The workers were great, the food came out Good and hot Shoutout to my waitress Mary!! read more

Went to Ugly Dumpling for the first time recently. Some good things, some bad. Front of the house staff was very friendly and immediately greeted us and got us to our table. The restaurant was maybe half full, by no means busy. We waited maybe 20 minutes before anyone came to our table to even offer water. Eventually the server sidled over with excuses and very very low energy. I really did not appreciate the attitude. I know he works at a chain restaurant which has to be very unfulfilling but I'm just looking for the minimum hospitality. He did get the orders correct though, so that is more important. Dumplings were pretty decent surprisingly. I wish there was any indication about which dumpling was which as we got the sampler but overall good. The truffle one and crab one were slightly unpleasant. I don't need truffle in dim sum. Also ordered the chicken and broccoli which was inedible! The chicken tasted old; musty. Sauce and broccoli were flavorless and also kind of old tasting. I don't love the idea of watching the workers make the dumplings in the "dumpling lab." It feels really dehumanizing for some reason. It's not a Michelin star restaurant so we really don't need that. Also observed numerous instances of food runners trying to bring food to the wrong table. This place has some potential but a lot of issues to work out. Also don't love observing the restaurant respond to bad reviews with ChatGPT canned responses. Not a good look. read more

Ugly Dumpling - Chinese Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

My daughter told me Ugly Dumpling was the Din Tai Fung in Connecticut. I knew Din Tai Fung very well as I grow up in an apartment that's 5 min walk from the original one in Taipei. We tried Ugly Dumpling today and I have to say I agree with my daughter. Salt & Pepper Popcorn Chicken tasted just like what we had in Taiwan. I ordered Pork Chop Fried Rice and it was the Din Tai Fung style fried rice. Pork soup dumping was very good. I did not think about taking pictures before we finished everything we ordered. I'd give it a 5 star based on the foods alone. I think the Din Tai Fung in NYC is way too expensive and not nearly as good as the original one in Taipei. I'd recommend my friends to try Ugly Dumpling instead. I saw some bad comments on Yelp and I suspect those are from folks who are more used to heavily seasoned American Chinese dishes. (BTW, I don't consider American Chinese food such as General Tsao Chicken as Chinese food. Those are just chicken nuggets with sweet and hot sauce. Ugly Dumpling has Kong Pan Chicken instead of General Tsao on menu, which is a good sign. ) Soup dumplings are designed to go with the sauces. The standard way of eating soup dumplings is adding vinegar in soy sauce in a small plate, dip the dumpling into the plate before putting it in a spoon, add some ginger, then enjoy the it. You can control the sauces you use to enhance the flavor. read more

Gabrielle R. was an excellent server! She was super sweet, kind and made sure my mom and I had everything we needed during our lunch. The food was excellent just like the last time I came to Ugly Dumpling. It's a very calm and spacious environment and we will be back soon! read more

This is the new restaurant that moved into the old TGI Friday's. Right away, I noticed that the interior was clean and contemporary. They had an open kitchen so people could watch the dumplings get made, but there was no open kitchen for wok-based dishes. I got takeout, but the person working the front desk was kind and dutiful. I started out with their namesake special: the Ugly Dumpling Sampler. This was the best part of the meal; all the dumplings ranged from good to great. I especially liked the pork & crab and the pork, shrimp & spinach dumplings. This I would get again. The kung pao chicken was mostly average. The meat itself was very fresh and tender and the dish had a nice spicy kick, but the sauce flavor was mediocre and they were stingy on the peanuts. Also, the portion was small for the price. Finally, the veggie egg fried rice was the worst part of the meal. It tasted overly salty and kinda funky. Also, there were barely any vegetables; there were some onions and scallions and a small amount of spinach. Very underwhelming. All in all, it's a Chinese chain restaurant with an emphasis on dumplings. It's okay, but you can easily get more enjoyable food for less money at a local mom and pop takeout spot...and those types of places aren't exactly scarce. read more

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I went to the location in NJ and thought that this would be comparable but this one was way more americanized by the slightly different menu. All the food wasn't fresh and you could tell by how fast the food was coming out. Our xiao long bao soup was luke warm, String beans didnt have enough garlic, and the chicken spicy wontons had some small bones in it. The only decent thing was the soup from the braised beef noodle soup, however the beef tendon was hard and chewy. read more

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23 April 2026 Had lunch here recently, midweek. Really loud music in the middle of the day in a nearly empty restaurant. The server claimed it could not be turned down because of "corporate regulations." (Note to corporation: loud music + empty restaurant does not equal inviting atmosphere.) Fried chicken dumplings ($3.50) were middling. They were large, the taste was not particularly good, and the wrappers for the dumplings tasted like they had sugar in them. Overly sweet. The shredded beef stir fried noodles ($12.00) were insipid and, oddly, barley warm. The noodles were kind of warm. The added vegetable -- something leafy green -- was actually cold. I am not sure how a restaurant serves a lukewarm stir-fry. This is my second time trying this restaurant; I won't go back. As another reviewer (T and AJ) said, "If you like average food, you'll love this place." read more

If you like eating an a oversized cafeteria with a giant boarded up hole in one wall, while people in surgical scrubs (and face masks that ~don't~ cover their noses) make dumplings behind a giant window, then this might appeal to you (but NOT to me) I would like to rate the "fried rice", but despite having it on the menu, they don't MAKE fried rice. They make steamed WHITE rice, with 1/2 of an egg, a minuscule amount of scallions, NO peas, NO carrots, NO flavor and NO FRYING?!?! That's just.... "rice". Supposedly, the real attraction is the dumplings. Emphasis on Dump. They were bland and mushy. NOT coming back. read more

Sorry , I did not photograph the excellent soup dumplings. We got takeout but was informed that the resturant was hopping at 8pm on a Monday. read more

Ugly Dumpling - Chicken fried rice with chicken broccoli, not pictured strung beans with garlic sauce - Chinese Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

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This was our first time and most likely our last.The service was great. Connor was definitely the highlight of the evening. His recommendation on the Thai tea was perfect! The food was mediocre. All of the dumplings tasted the same and the noodles were very salty. There are other places nearby with more flavorful dumplings and noodles. read more

Lychee martini sweet and smooth. 6 light Rangoon in appetizer, should be 8 due to small size. Kung Pao chicken is a large chopped portion of chicken, peppers, tomato, zucchini, onions, peanuts. No hot pepper identifier on menu but has a pepper spice that's medium to hot. Generous side portion added- 1-1/2 cup bowl white rice. 2nd meal: green tea noodles, scallions in a brown peanut sauce and added sliced, boiled chicken breast pieces. Mild tangy spice bite. Noodles have a whole wheat texture but taste mild and not like a green tea beverage. Dining partner served way ahead of my dish. Kind server later identified policy is to serve dishes when ready. Service quick for beverages and ordering. Menus à la cate style. Happy hour til 6pm. Located in old TGIF building. Abundant parking. Bar available. read more

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What a disaster! I ordered dinner (two noodle dished and two dumplings) for pickup within 30 minutes. Spouse arrived in about 30 minutes. Using the "track order" link in my text it showed that my order was ready for pickup. Spouse waited for 30 minutes and spoke with staff twice who told him they'd check in the food but never gave him an update. We had hungry children at home so spouse left, picked up McDonald's for kids, dropped it off at home and returned to restaurant. He inquired again about our order and manager gave him the order. Luckily he checked the bag and there were no main dishes, just the two sides. Manager told him they ran out of our food and couldn't provide a refund. Said we needed to request a refund through the website. (Website does not offer that feature -- just instructs you to call the restaurant. One fellow customer in the restaurant called his wife and told her to request the refund. She called the restaurant WHILE HER SPOUSE was there and they hung up on her!) Instead they gave us two additional side dishes. So 1.5 hour wait for so-so appetizers. Was the food good? I guess so. Worth the wait and hassle and terrible customer service? Absolutely not. read more

Fairly long wait for a table and service for a Tuesday evening, but the service itself was very good. Friendly courteous attention. Didn't get to try the orange chicken as they were out but the soup dumplings were very good. The broccoli with garlic was great as well. Rangoons and pork buns were not a favorite at our table. Overall, nice ambience and a good dinner especially when ordering what they are known for. Service times will likely improve as they work out the kinks. read more

I loved everything about the Ugly Dumpling! I HIGHLY recommend it! From the moment I walked in I just knew I would have a great experience. The hostess was so welcoming and warm. Then the service by Raul, my waiter, was superb. It's as if he could read what I was in the mood to eat :). The pork and crab soup dumplings were steamed beautifully and were super tasty. They use real crab and I could really taste the different flavors. The garlic green beans were to die for and the braised baby back ribs were so succulent that I was licking my fingers the whole time. I also ordered the Pork BBQ Baos and they were perfectly and freshly steamed. The portions were hearty and I ended up taking several items home with me. Everything is made to order. There are plenty more items in the menu I want to order during my next visit such as their Mongolian beef, their Braised Beef Noodle Soup, Green Tea Noodles with Sesame Sauce and Fried Pork Chop Appetizer. The venue itself is very Zen--inspiring calm, an open layout and tasteful decor. Customers can also go to the Bao Lab and see how their dumplings and Baos are made and steamed, which is very unique in this area. All in all, I loved my experience at the Ugly Dumplings and look forward to coming back, especially during happy hour when their appetizers are half price and their interesting cocktail menu also offers discounts. Keep it up good folks and you'll earn your reputations with the larger Hamden community and vicinities! See you again soon!! read more

Food was very good. Service was excellent. Still getting over being a relatively new establishment.

Great food, good vibes, Gabby was very nice and welcoming. Noodles are really good, so are the soup dumplings!

The worst food and service!!! What a dump!!! Never going back!! Waitress did not care! read more

Nice interior. The wait staff attentive. The salt and pepper popcorn chicken was so good. Their soup dumplings are so good as well. We will go back. read more

Ugly Dumpling - Soup dumplings chicken steamed and salt/pepper popcorn chicken. - Chinese Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

This is some time coming. The Ugly Dumpling on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden, CT is a quietly upscale restaurant specialing in Asian food with a strong lean to szeechuan inspired Chinese cuisine. The food is made right in front of the customers in a bay windowed room called the Bao Lab. The lab is spotless and sterile while the specialists turn out everything from soup dumplings to pork buns. The decor is spotless, done in the quaint and sophisticated wood setting of the chinese Era. It has a notably younger crowd and the food is perfect in taste, proportion and presentation. The bar staff: Nayarr, Katie, Annisah and Samantha are NYC level and young, fun and life of the party: deft and perfect in their delivery and product. The manager Lindsay quietly and deftly makes sure everything moves smoothly and effortless, Nayarr creates a new drink every week: try the Gentleman in CT before dinner and the Chocolate After Dark after dinner. This is the ONLY place you'll find these drink masterpieces. This restaurant will allow you to meet and get to know other regulars. The hail-fellows-well-met atmosphere only adds to the over enjoyment which accompanies the excellent food and service. Ugly Dumpling is the set piece of the Hamden, Meriden, Middleton area. And yes I'm here - every Friday evening. read more

How much needed addition of Asian food to the CT scene. We had the edamame broccoli noodles, fried rice, and of course, the soup dumplings. The pan fried dumplings were so so. The service is fast, the servers are well informed of the menu and will explain and suggest really good stuff. It's very interesting to see the soup dumpling being made. read more

Hubby and I live pretty close by and have been wanting to try this place for awhile. We came on a Monday night and were able to get seated right away, which was nice. The restaurant is beautiful, and it's hands down the best thing about this place. Service was good, but overall the food was mediocre at best. Here's our review: Ugly Bao Buns: Feels like a signature item on the menu, considering the whole "Bao Lab" display in the restaurant but the orange chicken was dry and was weirdly the last thing to come out.... Apps usually come out first. Not sure if it was forgotten about but it was warm-ish and just didn't knock our socks off. The Bao Buns at Mecha in New Haven are still the best around in our opinion. No competition. Crab Rangoon: These def gave us the impression that they were boxed, frozen, and heated up to serve. Absolutely nothing special. The sauce that came with them was also regular-schmegular. Chicken Wonton Soup: This was hands down the best thing we had. I was feeling a little under the weather, and this chicken wonton soup hit the spot and brought me back to life. It was tasty and the portion size was perfect. 5/5 stars! Orange Chicken: The orange chicken came out first, which was weird because we hadn't gotten our apps yet. Nonetheless, it's literally just a mini-mountain of dry orange chicken on a white plate with a side bowl of white rice. My husband called it sub-par, and felt like it was yet another item that was probably boxed and heated up in a microwave. Not an exciting meal by any means. Overall, our bill was $42 which wasn't bad for a random Monday night out. The ambiance was nice, and our server, CJ, was very pleasant and knowledgeable about the menu. I think this place has the potential to be incredible but it's not going to get there with this KC-101 music and oddly timed, microwaved meals. read more

You guys have to stop running out of food items at 5:00!!!! No Hot and Sour Soup, no Noodles Cmon!!! Get it together, you wanted busy well you got it...for now.Maybe better luck at Lunchtime. read more

No real ambience...food was just o.k. and I thought expensive...good side...friendly service

Was so excited to try this place and unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. Our service was terrible. We went on a Tuesday night and the restaurant wasn't busy but our server was struggling to clean almost every table in her section. Our food arrived before my drink, none of the food was hot, my husband never received the side of rice he ordered. The food was good but the service really ruined this experience. read more

Ugly Dumpling - Mongolian beef, dumpling sampler, spicy noodles - Chinese Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

4-Star Review Ugly Dumpling has a lot going for it -- the drinks are absolutely phenomenal and the soup dumplings are truly delicious, definitely a standout. The atmosphere is nice and the concept is great. Some of the other menu items can be a bit inconsistent, though, which keeps it from being a full 5-star experience for me. Still, when they hit, they hit, and it's worth a visit just for the drinks and soup dumplings alone. Will be back to give some of the other dishes another try! read more

Went for lunch today and the food was delicious! Prices were very reasonable and we had left overs! No wait times and the staff was amazing! Shout out to Owen who talked to us a lot about the restaurant and answered all our questions! Highly recommend and can't wait to go again! read more

this isn't a restaurant it's an influencer hangout. I feel terrible for the staff they have so many "talking points" they HAVE to say. oh feel free to take pictures, oh here review us after you're done, you're solo? sot at the bar not where you asked at an empty restaurant. Their soup dumplings are awful. the only flavor in them is from the crazy amount of food dye put into them. The foods expensive and quite frankly bland. They put way too much effort into making the place and food look interesting but not anywhere on the flavor. it's such a shame. read more

Great addition to Hamden! Excellent service and reasonable prices. It's not quite Din Tai Fung quality, but sure is nice to have good local soup dumplings! read more

I wasn't impressed the food was not good at all and the menu it is very limited. The service was ok but not knowledgeable enough and the recomendación for the food wasn't accurate. read more

Took over 2 hour to get seated and then it took more than an hour for our whole table to get food. Other customers came in, ate, and left before we got our food. read more

Clean place from the door to the bathroom. I would definitely recommend this place. Great food, drinks and awesome service from our server Gabby! read more

LOL the food was so bad. We went as a party of 3 for lunch for my brother's bday. Here's what we ordered: -Soup dumpling sampler: 3.5/5- tasted okay, has flavor though not enough juice/broth in center. -Crystal shrimp dumplings: 0/5: these were the most tasteless rancid shrimp dumplings I've ever had in my life- if you ever had crystal shrimp dumplings from dim sum spots in Ctown, NYC you will be hugely disappointed -Spicy pork and shrimp wonton: 4/5, probably the best bite of the day -Vegan Dumplings: 0/5; just as a bad as the shrimp dumplings -Green tea noodles with spicy sauce: 2/5; does not taste like green tea at all. Not sure why they called it that, maybe bc it's green. The noodles tasted really al dente and undercooked -Noodles w/ spicy sauce: 0/5; we ordered this the same time as the green tea noodles so tell me why we waited an extra ~20 minutes for it (we were long done eating the rest of the food). Ended up getting it to go but brother's comment was "whats so hard about boiling noodles and putting it over sauce" **The stars were given for ambiance, place was trendy. Bathroom was clean/nice- has a Dyson hand dryer. Oh and they also provide free mouthwash w/ disposable cups! Probably to rinse away how awful the food tasted. read more

We've been here three times so far. Great vibe and very friendly servers! Unfortunately, the quality of the food has declined. The pork in shumai was smelly, and the skin for the soup dumpling got thicker. read more

Great vegetarian options! The green tea noodles with the seseme sauce and the spicy vegan wontons were phenomenal. Very clean and modern spot with lots of parking read more

The bar was busy and service was chaotic to say the least. Manager was bartending and barking orders. I asked to move to a table and manager told me I had to wait in line again and it was a 25 minute wait. Although food was good, I wouldn't recommend going during Happy Hour, even if you're the only person sitting at the bar. read more

I was very excited to try ugly dumpling but it did not meet expectations at all. Service was meh at best. Water came out AFTER the food was at the table. Crab rangoons came out cold, everything else was lukewarm at best. Beef was extremely rubbery. I've had better dumplings from a bag. Please skip this place, overpriced terrible food. Wish I could've gotten my money back for almost inedible food and terrible service. read more

The food was absolutely horrid. The cream cheese rangoons came out cold, as did our soup dumplings. Service was mid as hell, we barely saw our server and the drinks came out after two of our items. Extremely disappointing considering the hype. Please save yourself the trip and money. read more

Food was delicious. Service less than impressive. Asked twice for water never did get it. No offer even of a refill on tea. Then was charged for a drink we didn't get. They did correct that but we will not be coming back. read more

We got takeout from the Hamden location and we didn't have to wait long at all for our order. The food was fresh, hot, and delicious. Will likely be back soon! read more

Honestly wanted to like this place its new and fun. Food was ok but we masked by the terrible service, slow service and just sucked overall. My daughter waited over 20 mins for steamed noodles which never came out. They offered us white rice. They never brought me a plate and took 10 mins for water. It's a pretty terrible place. Maybe takeout is better but don't hold your breath read more