Thank you for bringing dim sum to Madison! We were missing having dim sum and fortunately Nani came up in our Google search. We got there right when they opened at 11 am and got our order in right away. All the food came out piping hot - a distinct advantage over food circulating on carts. We ordered: Nani's Shrimp Dumpling - definitely homemade since they were absolutely massive Siu Mai - were great Baby cuttlefish with curry sauce - a must if you like fresh calamari Pan-fried Turnip Cake - nice crust, yummy Shrimp Crepe - very good interpretation Baked BBQ Pork Bun - very nice Salty Pork Bone with Dried Vegetable Congee - too salty, too many bones, not for us Mango Pudding - very nice Sweet/Salty Tofu Pudding - consistency a little too gelatinous Puffy Egg Custard Tart - an absolute dim sum classic, fantastic interpretation, a definite must-do! We will definitely be back to try their many other offerings! read more

Nani Restaurant - The front - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Excellent Pot Stickers!!!! Dim Sum Sunday brunch! I think it's awesome that we have a place like this in Madison WI (no need to go to china town in Chicago). I'm not the expert of dim sum but I think the food here is very tasty :) read more

Nani Restaurant - Good old congee!! - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Amazing food the best I have had in a while and very authentic food that is very fresh and delicious.

Well, I don't really know what I'm doing in a place like this (I'm definitely not a specialist), but I really liked my experience. I've been to Chinatown in Chicago, which I'm assuming is more "authentic," but the Chicago place I went to scared me a little. I love that Nani has more than just pork dumplings for dim sum, unlike the other Madison establishments. The facade is a "suburban stripmall" look, but the inside is welcoming and friendly. The picture menu is SUCH a bonus (THANKS), and every person seemed to be our waitstaff. We had 2 people check on us for order selection (we needed more time of course), another person brought our water, another brought our Pepsi, AND yet another made sure our dining experience was going good. They all seemed knowledgeable and helped us order some basics plus something adventurous (to us). We ordered 5 items: Baked Creamy Egg Yolk Bun - OMG, good! and so different. Most Asian inspired "desserts" are not what Americans consider "sweet." This proved me wrong. It's not subtle like the red bean paste dough-filled types. It's a "hit-you-in-your-sweet tooth sweet!" It's this puffy warm dough with a gooey sugar-crystal, custard center. I've never had anything like this before, so it was a 5/5 for me! Order size is 3. Pan Fried Veg and Pork Bun - umm it comes on a sizzling plate, so this is a bonus in my book. I'm already intrigued by these 3 buns. The smell of the cooking onions and peppers hits you while you wait for your food to be cool enough to eat. There's this greasy crispness to the outside of the bun, yet it holds it's fluffy outside. And just as you finally bite through (cause it's been KILLING me to wait for the heat to subside), you remember "Holy Crap! there's a filling too!" Now, my bun was yummy, but had less filling than the others. So consistency might be an issue. 4/5 Pan Fried Green Chive Cake - when they say chive, they mean CHIVE! Loved it, pan fried, dumpling-wrap portion matches the filling portion. We made a little sauce with soy sauce and chili oil (on the table) that meshed well with this dim sum. Size is 3. 5/5 Siu Mai - at first, the flavors were a little "off" to me. Is this shrimp? Is this pork? But after the 2nd or 3rd bite, it didn't matter. The dumpling edge just shut me up and the two proteins blended together. I'd definitely like to try some of their other steamed dumplings, so I'm giving this one 3/5 until I figure out if another one can beat this one. Size is 5. Vegetable Crepe - this was our "adventurous" item b/c the crepe looks gelatinous. But in the end is was just a big chewy, noodle. I really wanted more vegetables in there, but we only got a few mushrooms. No carrots, no bok choy, no scallions, no ginger, nothing else. So while we liked the crepe, we needed veggies. This had a sauce - it was tasty. I can't compare to anything else, but I know they could do better here. 2/5. Size was 3. Overall, this place is fun, yummy and FILLED with possibilities. I canNOT wait to come back and order everything else. I wish they had some more condiments on the table to make our own sauces, but I'll live. 4/5 read more

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I fell in love with dim sum when I lived in NYC. The only time I was able to find it was visiting bigger cities. But now it's in Madison!!! Nani is very tasty and fresh. Don't let the outside of the restaurant deter you. The inside is very clean. It's nicely furnished. Ok, the food! DElish! We ordered 7 apps because we wanted to try so many. The stir fried sticky rice was great. I loved the peanuts in the rice. It was very sticky. The BBQ pork bun was wonderfully doughy. The shrimp rolls were perfect and full of shrimp. We also got a couple different dumplings and the short rib with pepper sauce. I could have drank the pepper sauce. The jumbo sesame balls were a great dessert to finish off. The red bean paste was nice and sweet. All the apps weren't brought out together which I was pleased about. Everything was very hot, not warm from sitting around. The waitstaff was attentive if we need anything and regularly came around to fill up our water. Considering everything we ordered, it was under $40 and we got leftovers. I cannot wait to go back!!! read more

Nani Restaurant - The wonderful appetizers! - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I still love this place because there are no other dim sum options in the area. The flavors are good overall. I am not impressed with the "regular" menu. It's very expensive Chinese take-out. The dim sum is good, but I suspect it is made elsewhere and reheated. The menu keeps getting cut; more and more of my favorites are no longer available. I worry that they are on the way out. Sadly. read more

Food came in large quantity- Three of us ordered seven dishes and did not finish lol Everything tasted good, but I especially enjoyed the BBQ pork bun and baked creamy egg yolk bun! Very soft bun, bbq pork was sweet and tasty; creamy egg yolk was salty and very rich in flavors. read more

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We adore this place. Kind staff and what goes on in the kitchen reminds me of being in China again. This is the real deal dim sum. I find it amusing (and am kind of grateful) that I can take in a football or baseball game while enjoying my meal. Love the view of the kitchen, the steaming pots, the bustle, all of it. read more

Found this place on Yelp. I admittedly didn't have any high hope at first because the previous restaurants at this location weren't good at all. The new owner has definitely made it right. Madison was long due for a dim sum restaurant, let alone a decent one. For the background, I'm a huge fan of dim sum. My wife and I often drive to Chinatown in Chicago just for dim sum and Chinese BBQ. I'm so happy I don't have to do it anymore. The food is good. The portion is on the plus side, and the price is on the spot. Dim sum is available all day including weekdays. I also tried a là carte dishes. Japanese tofu in abalone sauce is recommended. I love the fresh soy milk, and they put sugar on the side for you. There're more on the menu that I want to come back for. read more

Nani Restaurant - Japanese tofu and Chicken in chili sauce - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

My husband and I dined in for a late lunch a few days ago. We previously ordered take out and I wanted to wait until we tried dine in to review. Overall I think it's just a little pricy for the dim-sum dishes and the quality of food we received was OK. Some dishes were hit or miss, others just average. It also would've been nice to have some complimentary tea. Service was good, we did not have problems others previously wrote about. Although it was around 115pm on a cold rainy day. I love dim-sum and it's great Madison has this option now. I've frequented dim-sum places since I was a child. My favorites are are the rice crepes; shrimp and BBQ pork. The rice noodles of the ones at Nani are a little to thick for my preference. They also came out luke warm, still tasty though. I skipped the shrimp dumplings on this visit. We got them in our take out order a while back and I thought they were too big and not delicate tasting enough to pay $4.95 for 4. We also had the baked BBQ buns. Again not very warm and they weren't brown and caramelized on top how I am used to but the taste was very good and there was enough filling. These I would eat and order again. We also ordered the sticky rice, not hot enough and pretty bland. The fried pork dumplings were nice and hot but a little too doughy. We also ordered a lunch special to share, kung Pao chicken. This was probably the best part about our meal also the best deal. It was $9 for a plate of chicken and rice, a big bowl of hot and sour soup and a taro roll. The taro roll was delicious and we could've eaten several more. The chicken had a nice spice to it and I appreciate that they used dark meat chicken. The soup was really good and a large serving, just spicy enough and hot. I think next time we come it will be for the lunch specials with less dim-sum dishes. Maybe a couple extra taro rolls and BBQ buns. read more

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Welcome to Madison Dim Sum!! I am glad I don't have to go all the way to Chicago to have dim sum. This restaurant it's located where the China One was but they remodeled the place and it looks very nice now, more open and still with a lot of seating. They have a boat in the middle of the restaurant with a kind of aquarium to put live fish in it I imagine because there wasn't any today. They have a regular menu (lots of exotic dishes like chicken feet, sea cucumbers, whole roasted Peking duck, whole fish and many other ones I have never seen in another Chinese restaurant), the dim sum menu and another piece of paper to fill out in case you want something from a little cart they are driving from time to time, I refer to already made dishes you can ask the person to leave at the table, I think that's a good idea in case you are starving. From the dim sum menu we had the #2 pork and shrimp dumplings (5) very good!!! #33 pork buns (3) (spongy and tasty, they bring it in a sizzling skillet, like a fajita so they had a great sear on the outside) #7 shrimp and pork bean curds (3) nice but not wow and finally dessert! # 36 fried sesame balls (3) they were beautifully crispy with a delicious filling that tasted like "dulce de leche" or "cajeta de leche". Service was kind of slow but the staff was very nice. I would have liked that they had more items at the table to make a tastier sauce, they just have soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil, I had to ask for a sweet sauce. In general, the food gave us a good impression because they seemed authentic and well prepared. We will be back :) read more

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I am soooo excited that Madison finally has a dim sum place after the one on w Washington closed about a year ago. Their food is good, not the best dim sum I I ever had. The price is okay, service is good. They even have Peking duck listed in the menu, maybe I should try next time. read more

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We drove all the way down from viroqua wi to get some dim sum. Placed two separate orders and picked up at 2 pm. After getting the order we then ordered another order of baked bbq pork bun. We drove home only to find out we spent over $100 to be jacked out of several items we paid for. Missing was 2 orders shrimp dumplings, 1 order sumai, 1 order pork, shrimp and vegetable pan fried bun, hot sauce , sweet soy and what was supposed to be deep fried pork dumplings were definitely not them. The food we did receive was good quality but the amount of stuff we got screwed out of is ridiculous. And not driving back 4 hour round trip to get missing items. Not sure we'll go back after this experience. I can understand 1 item missing but it was like 1/2 the order and then some of the items not even right. read more

This is my favorite Korean dim sum palace period. Service is also outstanding as well as large pot stickers and giant dumplings read more

Nani Restaurant - 03. Shrimp Dumpling with Pea Tip 34. Pan Fried Pot Sticker - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Solid 3 Stars. Went here for Dim Sum with a few of my home girls. A few observations: 1. Restaurant is quite large - Plenty of seating. 2. They serve Dim Sum and entrees for lunch/dinner. 3. WHERE ARE THE AGGRESSIVE LADIES WITH THE CARTS* *No where...That's right - At this establishment you order off menu for Dim Sum. Food was good "A-OK". Tough critic, I know. Here was the spread followed by a brief description and review: 1. Shumai (shrimp dumplings): Yummy in tummy 2. Ha Gao (shrimp & pork dumplings): Mmm good 3. Cha sui bao (bbq pork buns): Another order please 4. Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings on special menu): Eh 5. Sticky rice: Sup girl, can I get yo numba? 6. Taro cakes: Eh 7. Sesame balls: on fleek -Big Papa read more

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Dim sum was delicious and I always come back to this restaurant every time I visited Madison.

Surprisingly good dim sum option in Wisconsin. Instead of carts, you are given a paper menu with pictures and a pen; mark off what you want and make orders throughout the meal. I was a fan of the pork buns, the shrimp dumplings, the egg tarts, the shumai, and the zhongzi (rice wrapped in leaves). However the congee was less impressive. read more

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Pretty decent selection of dim sum. Salty but good. Don't get the short ribs. Didn't seem cooked all the way. Get the Xiao Long Biao (Buns). So yummy. They bring you a whole bottle of vinegar. I first thought that the food was pricey but it's worth it because of the portion size. My friend and I ended up having two full boxes to take with us for two other meals! BBQ was ok. BBQ pork was delicious. Pork belly tasted gamey still and the roasted duck was good but I wish we got more meaty pieces. Overall the service was attentive, but I drank a lot of water due to the amount of saltiness. Also...I thought it was weird I had to ask for rice for our BBQ platter. Were they just going to expect us to eat meat without rice??? Haha. Good for groups and families. Good for a date. read more

Service so bad! Keep asking for forks for many times, but they keep forget! Ps. Especially two young girls were very rude and impatient! 这已经不是第一次了！大家都是中国人！ 何必要这样为难大家！ 我们来做客也是因为在异地有中国食物！如果你们态度那么差，倒不如不要做了！ 特别是那两个年轻女生，态度差，黑面， 在这样下去 迟早所有客人都走了！ read more

I have mixed feelings about Nani. I was more letdown by the ordering service. I don't know if it was a Yelp issue or a restaurant issue. I placed my pickup order on Yelp and received the confirmation when the restaurant received my order. An hour went by and I was vigilantly checking my phone. I called the restaurant and asked about my order and they said it was ready for pickup, though the Yelp order was still behind. I don't know how long it had been sitting there. Overall the food was fine, though all three dishes tasted fairly similar. I'm limited to the vegetable options so I basically just had vegetables wrapped up three different ways. Pan fried vegetable roll: this was my least favorite. The outside was a strong taste of overcooked eggs. Vegetable Dumplings: these were very tasty. Filling was great and the dumplings were light and fluffy Vegetable crepe: this was my favorite. I've had vegetable crepes before but this one was much more flavorful. Puffy egg custard tart: not my jam. The custard was very eggy and I just didn't care much for the flavor. From what I understand about this dish, it was pretty spot on for flavor and this was more of a personal preference. Honeycomb cake: this was delicious and I want an entire cake. So light and fluffy, such a unique flavor, and not teeth-shattering sweet. read more

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I have ordered take out/delivery from Nani twice now. New to Madison, still learning the food scene here. I think the prices are great and the variety on the menu is awesome. I have tried several things: Nani shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork buns, preserved egg and pork congee, salty tofu pudding, xiao long bao, pan fried vegetable/pork/shrimp bun, deep fried pork dumplings. I have really enjoyed them all for different reasons. The salty tofu pudding was very interesting, something I haven't tried elsewhere. All dumplings had good flavor, a few were heavy but that is how dim sum goes. I look forward to branching out further through this menu, Nani has been a wonderful adventure so far! read more

This place has really good dim sum. It compares well with dim sum I've had in NYC, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The dumplings were wrapped nicely and had good flavors. Turnip cakes was pan fried nicely and still had good textures when I got home later. Only issues were the bbq pork turnovers had a little too much dough and not enough pork. Also the amount of sticky rice and filling in lotus leaf was a little too small compared to ones I've had before but still tasted good. read more

First time in thanks to the suggestion from my brother in law. What an adventure! Both the hubs and I enjoyed the atmosphere and friendly waitstaff! I need to get to the AMAZING food, which was like a party in my mouth. We will be back for our next food party! read more

I grew up in Southern California where dim sum was everywhere and a weekend tradition for my family. It's one of my favorite cuisine because you get a variety of food and dim sum is very difficult to replicate at home, plus it's incredibly delicious! When I moved to Madison I was excited to hear Nani served dim sum. I've been here several times and the food is very good, but not consistent. There have been occasions when the translucent rice paper on the dumplings are too thick or the xiao long bao is missing soup. I think for Wisconsin standards Nani is good and will fix my dim sum needs. Come with a group of 4 or larger and share! read more

Not impressed. Stir-fry sticky rice was pretty dry and lacked flavor. The short ribs were delicious, but the meat was so rubbery and impossible to bite through, that it ruined the whole eating experience. Ordered 5 dim sum items and I wasn't blown away by any of them. On top of all this, 5$ for each dish was just not worth it for me. Not coming back and don't recommend read more

Nani Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Had a big craving for dim sum so my boyfriend and I came to check this place out on Memorial Day weekend. We got there around 11:20am and it wasn't too crowded but gradually more and more people showed up. My boyfriend had never had dim sum before so I decided to order all the standard dim sum dishes: sticky rice, pork buns, shrimp dumplings, shu mai, turnip cakes, egg custard tart (and he ordered spare ribs in pepper sauce). I was a little worried it was going to be too much food - the portions were quite generous as well - but we were hungry enough that we managed to eat most of it. As I've grown up eating really authentic dim sum, I was a little apprehensive going into this place but was really pleasantly surprised! My favorite dishes were the sticky rice and pork buns - the sticky rice wrapped in lotus root had a good flavor and they didn't skimp on the meat filling, and the pork buns were perfectly steamed. The service was good, refilling waters often and promptly bringing food and our check out. My only nitpick would be that the price per dish is rather expensive for dim sum but I understand that they probably don't have a lot of competition in the Madison area and can charge whatever they wish. Regardless, we'll definitely be coming back to try some other dim sum classics! read more

Great Dim Sum in Madison. The service is excellent and they deliver! Very handy in these days of Coronavirus. Before the Pandemic Nani was our go-to Chinese restaurant. They have a regular Chinese menu in addition to the Dim Sum Menu. A number of the offerings are direct translations that can cause some Westerners to do a double-take... but don't worry.. it's all good. read more

***** DO NOT ORDER OUT, FOOD WILL NOT BE DONE WITHIN THE HOUR ***** PROS: One of the only places in Madison for Dim Sum, a large menu selection CONS: Long wait-time for food, online system does not work, relatively high costs for dim sum dishes, dirty glassware, flies in the dining area, high salt content on food, not great for ordering out My girlfriend and I visited this place for Dim Sum. The food took a while to come to us, probably because our server was inattentive. Overall, there were not many people in the restaurant (probably for a good reason). There were flies we had to keep swatting away and the food was very salty! So, next time, we decided to try to order out so we do not have to deal with the flies and poor service. We used their online website (https://www.beyondmenu.com/46372/madison/nani-restaurant-madison-53719.aspx). After arriving, I paid for the food and waited for more than 30 minutes for my order, which by the way was only ONE Dim Sum dish. I am sure they just started making the dish upon paying for it (what's the point of the online system???). In total, it has been an entire hour since I put the online order in. Fortunately, I was able to get my refund, but it was a waste of my entire Sunday morning. Bottom line: if you are craving for Dim Sum and don't mind the flies, salty food, bad service, waiting a long time for takeout orders, and dirty dishware, this is a great place for you. read more

SCAMMERS! I placed an order via Yelp/Grubhub and it was confirmed to be "in the works" and then "ready for pickup". When I showed up the restaurant was closed with nobody around. read more

I had the beef brisket with rice noodle rolls, green chive cakes, bbq pork buns, and pot stickers. It turns out, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. They were all excellent though. read more

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Really good all around. Went with one other person and we decided to go with Dim Sum rather than anything off the kitchen menu. I saw our waiter come by a few times, but he was very observant and waited until he saw us put down our menus before asking if we were ready, which made it feel much more relaxed and on our terms. He was quite friendly too. Atmosphere was pretty quiet, all things considered. It wasn't terribly busy, but everything was kept to a low murmur. The cooking area was completely open, which gave off the comforting (but rather quiet and distant) sound of cooking utensils and pans clanking against one another, food sizzling and steaming, and filled the restaurant with great smells, getting us excited and hungry for our meal to come. We got 6 different items off the menu (5 mediums and 1 large) and the portions were great. Everything was hot and looked/tasted like it was made with love. We didn't get a huge variety though - mostly buns, potstickers, and rice - so I can't speak for all the items. We got enough food to stuff ourselves, and it ended up being around 30 bucks total, which kind of blew me away with how cheap it was, especially considering the quantity AND quality. I'll definitely be going back here again and again. Would be a great place to take some friends for a few hours, toss back few beers or some sake, and munch on some pork buns. read more

After waiting over an hour after we placed our order, our waitress comes by and asks if we ordered?? We tell her that we ordered a long time ago. She returns to tell us that she misplaced our order and we have to order again. Half an hour later, I go to check on the status of our order, and they haven't even started making our food yet! So we left to eat somewhere else. This was at 2 pm, so the restaurant was not that busy... read more

Been looking for a good Chinese restaurant in Madison since I moved here in 2005. Carried out from Nani back in March. Awesome food, great service. Now its the only Chinese food we ever order. read more

Terrible service, wait for ever in the front desk. If you are Asian, they just ignore you. It's weird that their Asian waiters dislike Asian:( Went inside twice, the waiter did not serve us at all, just served the white people who came after us both times. It's our first time there and also last time. read more

My fiance is Chinese. We've been to Chinatown in Chicago many times and even to Guangzhou, China, and this Dim Sum at Nani is fantastic. Slightly larger portions than traditionally, I am guessing to meet American's expectations, no complaints there for me. They even have hot oil, bubble tea, and HOT bubble tea. Very fun and satisfying experience. Great service with a smile. I look forward to going back for their hot pot and the rest of the very diverse, authentic Chinese items on the menu. read more

It's not bad for Madison. The first time I was here with my family, we tried speaking Cantonese thinking it was an actual dim sum place, but no one spoke any Cantonese. The har gau skin was too think for our liking, but everything else was decently seasoned. The second time I went with a bunch of friends. I didn't eat the chicken feet, but my friends who did, didn't feel good afterwards. Not sure if it was bad, not thoroughly cooked, or way too oily? read more

Update: Since my last review, the saltiness has definitely improved. I received a response from the owner regarding my first review, but I never expect change despite the response from any restaurant owners. I appreciate that Nani listens to consumer's complaints and recommendations! I also brought my parents here for the first time last month, and they can't wait to go back. read more

Solid Dim Sum option. I think you really need a group of at least 4 to take full advantage of what this place has to offer. We went as a group of 4, stuffed ourselves to the brim, and ended up paying about $12 each. We left sleepily and happily as one should after a positive dim sum experience. Some of our favorite dishes: - Chicken feet - Deep fried taro puff - Fish congee - Pan fried green chive cake Dishes we were not a fan of: - Steamed beef crepe read more

Nani is solidly good traditional Chinese food. Most dishes are not like cheap takeout places. Items are high quality and flavorful.

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