decided to give it a try. And was that ever the right decision. The server was extremely friendly and was happy to explain why she'd handed us a placemat covered with checkboxes and photographs and a pen. Apparently, that is how you order dim sum. And apparently, dim sum is a broad variety of spherical food items that consist of some kind of vegetable or protein filling wrapped in a steamed or fried shell thing. Dumplings. it's like dumplings. Except some of them were more like little rolls. If you're looking for a review from a dim sum connoisseur who knows their bean curd dumplings from their taro puffs, this is not the review for you. I don't have the experience to judge the dim sum against other examples of dim sum. As I said, I'm still not clear what dim sum is. Though I have just looked it up and apparently no one else is clear what it actually is or what the correct etymology of the term is. It's just a blanket term for small dishes of Chinese foods, usually wrap foods or dumpling foods. And that is precisely what we got. I can say it was good. It was delicious and filling and there wasn't one thing we ordered that I didn't like. Which is pretty impressive considering we were ordering at random. Full disclosure though, there was a thing that was made out of chicken feet. And we just vetoed that right out. So I guess we weren't ordering COMPLETELY at random. It is important to have some lines even when trying something new. Chicken feet is one of my lines. Honestly, I can't even remember what we ordered. We ordered things based on the pictures. But everything we ordered was very good, as I said. We ate it all. Mostly. And the server very helpfully suggested we limit our order to two or three items per person. She was very friendly and helpful. The place was very nice inside. It was roomy and comfortable and pretty. Like pretty much every Asian cuisine restaurant ever. They are always beautiful inside. If they are sit down places, anyone. The local take-out Chinese food hole-in-the-wall in the minimall next to the Hobby Lobby or Kohl's store doesn't count, okay? Let me just give you one tip though. And I suspect this is a dim sum newbie mistake that everyone makes their first time in a dim sum restaurant. Decide on the two or three things you all want to order per person as a group, right? And then order one thing less. The food is more filling than you think it is. And three items per person is too many. And I'm saying that as a guy who can pack away a lot of food. If you're with a group, order one thing less than you think you should. Also, order at least one of the tasty sweet dessert dim sum thingies. Leave room for that. We ordered some kind of mango creme puff dumpling thing. It was great. If you've never had dim sum before and don't know what it is, this is a good place to experience it for the first time. If you know your dim sum and are looking for the best damned dim sum you can find, you might want to check someone else's review. I can't help you. read more

I visited a few weeks ago with a couple friends and we got so many different dishes and they were all so wonderful. I ordered takeout tonight negate I wanted one dish specifically: crispy tofu with sesame oil. When I ordered in the restaurant, it was light and crispy, barely any oil and so delicious. When I ordered takeout, it was slimy and drenched in oil. So sad. read more

Love Nani. They have big bao and dumplings and grabbing takeout is quick! The sesame seed balls and Singapore Mei fun are our family's favorites. read more

I have been here quite a few times now and I am still not sure how I feel about it. Everything is extremely oily, more so than typical Chinese restaurants. I ordered the pork and vegetable fried steamed buns, and the entire bottom was a translucent yellow from all the oil. We get the Nani Shrimp Dumplings, which are hit or miss. The other day, they were cooked improperly so everything stuck together and the dumpling skin would come off another one. It's the only dim sum in the area, so I do recommend trying it for the experience. read more

Went here for the first time because I wanted to check out the dim sum per a recommendation from my coworker! We really enjoyed it! We liked the shrimp shumai, pork buns, and pan fried chive cakes. The xiao long bao was not like traditional soup dumplings. Not very soupy-- like we didn't need a spoon to eat them. So keep that in mind. Overall good service and prices! We'll be back! read more

Nani Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I'm so glad there is a dim sum place nearby! I have been here a few times and keep going back for more. Now, the biggest complaint I have personally is that the dim sum is quite large. I'm used to dim sum in San Francisco where it's smaller more bite sized pieces. Do I think the price is fair for what you get? Yes (considering the quality and freshness). However, I do wish they would make the portions smaller and cut back on the price, simply because I want to try more of a variety from their menu (there are a slew of delicious looking options). Every time I have come here with another person, we have ordered 4-5 items and still have leftovers to take with us. I get so stuck on the same items that I never branch out due to the large portions, which is kind of a bittersweet problem to have, I suppose. Flavor-wise, everything I have tried so far has been beyond delicious!! I am obsessed with the Deep Fried Crab Meat and Seaweed Roll (I seriously went back 2 days in a row just for this) and my boyfriend can gobble up at least 2 plates of the Stir Fried Sticky Rice. The food always arrives at the table piping hot. In fact, most of the time we have to wait to dig in so we don't burn our tongues.... Oh, the torture! I think the restaurant is lovely inside with ample seating. I have only ever gone during lunch time; so, I'm not sure how packed it gets during dinner hours. Service has been fine each time I've gone. The servers check on you enough but not so much that it's bothersome. It's also a major plus that they usually have a coupon available in one of the penny saver magazines that come out in Madison ($5 off $25 or more). This may be a better spot for large groups if you want to try more of a variety in one sitting without getting too full or if you can settle on choosing just one dish to enjoy. Regardless, your tastebuds will be glad you brought them here. read more

Nani has been a favorite of ours for a while now, and it never disappoints! We came for a pretty late dinner (around 8:30pm) to satisfy our dim sum cravings after a good workout. Even though it was on the later side of dinner service, our food came out steaming hot and freshly cooked. We even saw the chefs cooking our food at the open kitchen in the restaurant. Between the two of us, we ordered the siu mai and turnip cake from the dim sum menu and the pan-fried lamb w/scallions and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce from their normal menu. The siu mai were huge, both in size and flavor! They were nearly twice the size of a typical siu mai! The turnip cake was perfectly crisped on the outside and very flavorful. The lamb was thinly bettered and evenly crisped and spiced. The Chinese broccoli was a large dish, but it was so delicious we were glad to have leftovers to take home. It was definitely too much food for just a single meal, but we couldn't resist trying the many dishes they offered. The food was authentic and scrumptious, and the service was great! Nani has become our neighborhood favorite Chinese restaurant on the west side, and we can't wait to come back! read more

Nani Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Great place to visit for authentic dim sum! Service was great and food was delicious. Though, I will have to say dim sum was quite on the pricey side. Staring at about $5.50 for a small plate. That's why I didn't give it 5 stars. They close mid day and reopen back so double check hours before making your plans to visit. Friendly staff, hot and fresh food. read more

This place is good for the price, and the most comprehensive dim sum restaurant in the area. I went recently with a group of 5, we ordered about 7 things off the dim sum menu and one normal sized dish which was more than enough, and it came out to about $15 total per person. My favorites so far are the spare ribs with black bean sauce, short ribs with honey, and deep fried pork dumplings. The deep fried pork dumplings have a mochi-like slightly sweet wrapping which I loved combined with the crispy outer layer and savory pork filling. The bbq pork buns, a classic, are also great. The bread for all the buns we ordered were soft and yummy. I was not impressed with the shrimp crepe though - it's a must order for me every time I eat dim sum, and here they made the wrapping too thick, with only 2 shrimps per crepe. Other things to note - they have a pretty good selection of both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, including bubble tea and traditional teas like tie guan yin (iron buddha oolong). They also have all you can eat hot pot for $25 on Sundays I believe. read more

I am updating my review and lowering my stars for this place. First of all, we ordered an appetizer that never came. We asked our server three times for it.. eventually when we finished all our meal, a lady brings it out. We had already asked our server to cancel the order and bring us our check. The lady didn't speak English so it was hard to rely to her that we had asked to cancel the order. Eventually, we told her to keep it but she misunderstood and took it away. I have visited this place several times. Usually, it's a good experience. The food wasn't good a usual as well. They have changed the menu a little bit. Hope fully, my next visit would be better for me to update my review. read more

Pork and veggie fried buns are some of the best buns I've ever put in my mouth. Favorite pickup place in Madison so far.

Thanks COVID for making Nani one of my favorite spots for takeout. Dim sum for lunch while I work from home is such a treat. I love the various types of buns, and I even went out of my comfort zone to try the tripe! It was tasty . Looking forward to trying more traditional fare. read more

Nani is a staple in our house. The dim sum is excellent, and they cater to some American Chinese dishes as well. Staff is always so caring and helpful, it still feels like a family run spot. Go Nani! read more

Ordered takeout and chose the cashew chicken, pork and chive dumplings, and vegetable dumplings. I devoured the pork and chive dumplings, but everything else left much to be desired. The white rice had a citrus flavor to it, the chicken in the main dish was so large I had to cut it up into several smaller pieces, and the vegetable dumplings were just so-so. I do plan to order again because the pork and chive dumplings were just too good, but I will definitely order something else instead of the cashew chicken. read more

Dim sum on a weekday for lunch? Can you dig it, Madison? I knew that you could! Made our first visit here for a lunch on the West side. So glad we decided to try something new. I had not been a fan of dim sum here in Madison up until today. The quality always seemed lacking and timing was never quite right as they always only seemed to serve on the weekends. I gave up trying a number of years ago and have long wondered if things may have changed since. At least they certainly did with the addition of Nani. I knew Nani opened a few months back but was reluctant to try them given our prior middling dim sum experiences here in town. In addition, they took over a space which previously housed a number of Chinese buffets, the last few of which were pretty bad and garishly decorated (lots of brass and mirrors). Ugh. Admittedly, I let our poor experiences from the past color our reluctance to visit Nani up until now. My bad. Needing something different to try, we stopped in and were very pleasantly surprised. Their revamped space is beautiful and modernish. Darker woods, sleek lines and subtle lighting really add to the ambience. Mind you, this is not your grandparents' chop suey house. Accented by their white linens, it is a largish, handsome, understated and elegant space. Refined, subtle, warm and inviting but not cheesy. I believe they even have a bar and an area where diners can eat and watch the chefs work. The space is very well laid out and, I would think, would easily accommodate our more mobility challenged dining friends using a cane, walker or wheelchair. They have a large parking lot with ample parking, too! We were warmly and promptly greeted and offered drinks. Bubble teas were a must. Cold and with ample tapioca beads, they were a great start to lunch. For those unfamiliar with dim sum dining, it is essentially the Chinese version of Spanish tapas dining--smaller plates and bites of unique savory, spicy, salty and/or sweet dishes, well-suited to solo or group dining. Modestly priced, you can try a number of things without breaking the bank! Also, I think dim sum can reflect the diversity and history of Chinese cooking in dishes which can be simple yet very sophisticated; bold yet sublime; and new, yet familiar. Nani did not disappoint and reminds me of the dim sum I had growing up in Chinatown in Honolulu made by Chinese cooks shouting in Chinese served by Chinese ladies pushing carts stacked with bamboo steamers around ginormous round tables filled with hungry locals fighting to get their faves. Authentic? Can't vouch. But Nani's are not the tastes of Americanized shopping mall food court Chinese food. They must have at least 30 to 40 different dim sum available. They also have a large entrée menu. I did not see a specific lunch menu. So entrées seemed on the expensive side for lunch. Dim sum prices ranged between approximately $4-6 dollars each, with a few a little more. The dim sum menu is well done with pictures and English descriptions! They have items which range from the classic standards (pork and shrimp dumplings and egg rolls) to that which are more challenging for the American palate (braised chicken feet). But no one should be put off. There are plenty of choices for every taste and budget. For us, pork and shrimp dumplings, vegetable crepes, soup dumplings, pork and vegetable buns, sticky rice wrapped in taro leaves, spare ribs with black beans, and egg custard tarts were all on our lunch menu. They were all excellent, particularly the pork and vegetable bun dough and egg custard tart pastry which were as light and delicate as any I have ever had. Wowza! Important notes - - 1) they also roast their own whole duck in the restaurant. Definitely a delicious must try; and 2) despite having other kitchen talent available, another diner shared that the owner actually cared enough about the cuisine to delay the restaurant's opening by two months until he could secure and persuade the particular chefs he wanted from San Francisco to come to Nani in Madison. Service was excellent. Everyone was helpful and patient as we hemmed and hawed over the menu and asked questions. Our water glasses were always filled and empty plates promptly cleared. Portions are ample. We were absolutely stuffed with plenty of leftovers. With two bubble teas and before gratuity, our total was about $44. We overdid it, so people with better judgment and control will likely spend less but be just as satiated. I think Nani does dim sum and restaurant service right. They are a wonderful addition to our Madison restaurant community. That Nani is managed by a young Millenial with traditional tastes yet forward minded restaurant and thoughtful customer service skills will not surprise you. Free your mind (and your belt buckle) and your @&& will follow. I did and was pleasantly surprised. I hope you will be too. See you there! read more

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Yay for dim sum! This place is the real deal. This is dumplings brought in increments of four pieces each to your table. Each dish is around four dollars. When we went today, the place was jampacked. Customers were predominantly from southeast Asia, I'm assuming it's because the news got out that this is the real deal sort of Asian food that you can't get just anywhere. We had no problem whatsoever plopping ourselves right in the middle of that huge feast. I definitely recommend anything with shrimp in it. There are at least 15 different little five dollar dishes that are made with some sort of shrimp. read more

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Nani Restaurant made a favorable impression during recent weekday lunch foray. As an unabashed multi-cultural dumplingphile, I was pleased to see the early favorable reviews. So I convinced a couple of co-workers to join me for a whirlwind trip through Nani's dim sum menu. It's been years since I visited this location; I think it was an ill-fated Mongolian stir-fry place in that iteration. The new owners definitely classed the place up with a thorough renovation, adding plenty of stylish lighting to give the place a more chic vibe (as best you can for an old all you can eat buffet location). The host immediately greeted us and led us to our table. Our server appeared before we were settled in and shared both the lunch menu (mainly Americanized Chinese dishes) and the expansive dim sum menu. After a vigorous debate over the merits of many of the dim sum options, we decided on the pork pot stickers, shrimp and pork dumplings, BBQ pork buns and one of spare rib options, (Alas, no one was willing to sample the chicken feet with me - I had to save that dish for another time). One of my co-workers also ordered the sesame chicken entrée from the lunch menu. Shortly after we placed our order, the steam baskets with our dim sum offerings started hitting our table. The exterior of the pot stickers had an impressive brown sear and the filling brimmed with porcine goodness. For some unknown reason, the podstickers were bereft of any dipping sauce, which is an almost unpardonable omission. The BBQ Pork bun were the weak link of the meal, with a too sweet bun and just a thimbleful of under seasoned pork (nothing like the version of this dish than I devoured at Umami earlier this year). The bone-in pork spareribs were the showstopper of our meal. Packed in a flavorful broth, this dish provided a mouthful of flavor with every bite. Also impressive were the delectable shrimp and pork dumplings, though they also could have benefited from a dipping sauce. I felt the kitchen did an admirable job with the sesame chicken, which provided a pleasing crunch with every bite. For a new restaurant that has had little fanfare, there was an active midweek lunch service. Many restaurants have come and gone from this building, hopefully Nani can break the curse of this location. There are far many dim sum offerings that I have yet to try. read more

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I really want this place to succeed. Especially because it's the first and only dim sum in Madison. However, having been spoiled with dim sum from Chinatowns and hailing from Asia, eh, that'll do pig. The offerings just rich the tip of the ice burg comparatively speaking. I did enjoy the ambiance of the interior and the friendliness of the handful of staff that waited on us on a Wednesday night. We sampled a little bit of everything from your safe bets of dumplings and crepes, to the west lake beef soup, to more the adventurous chili tripe and tendon. However, nothing stands out as particularly memorable. The Sichuan items quasi resemble what they are actually suppose to be. For example, the chilled Mung bean noodles (Liangfen in Chinese) were cut into cubes instead of the traditional, knife sliced. It was hard to grasp between chop sticks and was sweeter, rather than spicy. I'd definitely recommend trying Nani at least one, especially if you've never experienced dim sum. read more

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So I have used Nani frequently these last months and after the last two purchases, I won't be any more. I feel quality has deteriorated. Cabbage in their soups and rice dishes tasted like they had gone beyond their freshness dates. rice was greasy. we just didn't like what we were tasting in the foods we had previously enjoyed. So, we are now looking for better Chinese options in Madison. read more

Yummy! I ordered the shrimp dumplings, siu Mai, seafood hot and sour soup, Mongolian beef and seafood fried rice. The dumplings and siu mai are excellent. The only problem was there was no sauce included. The Mongolian beef was also tasty. It had green peppers which I'm not use to do next time I'd order without. The seafood fried rice is also very good. The size of the shrimp included is large and plentiful. Haven't tried the soup yet but the single serving is huge. Delivery was also quick and the driver was nice. I'm really happy I've found a reliable place to order from. read more

I will probably go here a lot more times in This Year Of The Monkey 2016, but I will not order the fucking Xiao Long Bao here. There is no soup in the soup dumplings. Just so you all know, getting soup in your dumpling is the same as winning your date. Like, seriously, it is adorable already because it's a dumpling. Like, "hey girl, you wanna get dumplings?" is like best boyfriend award material already. But then there's delicious rich broth that pours out when you nibble it. But When the lady wants dumplings and we go get XLB and she sees dried dumplings her heart breaks. Now, I have to deal with that heartbreak. I could, say, tell her that we got the wrong order (we didn't). I could hold her in my arms while she eats what is decidedly not XLB. She would probably be crying, but I wouldn't see it because I'm sensitive and I'd be crying, too. She could turn over the table in disgust and I could protest along with her. Rargh. I love my boo, so at the end of the day, I can't think of a way to love Nani. Please fix this, Nani. I tell my friends about you and how you have so many good traits, but your soup dumps are the worst, so like. Whatever. read more

lowering my standards a little bit because there is only 1 actual dimsum place in madison? YES, but... I went for the first time on saturday morning with 3 other friends, and we ordered around 8-9 dishes. I think it was a good amount and variety, and we almosttt finished it. we ordered the shumai (good), congee (good), chinese donut (great), rice cake wrap things with beef (okay), sticky rice (good), pork bun.. the more bready one (good).. and some others. overall, food was good. i do think they are still working on figuring out their service and cart situation, but i'm hopeful! i shall take what i can get for now~ we ate as much as we wanted and paid ~15 bucks each, which i was happy with. i remember eating less and paying more when i went to places in both socal and norcal. read more

Nani Restaurant - Century egg congee and chinese donut. Yum yum! - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

It won't be the food that makes this place go out of business. It will be the service. Let's start off with the good. The food. Probably the best in Madison by a good margin. Typical dim sum dishes but they are tasty. If you've eaten dim sum in Chicago, or Texas, or CA, you will still be happy. Now the bad. The service. It's horrible and if this place ever closes, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason. The service is bad. I had to raise my hand multiple times to get attention. I almost wanted to walk into the kitchen to get my own water, and to refill it. I understand it takes for certain dishes, but I don't see an excuse for any dish to come near an hour later from sitting or when you are about to pay. At least a continuous update is acceptable if it's taking too long. read more

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Our group of seven tried Nani Restaurant last night. The restaurant has two large rooms with booths and round tables. The tables have lazy susans which allow you to easily share dishes. There are also multiple tanks which allow you to see the seafood you may be eating later. The menu has two sides. One side has appetizers and entrees divided up by vegetable, pork, beef & lamb, seafood, chicken and duck. The other side has 63 dim sum type dishes priced based on size (S, M, L, Special). Although they don't roll carts past and have you choose plates as in a traditional dim sum restaurant, you can order what you like and they will bring them out as each dish is prepared. We had a nice waitress who explained how to order, took our drinks, and answered many of our questions. Dishes were brought out by whomever was available when each platter was ready to be served. Everyone was friendly. We started with the Deep-Fried Crab Meat & Seaweed Roll. It's a crab-stick (imitation crab) wrapped in a slice of seaweed and then deep-fat fried. The seaweed flavor is very strong. I'm not a crab-stick fan and this did not change my mind. This was followed by Chaozhou Style Dumpling. The contents of this are mainly diced carrot and chest-nut and some sort of meat. It's quite crumbly. They are steamed and the wrapper was much larger than the contents inside. A dipping sauce would have helped this dish tremendously. My favorite dish of the night was the Baby Cuttlefish with Curry Sauce. The cuttlefish were bite-sized and tender. The curry sauce was just a tad spicy with tons of flavor. I will order this dish every time I go back. We also had the homemade Fish Balls. These were incredibly dense, chewy, and not particularly flavorful. They were much better once I starting dipping them in the curry sauce left over from the cuttlefish. This dish should really be served with a sauce. The Pan-Fried Vegetable and Pork Bun was another success. The bun is sweet with just a slight crunch from the fry. There is a light coating of oil giving it a beautiful shine. The insides were savory and light. I would order this again. We also enjoyed the Pan-Fried Green Chive Cake. These chewy/doughy dumplings were loaded with chives. Excellent flavor. I would order this again. Our last dim-sum plate was a Baked Creamy Egg Yolk Bun. This tasted just like Bisquick Coffee Cake. It looked like a cross between a steamed bun and a muffin and had a brown sugar filling. It was fine, but not something I traditionally associate with Chinese food. From the appetizer menu we tried the Jelly Fish with Szechuan Sauce. I love to try new things. The sauce was spicy and delicious. The jelly fish were cold. They have a texture like tendon. It's dense, chewy, rubbery, and almost crunchy. I'm glad I tried it, but I would not get it again. Also from the appetizer menu was something called Chiu Chow Style Marinated Platter. This consisted of tofu, duck feet and tripe w/some beef or pork pieces which were marinated and served cold. The meat pieces were OK. I'm glad I had a chance to try duck feet, but they are just chewy skin covering bone. No flavor; not an appealing texture; I would not order this again. Our of nine dishes I tried, I would only recommend three. However, there were dozens of other dishes to try and I was not necessarily ordering dishes I expected to like, rather trying new things. I will definitely go back and try more. read more

Initially, we thought the food was excellent but service very poor. Server ignored our table, then forgot part of our order - leaving us to sit waiting for a half hour - while SHE took her lunch break. When we asked her about it she was very put off that we interrupted her break. Spoke to us while chewing a mouth full of food. Extremely rude attitude. She spit on me while talking. Gross. read more

Nani's specialty is dim sum, which is the Chinese version of tapas. They have a dim sum menu and a entree menu, both offer plenty of options, which is great for those seeking variety. I was reluctant to order their dim sum as I've never been here before and had no idea what to expect so I decided to play it safe by ordering from their entree menu. I only ordered one dim sum plate, the BBQ pork buns, which are a very common Chinese food. They were delicious! They were the right amount of sweet and savory. For entrees, I ordered the young chow fried rice, BBQ pork spare ribs, and sweet & sour chicken. All three plates were amazing. The food was not overly greasy, like most Chinese food tends to be, and at the same it was full of flavor. The entree portions are pretty big, enough to share between two or three people. After such a delicious meal, I think this is one of the few places in Madison that offer an authentic Chinese food experience. I will surely be back to try their dim sum pretty soon. read more

Nani Restaurant - Young chow fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, bbq pork spare ribs - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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I didn't want to give this place a one star review but I ordered online for them to deliver to my hotel....they knew it was a hotel and they did not bring any utensils. Not even chopsticks. I had to eat rice with my hands. Then they did not bring me a receipt which I specifically asked for because I was on a business trip. The food was extremely bland. Seriously I have nothing good to say about this place. read more