A $70 snack makes me feel like I really was in downtown Shanghai. Don't get me wrong. The food's pretty good but it's essentially 3 versions of the same dough covered mystery meat Not worth the price point read more

Tom yum XLB was incredible never tasted something like that. Everything was very tasty read more

Dumpling Time - Berkeley - Chinese Near Me - Berkeley, California

I try and fall on the side of generosity when doing Yelp reviews because I know how difficult the restaurant industry can be. And everyone is trying their best. But I really can't overstate how disappointing the food and service were here. Another review said that the XLBs basically tasted on par with frozen ones you can get at the store and I honestly thought, ok they gotta be exaggerating. But unfortunately not. :( It really wasn't very good at all. The tom yum dumplings were the saving grace of the meal, but even those the wrapper wasn't that great, even thought the filling was very nice. In terms of service, they 100% prioritize takeout orders. Which is their prerogative. But for it to take 30-40 minutes for a single dumpling order to make it to our table while we saw no less than 15 take out orders get bagged and sent out the door during this time. We were sitting right by the kitchen order pickup and packing area so we just saw an onslaught of meals coming out, almost none of them for dine in customers. So I guess if you want to order take out, this is a good spot. They hustle through those orders. But very weird to be sitting with no food and all the tables around us also waiting on food for a food while. They also served the soup dumplings in these little tins, and the wrapper would get stuck to them and split while trying to get them out. I figure they put them in these tins to make it easy to quickly pack them up for takeout orders, but to me it makes no sense to serve them like this for dining in. Again, it makes it seem like they're prioritizing take out over dine in. read more

Dumpling Time - Berkeley - XLB - Chinese Near Me - Berkeley, California

STOP DO NOT EAT HERE. Especially if you are a vegetarian. Had the Vegan Fried Rice, now I have sharp pains in my abdomen. The chef will not add tofu to this dish, even thought they offer to add chicken. Not vegetarian friendly. And the fried rice was tasteless, boring, not worth it. read more

Our meal was very good. Staff helpful and friendly. Can't really knock the wait time, which was long, as that is really more of a compliment. The one downside to our experience was how the tables by the entrance were getting all the gusts of cold air every time the door opened. read more

My girlfriend and I came here excited to try the newly opened Dumpling Time on a Sunday afternoon (~4pm) and unfortunately it turned out to be such a sad experience... One of the first things I noticed upon arriving at the restaurant were the extremely disorganized staff workers. None of them bothered to seat us when there were clearly open tables. One of the workers even directly looked at us waiting outside but turned their head away without saying anything. For context, there was no wait in line. But this wasn't the main issue. When we were finally seated, it took them an extensive amount of time for them to take our order considering we were actively trying to make eye contact. Note that this restaurant is relatively small inside which should make it easier for servers to address their limited amount of customers. I thought it was also strange to see multiple servers prepping new tables despite having customers trying to order. As a reminder, the restaurant was not even that busy as we came in around 4pm. But this still wasn't the main issue. A lady finally came to take our order. She suddenly glared at my girlfriends face to condescendingly ask, "Are you okay??" Flustered, my girlfriend and I were speechless as her tone suggested that my girlfriend committed a crime. To her audacity, the waitress then rhetorically repeated with her raised voice, "Are you okay?? You wait too long?!?!" as if she was trying to sarcastically imply "Oh no, poor you!" We were utterly shocked. We did not even say anything to her to make her speak to us like that. Her statement and tone was something unimaginable for a server to say to a customer, and it's something that I have not experienced at any restaurant. The food was decent but we had a difficult time enjoying it as we were still in disbelief about what the waitress had said. While we did not get her name, this waitress looked to be an asian woman with a ponytail and had a blonde lower half. She was also using a blue mask and a pink scrunchie hair tie at the time. We will not be coming back because of the experience she negatively inflicted upon us and I hope that management can be more selective in hiring their workers. read more

Terrific spot for a casual meal. Nice atmosphere and attentive staff. Great for outdoor dining. We tried a variety of visually beautiful dishes and most were average and tailored towards the western palate: cucumber salad (sweet & sour flavor profile lacking in depth), shrimp toast (too dry, not enough shrimp to toast ratio, paired with a non traditional creamy sauce), seafood gyoza (non traditional but decent), chili pork dumplings (pretty good), XLB (filling lacked depth of flavor), bao dessert trio (delicious). Of note: a great homemade chili sauce can sometimes save a meal, but their chili sauce was more one dimensional and not particularly aromatic - too bad. Worth a try, but don't expect elevated flavors and authenticity as this is Asian fusion cuisine. Ps This was an opening day review, so I hope for better when I return. read more

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Good food. We had delivery many times and food is excellent. At location also a fun experience.

Maine lobster siu mai sounded so good but it was a joke! Imitation lobster ball (like those you can it for $6.99/pound for hot pot) then wrapped in siu mai skin and super salty and poured oil over, that's it! Over $20 for 4 pieces after tax and tips. No thanks, I don't even like imitation meat. Lamb dumplings sounded and looked good. First, each one of them are with broken skin. Man, they must have mistakenly dumped too much five spice powder into the ground lamb, all I taste is mouthful of five spice powder that totally clash with the lamb. Dumpling Time, why do you feed us these things? You think we don't know a thing about Chinese food? read more

Xlb comes out in little aluminum tins and that's all you need to know. For those not in the know--the whole point of xlb is that the wrapper must hold soup. Having the support of the tins is admitting defeat before you even make it to the battle. If the wrapper doesn't hold soup but you try to pretend it does, the soup absorbs into the wrapper, so there's still no soup in the tins & you get a soggy wrapper to scrape off the aluminum. Yum... I assume we weren't asked how the food was because the Asian waitstaff knows this ain't it. read more

I'm a fan of the location in SF so I might be biased in my review but they've only been open a short while at this spot and they seem to be doing a great job. They have a slightly narrower selection of food but everything we had tasted great and came to us fast! I appreciate how they have an order checklist they leave on your table so they're sure you've gotten everything as food comes out in spurts as most of what we ordered was small plates. On this visit it was a Saturday afternoon, and we waited maybe 35 min to be seated. We took first available seats inside as we were hungry but the patio looks nice as well. We ordered the shrimp toast, XLB, Crispy Tofu, and Lamb dumplings. All tasted excellent! I would recommend sharing the shrimp toast as its super heavy. I had more than my share of it because it was so good and it sat like rock in my stomach and made me tired for the rest of the afternoon. read more

We ordered many dumplings, siu mais, and noodles. We liked the siu mais, but other foods were really mediocre. The price is more for its location, not the taste. The noodles were especially bad that even kids wouldnt eat it. They were tasteless so we added some soy sauce. It was understaffed when we went, but staff was friendly and nice. Overall, the location and atmosphere of the resto is good, but i wouldnt come here for the food. The serving size is also not too big so it will take a number of orders for you to feel full! read more

On a rainy day, this spot is a must-have!!, this was my 1st time trying waited a little for a table for a party of 3, but it was worth it. Every item I ate was amazing, and I would totally recommend it. read more

Disappointed at the offerings and authenticity. Ginger and vinegar always goes with XLB, and it's not offered. Limpy pickled cumber? It should be fresh cucumber salad to go with dumplings! And green beans with ends not cut off and picked 2 weeks too late and not tender at all. Not on par with Dumpling Hour in WC. read more

The place is nice and clean, staff are very friendly. However, they do use MSG, which makes me feel sleepy and dizzy for three hours afterwards. read more

We came to 4th street to do some shopping, but I was starving and dumplings sounded amazing. So we came in a sat down before reviewing the menu. Sadly the menu was very limited and the food is overpriced (most likely do to the location). The food was good, but nothing spectacular. The staff was really friendly, but we'll probably try another spot next time read more

I began with the spring rolls and edamame. Both were not good. The edamame was extremely too salty and other than the salt, had no flavor! The Spring rolls are obviously frozen and just thrown in a deep fryer! It's simply mush inside and no real flavor! I was hopeful, but suddenly, disappointed! read more

The food is amazing here and the service top notch. Even found parking close by. Will be back soon!

Yummmmm. All dishes were fresh and delish. Enjoyed the green beans, veggie fried rice, shrimp toast and a really good cold sparkling sake. Can't wait to go back. read more

Not only was the food just absolutely garbage but the service and attitudes of the workers was just terrible. I will definitely not be coming back to this place. EVER. GARBAGE. BASURA. TRASH. (both @ the workers and food) read more

Recently added to the Dumpling Time locations! Great location for walking around after dinner or lunch! Fantastic food with lots of options! Friendly staff with great service! I will be back soon and often! read more

Disappointing - mainly due to the lack of dumplings that were OK for a vegetarian. Of the savory dumplings, there was only ONE of the 13 dumpling/Bao options was vegetarian. Green beans were very stringy to the point of feeling like some "rope" to swallow at the end of trying to eat them, though flavor was good - I think they just used older beans vs. tender young ones. Crunchy tofu OK and the wood ear salad was excellent. Service was friendly and active but not rushed. The server knew her saki and was very happy to give advice. read more

This picture of a seared bao? 9 DOLLARS like wtf it's good but not that good omg not worth it it's not worth the cost read more

Dumpling Time - Berkeley - Seared pork bun - Chinese Near Me - Berkeley, California

Their bao is super good i've never had the dumplings, but I always see them, and they look amazing their dessert baos are super good as well and kinda have a custard feeling. They're super nice in there and I would definitely recommend. read more

I am still recovering from going into a simple, uber casual, not well decorated dumpling restaurant to have run up a check for $82 for my lunch for one person. I understood it is a happening SF Bay Area mini-chain, and the visuals of the food were appealing-it just didn't taste very good and it is expensive. With one seaweed salad and two orders of dumplings I found myself in the stratsophere because I ordered two glasses of wine. BTW the wine was served in footless tumblers and cost $15 a glass. (I'm used to that pricing in a real restaurant and with nice stemware...) Makes me long for Lucky Dim Sum on Clement which I hope to re-visit soon. Cannot recommend this place due to prices, $4 back of house service charge, spotty service, and a failed effort to appear upscale casual to justify their prices. And there was definitely no caring presence, which helped me feel I was indeed dining at a chain. I did have a very nice $30 lunch, however. read more

One of the best Shanghai dumplings in the east bay. They way they cook green beans is perfection as well.

Great food, great service with a smile, great location. Though parking is always a problem. I recommend the place highly.

Had a Sunday lunch with the fam around 1. Wait around 20' since we had party of 12. Food arrived quickly and delish. Our lady server was attentive and friendly. We have 4 picky kids but she was patient to please all of them. The place is a bit small inside so all the tables very closed to each other. We had a good time in general. Will be back read more

The lamb dumplings are my favorite, but everything I have had here is really good! Tea is served loose leaf in a pot, so you can share. Not too quiet, not too loud. read more

Food was not a big deal as it looks in pictures. Service was not good at the day I placed my order. The order was missing items I was charged for. read more

The service was good and didn't have to wait too long to get seated. The food was ok but too pricy for what you get.

I don't get these so so reviews. Love this place! Came when they first opened and was excited to have a tasty dumpling spot nearby. Just returned last weekend and its still great. Clean, innovative, and really good. Also lots of seating and kid friendly. Nothing like it that I know of in Berkeley. read more

Came here to eat on Saturday around 12:30. The service wasn't good at all. they were nice but not proactive. We were seated at a small table and ordered a lot of food. We even stacked our empty plates hoping someone would come buss it. They never checked up on our table. and bussed it really late so we were struggling to eat being that we did have our daughter with us and a full table! Stay away from the southeast curry noodles. literally had zero flavor. we enjoyed gyoza and the soup dumplings though. The hispanic server who checked up on us and gave us our check wasn't even the one who was originally serving us. I hated to ask her to take the noodles off our check because she was kind enough to be the only one to check in on us and i didn't want to bring her my disappointment. she was great though, i wish she originally served us. read more

Dumplings are delicious, and service is friendly and fast! The pork buns are amazing! Get there when it opens to avoid a wait.

The worst! I received the wrong order after waiting on the patio for close to an hour and a half. T15 minutes from closing a server had to enter my order in twice. I paid $42 for 4 dumplings and rice. I live one block away and have been waiting to eat there since the opening so could allow them to work out the wrinkles. I will never go back. And the dumplings sucked. read more

Showed up here with a party of five of which a six year old with LOTS of energy was a part. It was drizzly rain. We had to wait about an hour. Hey wadya gonna do it was raining, no outside seating, we were a large party trying to fit into a small place. So... that was just padding to the review. Now let's talk food, service. Both: awesome! Lots of dumplings (duh) and gyoza and green beans and noooooooodles (as the six year old called them). So good and worth the wet wait. read more

Got the Beijing noodles, XLB, and chili pork dumplings. Taste for all were surprisingly pretty bland. Service was just ok. QR menu but in person ordering was confusing. Prices kind of high considering the competition. read more

Every single time I try to order from here through one of the apps, it takes them so long that the delivery time just keeps readjusting or the order gets canceled. And then, one time, several of their items were not available on DoorDash so I called the store and they said they ran out (eyeroll). The dumplings are fine, but I just discovered Dumpling Kitchen and theirs are much better and they have more menu items and delivery was quick. read more

We saw Dumpling Time at Berkeley as a hot and new restaurant in yelp and decided to try it. They have a nice outdoor seating so we went there on Sunday. The servers were all very nice and courteous. The food was only so so and the portions were on the small size. We ordered tofu, vegetable dumping and Tom Yum dumpling. The tofu was good but the dumplings were only so so. We were expecting better taste for a restaurant with "dumpling" on its name. They added 4% living wages and then the sale tax. I don't think we plan to go back. read more

To be fair, the staff was nice and accommodating. That's about all I can say. if you've never been to an Asian country or even DTF 鼎泰丰 locally, then you might be enthused by their attempt at XLB 小笼包. Otherwise you might be disappointed. The "dumplings" were stiff and stuck to cupcake molds. Most other dishes were under seasoned and under spiced. But again, the staff are nice peeps so if you're looking for good conversation with your server, this might be the spot. read more