I've been to "DK" at least 100 times over the last 10 years. The restaurant is no-frills and the service is acceptable yet commensurate with the low price you're paying. Depending on which server you get, there may be a bit of a language barrier, but the simple act of pointing at what you want on the menu seems to clear that right up. The yummiest items here are dumplings (obviously) and green onion pancakes. Dumplings are served steamed or pan-fried in quantities of 6 or 10. The pan-fried are good, but I think the steamed dumplings are where they really shine. My favorite are the steamed veggie + chive dumplings or the pan-fried chicken. On your table you will find jars of chopped ginger & jalapeno, as well as soy sauce, oil & vinegar, and the server will bring you a neon orange sauce (tangy & similar to a sweet/sour sauce) upon request. Dump a spoonful of each onto the little nosh plate and mix 'em all up - don't be shy! Then, adjust the ratios to your liking. The green onion pancakes are very thin and crispy, with a little bit of flour-iness to the outside, but the inside is doughy. They are an absolute must with any order and you should dip them in the same sauce you made for the dumplings. You may want to order 1 per person since they are so addicting, though, like a pizza, they are served with 8 slices each. FYI: leftovers of dumplings & green onion pancakes reheat well. If you need a little more variety, the soups are good, though I prefer to fill up on dumplings and pancakes. The wonton soup is loaded with wontons, but the hot and sour soup is a little off. Chicken cream corn chowder is absolutely the best (essentially an egg drop soup but w/ added corn and chicken). Other protein + rice/noodle dishes I've tried here over the years were just okay and are of a similar quality to what you'd find in a mall fast food Chinese restaurant - tasty, just not on par with the dumplings + pancakes. A previous reviewer mentioned that DK has no public restroom, which is not true. The restroom is available to customers and I have used it many times over the years without objection from employees. I would imagine that sign (located outside the restaurant) is targeted at people walking in off the street who are not dining here or placing a to-go order. One final thing to keep in mind: Like Chick-Fil-A, DK is closed on Sundays, which is always the day I want to eat it most. Make a plan to love DK the other 6 days of the week. read more

Dumpling King is located on Westhiemer in a strip center with a tobacco shop, a comic book/toy store and some other nondescript retail shops. Basically if your not looking for it you will never know it is there. I typically do lunch here about once a week, it's cheap and tasty. I come out of Dumpling King completely full and satisfied for less than $10. The menu consists of standard Chinese food and combo lunches, but in the 7 years I've been coming here I have never made it off the first page of the menu, the steamed dumplings. I will start with a cup of wonton soup and order my standard dumplings, C10 Combo Steamed, 5 Chicken and 5 Pork/Shrimp. I have tried some of the other types of dumplings, but I always end with the standard order. The best part about Dumpling King is when they drop off the condiments to spruce up your dumpling sauce, fresh chopped ginger, jalapeno, vinegar, spicy oil and finally soy sauce. Once you lift the lids off the ginger and jalapenos you're hooked. If you need a different type of spice they can bring out a red chili flake sauce. You scoop out a spoonful of ginger and jalapeno onto your plate. Then you poor some spicy oil and a dash of vinegar and finally the soy sauce, stir it all together and taste. Repeat when necessary. Dumpling King went through a remodel, maybe about 3-4 years ago, a fresh coat of paint, replaced the 20yr old carpet with tile and added more light. While I appreciate the the recent update I sometimes miss the old hole in the wall feel it used to have. I'm glad I was able to share my lunch time dumpling experience with some of my fellow Yelpers. This UYE! Lunch Bunch was by far the biggest we've had and it was great. I thought the best part were the n00bs and there first UYE! This is a good way to break them in. read more

The food here is pretty good, but I think a little pricey for what you get and I think the dumplings are a little small. However it's really the only decent choice for dumplings in the area. The atmosphere is below average and the strip shopping center its in is a little dumpy. If you can over to China Town you can find better, but if you just need a quick fix near you it's not a bad choice. read more

Just had a light lunch (snack) here to kill some time with my friend before an appointment. Service was astounding!! The waitress was very courteous, sweet, and accommodating. She even asked if I wanted a REFILL on my ice tea, TWICE!! Asian restaurants usually NEVER offer to refill water/ice tea and you'll have to flag them down like your life depended on it if you wanted one. The food was not bad. We had the green onion pancake and steamed pork purse. read more

I give them 2 stars only because the food is actually good! However, the "waitresses" are HORRIBLE! My co-worker and I went there for lunch a couple of weeks ago and the ladies that worked there were being so rude especially after my coworker not liking her soup. They kept making fun of the situation. I constantly had to ask for a to go box and ended up having to get up to get it. When getting ready to leave, my coworker was writing in the information for the credit sale and the waitress literally snatched it out of her hand and HIT HER A COUPLE OF TIMES ON THE SHOULDER! I couldn't believe it! Never experienced anything like this before. I would never go there again for this but would suggest ordering carry out for their food. But for dining service---FONT DO IT! read more

I've been looking for a good dumpling place since my last favorite one closed. This place has great dumplings. I've had flavorless dumplings and these definitely are not those. I first got the assorted fried to try a little of everything. N then I ordered the steamed pork to go for my kids n they loved them. They are dumpling fiends just like me. The Beijing shrimp was great too just wish the were fried without the skin on. Cheese puffs were good. Fried rice n general beef were great. The lady that waits the tables is extremely nice. Not a fancy joint but it was clean. Also had to park in the back of the building because front parking was scarce. read more

I've probably been coming to Dumpling King for 20 years now. Based on that alone, this restaurant stands for one thing many others do not: INTEGRITY. Integrity to its staff (which I still remember from when I was a little boy), and integrity to its food. This is the main reason this hole in the wall restaurant has stood the test of time in an ever changing food city like Houston, where one restaurant is just waiting in line to be replaced by the next. Dumpling King is a pretty hard restaurant to spot, and can be easily dismissed as just another small Chinese restaurant. Those who do however, are badly mistaken and are actually missing out on a great deal, and possibly the best dumplings in town. The restaurant itself is in a strip along the very busy Westheimer. Upon entering, the restaurant doesn't boast flashy designs or decorations. It is a very humble, yet cozy place with very simple dining sets. Plenty of seating though with tables that can be made to accommodate parties or anywhere from 2 to 10+. The staff is very friendly, and like I said, I remember the owners and some of the other staff from when I was maybe 5 years old. Everyone is great and very helpful. Of course after coming for so many years, I already know exactly what to get, but I do hear the waiters giving great suggestions to new customers. The food is not only a great value because of price, but because of how wonderful it really is. I recommend the dumplings, of course..I mean the name of the restaurant is "Dumpling King", and that name could not be any more accurate. In my opinion, hands down the best dumplings in Houston. Anything from the veggie, to the chicken and chive, to the pork and shrimp..you CAN NOT go wrong. The restaurant has complimentary sauces and condiments you can mix. There is a pepper sauce(?) packed with tiny minced green peppers, along with a ginger one that packs a ton of flavor. I mix the two together with soy sauce, vinegar, and oil to create a really tasty dipping sauce for the dumplings (and anything else you might want to dip). Another one of my favorites that I really recommend is the fried shrimp. I'm sorry, I forgot what exactly it's called (and there is another fried shrimp dish), but the waiters will pretty much automatically know you're asking for the shrimp I'm talking about. It is fried and seasoned perfectly. What makes it so great is the little bit of sugar they put to break apart the huge kick of spice and flavor. Well, I am giving Dumpling King 5/5 stars. The restaurant is simple yet homey, the staff is excellent, the value of the food can't be beaten, and the food itself is amazing. I don't know how long this restaurant has actually been open, but I'm expecting to keep coming for years to come. In fact, just writing this review is making me wanna go right now. read more

This is the Joffery Baratheon of dumpling kings. I'd give this zero stars if I could. Ordered wonton soup and assorted dumplings, my girlfriend had scallion pancakes and steamed "pork purses" which I'm assuming we're supposed to be soup dumplings. The wonton soups were more wonton wrapper or dough than soup. There's is a penny sized meatball some where in there and they throw in some cabbage? The pan fried assorted dumplings were, I'm at least 80% sure we're just reheated dumplings, terrible at its best. The texture was slimy, it had small segments of rice vermicelli (?) And a ton of ginger. The scallion pancakes were like an African Savannah. Dry, course and sometimes it will bless you with some green. The soup dumplings contained no soup. Overall I wouldn't wish this meal on my worst enemy. Save yourself. Lucky for you not all men must dine here read more

Today on this day, on this very very day, the dumplings were delicious!!! Like delish!!! You know? From pork to beef to chicken, although the pan fried beef was very, very oily....besides that....service was pretty spectacular today, although, we were the only table for almost 20 minutes lol. This rating goes down mainly for service and dumplings today....same people I see, except that old typical asian kind of woman I speak of...Restrooms, in my opinion, should use a pump soap instead of a bar...restaurant could be a little cleaner...other than that, everything went over pretty smoothly. $40 for three eggrolls, green onion pie, wonton soup for three, 10 pan fried pork dumplings, 10 pan fried beef dumplings, 10 steamed pork dumplings, 10 steamed beef dumplings, 10 steamed chicken dumplings, 10 steamed shrimp and pork dumplings, and 1 iced tea along with 2 waters....wow....that's not too bad...green onion pie...still okay....wontons..big, but not much on meat, egg rolls...typical still...big, decent, and greasy.... read more

Atrocious service, low end dining room, but decent dumplings. For the price it's not worth the trouble. In the end we were still hungry but the experience was so bad that we left instead of ordering more. Amazingly the dumplings don't come with a sauce. I asked and got a dumbfounded look. Sauce??? I asked for a small bowl and tried to build my own sauce using things on the table: soy sauce, oil, hot chile oil, vinegar, jar of minced ginger, jar of minced jalapenos, duck sauce. By the time I ate my last dumpling I felt I'd created a decent dumpling sauce, but my girlfriend's sauce was much better. I would much prefer to get a good house sauce with the food. I ordered the "green onion pancake" that many other reviewers recommended. It is basically a tortilla of fried dough with a minuscule amount of green onions hidden inside. The taste was very bland and dry. Again no sauce with it, but I dipped my own sauce and managed to consume it. I don't recommend it. My other friend ordered the "fried wonton stuffed with crab and cheese". It was just fried dough with absolutely nothing inside! She complained and the manager tried to convince her this was normal. We pointed to the menu where it clearly describes 2 separate items: fried wontons, and fried stuffed wontons. Obviously we received the wrong item. The replacement batch of "stuffed" wontons arrived 5 mins later. We used a knife to cut one open in front of the waiter and manager - absolutely nothing inside. Again the manager tried to convince us this is normal, that they don't stuff as much as other restaurants. Such an explanation might make sense if there was a small amount of stuffing, but it was clear to everyone that there was nothing but dough inside! My friend refused to flinch and rejected the order. The manager was perplexed and tried several times to persuade her to eat them, but eventually gave up and took the food back. She was clearly embarrassed about the ruse and buzzed by our table a half dozen times with a fake smile on her face rambling about various things that didn't make sense, seemingly to try to appease us. It was very awkward and uncomfortable. read more

We've eaten here for the past decade or so and this place is very much a dive and the dumplings are some of my favorite from around the world, including Din Tai Fung. Totally authentic. The ginger sauce with the pan fried pork dumplings never disappoint. I love getting excellent food for a cheap price. read more

I love their vegetable dumplings! The service wasn't all that shabby... I will say that I was disappointed when I arrived at 9:15 tonight and they weren't making any pan fried dumplings or onion pancakes... I guess they were closing the kitchen down. I also saw them refuse people at 9:30 and tell them to go orders are all they agree taking. I thought they were open until 10! Oh well... I am kind if addicted so as long as I got my dumplings all is well.;) read more

Smelly like an old cigarette and the rice is dry and stale. The dumplings are ok but it's not worth it if you have to shower after you leave. Never going back. read more

loves it. the wonton is perfectly cooked, "al dente". dumplings taste hot, juicy, and just full of goody yumminess. read more

This is a tiny restaurant in a strip center. The dumplings were not the absolute best I've ever had, but they worked in a pinch. The service was a little distracted. Our tea was over-steeped. Our order was not correct, but we ate it anyway. The prices aren't bad, but I'm not sure there's a reason for me to return. read more

We used to come here every week. Nowadays its simply too far from the village. However, we miss the chicken and chives dumplings and the green onion pancakes. Older couple runs and cooks here. Please be patient as they sometimes only have one other waitress but the food is cheap and delicious. read more

Shrimp and pork dumpling is my fav. Lunch specials are goos as well. I am a regular here.

I'll give it 2.5 Star. The place, as other reviewers said, is not looking decent and the plates/cups/chopsticks etc are not replenished nor in fair quality, compared to other Chinese restaurants in Houston. But it's okay if you just want to grab something to eat or to go. Green onion pancake: crispy style, i like it, but hard to find any green onion in it as supposed to be Egg Drop soup: i'm surprised egg drop soup can be that watery Fried dumpling vs. steamed buns: I'd recommend steamed buns over fried dumpling, especially the buns with crab meat. Amercian express is not accepted. read more

Dumpling sauce is weird....was like just soy sauce....also the smell from the cigar store next door was pretty nasty.....won't be going back.... read more

The veggie dumplings are the best in town. None of that weird egg crap - just chopped veg. I could eat that forever and be content. The servers are very polite and very attentive. The prices are amazing and just wow me every time. Their food also wows me, but that goes without saying. Their chicken dumplings are good too, but their veggie dumplings are to die for. They also have an amazing tofu entree selection. Very yummy. read more

Been going here since I was a little boy, this past week marked the very last time I will ever in my life return to this place... To make it short and sweet w/out writing a book, we had a family of 6 , my 80 year old father in law asked for a container to take his wife home some leftover dumplings, he started to put a small amount of ginger sauce on top of the dumping's and the owner ran over shouted at him and the top of her lungs and told him to put down the jar that he could not have any... I could not believe how hateful and rude she was and the lady behind the counter that had been waiting on us started yelling and screaming like some wild woman pointing her fingers at me... These two woman were absolute criminals in the way they acted and treated customers... Anyone that would eat at this place is doing a dis service to his/her community and small business's that are grateful for your business... PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS AWFUL PLACE AND TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWERE... read more

Had the steamed assorted dumblings plate, the large portion for 7 bucks. The place is kinda a dump in a dumpy strip center, but the food was good and cheap. I couldn't eat it all at one sitting. Will be back to try something different. read more

This place is in a strip center and is very unassuming. It is a no fuss kind of place with delicious homemade dumplings. We ordered a mixture of steamed and pan fried dumplings and the green onion pancake. Everything was hot, fresh and tasty. They put soy sauce, vinegars, and hot sauces all on the table so that you can make your own dumpling sauce concoction. We'll definitely be back! read more

Looking at the menu price, you feel like you are back to 90s when dollar actually bought you something. Good friendly service and portions are HUGE! (order a lunch special and you will know what I mean). For the price and taste wise, you can't beat this place for sure. read more

The dumplings were good but this place is so dirty. The steamed dumplings came out on a steaming tray lined with a piece of wet cloth. It's usually steamed on a bed of lettuce or piece of cabbage. I thought it was unsanitary. The restaurant is really small and depressing looking. I won't be coming back. read more

Uuggh very disappointing with the food menu and selection... The name of the restaurant is very misleading. It's practically a Chinese restaurant not a dumpling place at all. I tried better restaurants out there. I tried the chicken and the beef dumplings, steamed! They were horrible! The service is really good though that's why I gave one star! While I was eating there I can hear people yelling from the kitchen! The only nice thing was the waitress that's all. They kept apologizing to me read more

12-6-2014 Went here for lunch. We had the 10 Crab, 10 Shrimp and 10 Pork Dumplings. We also shared a special fried rice and Wonton Soup. We just loved the Dumplings they wore great. The special rice was just OK nothing really to brag about. This is just a good Dumpling place in my opinion. Maybe I will try another dish the next time I go. But will be back for some Dumplings. This is not a fancy spot or a place to go on a date. Just good Dumplings. Wait staff was good. I had no problems with anything here. Nothing was over priced. The three of us ate for 35.00. Including drinks. So in my book that is a deal. If in the area will go back. Rest rooms wore clean. read more

I was craving some dumplings and pancakes but didn't feel like driving all the way to china town so I stopped by dumping king. I'm honestly surprised to see the rave reviews of their pancakes as mine were chewier/gummier than I'm accustomed to. It was just all around nothing special. Next time I'll make the drive. read more

Great lunch specials with soup, egg roll, rice, and entree. Friendly staff, very helpful. Tasty food. Nothing fancy in the dining room, but sometimes simple is better. read more

Contrary to what the restaurant's name might suggest, the menu is not mostly varieties of dumplings; it's actually a "regular" Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were all friendly and quick. A lady who appeared to be the manager was behind the cash register the whole time, issuing orders and reminders to the waitresses. It didn't bother me much, but I could see some people getting annoyed by this. Food was good. I originally stopped by to try dumplings, but seeing the menu changed my mind. The portions were just right - enough to fill me for lunch. I will likely come back to try other food/dumplings. read more

I have been coming here for 26 years and have not found any dumplings better in the Houston area. I have never strayed from the staples of chicken and chive steamed dumplings and pan fried pork dumplings with a side of a green onion pancake. This place is to die for! read more

Kind of spartan interior, but the food is good. It's a nice change from the masses of Hunan style Chinese, Pho/Sandwhich Vietnamese, or Thai around Houston. Definitely for the boiled, not fried dumplings. I think all the table sauces are hand made and delicious. read more

Dumplings are good; Lunch menu is standard selection and food is okay. Will not substitute egg roll!

I grew up eating at this restaurant. 25 years later and this is still one of my favorite places to eat in Houston. Don't let the hole in the wall ambiance fool you. The dumplings and the side condiments for making your own dipping sauce speaks for themselves. I highly recommend the steamed pork dumplings! read more

Simply the best dumplings on both sides of the Mississippi. You're a fool if you don't eat here. I have been coming here for twenty years. I'm convinced when I introduced this place to my wife she left the restaurant loving me just a little bit more. We took our first born here when he was only nine days old because we wanted him to know, just know. We just finished off 50 dumplings helped by my oldest, now 11, his little sister, and my wife, who still loves me thanks in part to Dumpling King. read more

The dumplings here are horrible!!! I went to Boaz downtown in the tunnel and they were so much better than this place. The dough was extremely thick and I have never smelled a dumpling this bad. I won't even mention the cleanliness (or the lackthereof) at this place. To anyone wanting dumplings, I encourage you to try somewhere else. read more

LOVE THIS PLACE! One of the ladies showed us how to make dumpling sauce.... She was so amazing and had the best hospitality. LOVE YOU! We will be back. read more

Hands down, this is the best dumpling place in the city, and I've tried a bunch of them. It's not an uppity, imposing place. Just an average looking, strip center Chinese restaurant, but the dumplings will blow you away. The fried pork ones are to die for!! They have an impressive number of types of dumplings and a full, non-dumpling menu. Everything is sooooo good. 10 big dumplings for $6!!! How is that possible!?! The kitchen can be beyond slow, but with food this good, it's an irritation I'm willing to suffer. read more

I was in the area yesterday and decided to stop by this place. Had the pan fried pork dumplings, the sesame chicken meal, and an order of egg drop soup to go. It was all very good and came out fairly quickly. Dumplings were fried just the way I like them, crispy outside but still soft on the inside. Sesame chicken was exactly what you expect it to be but no complaints here on that. Egg drop soup was the perfect thing to finish off that meal. All of this and at some great prices. Would love to come back. read more

This place taste absolutely wonderful... it is the best hole in the wall place you will find.... i wish they would expand.. cheap and delicious plus the people that own it are just so darn cute #1 place to go especially if you are on a budget... have you tried to make dumplings from scratch?! time consuming...this place is a major steal :) read more