Llea H.

Family run. She gives great service and atmosphere. You feel like family. Food is fabulous. Honey Walnut Shrimp.. fantastic!! Dumplings flavor on point. Thin flavorful dough. Everything was good. Owner welcomes everyone and gives same energy. She gave up jasmine tea as well. It was the best. Will go again when we ate back in Houston.

Nina T.

Absolutely not reflecting the ratings it has today (4.9 on Google and 4.7 on Yelp). This is at most very mid average. You live in the neighborhood, you want Chinese and you're trying a new place from Cooking Girl and Wanna Bao. Could it be because we were a group of 8? Granted, we were able to reserve that table size. Parking is for 10 when capacity is probably for 45. Outside and inside seating. Buuuut they do have an agreement to park across the street! All ordering is on Chowbus, by scanning a QR Code. Introvert heaven. The menu is standard Chinese fusion. With 8 hungry mouths, some counting for more than 1, we had a lot to feed. Besides the main dishes, most of the apps are definitely not made in house, so we're based on the ability to heat frozen items well. - Crystal dumplings, $12.99 : okay - Egg rolls, $4.99: meh - Edamame, $5.99: okay, as it should taste - Green onion pancake, $5.99: flaky, fun to eat - Dandan noodles, $7.99: good - BBQ pork buns, $7.50: eh, as it should taste - Chili oil wontons, $7.99: chili oil oily, tiny - Soup Dumplings, $11.99: broken leaking upon serving, so they were dry dumplings. - Spicy Chicken Cube, $14.99: actually good ! Crispy spicy. - Sesame Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Beef, orange shrimp, lo mein: all okay, very saucy. They must have had a shortage of dark soy sauce for the Mongolian Beef, lacking color. - Stir fried eggplant and green beans, $12.99: undercooked. Drinks: choose beers between Corona, Sapporo or Tsingtao. Those were super cold and refreshing ! Sake: available, but only two shot glasses per serving. Service is non-existent. No consistent silverware, some had reuable chopsticks, others with disposable chopsticks, a couple with forks. Asking for spoons to eat the soup dumplings was like asking them to fish for the fish (before we realized the soup dumplings were all broken). No change of plates. Can't find vinegar or soy sauce. Went up to the counter to get chili oil. We asked for water cups, we were given those tiny shot glasses. Other tables were provided those stainless steel cups. Had to drink a whole lot of beers instead! Why the difference of service between tables. 5 meat dishes and no rice was provided upfront. Had to request it. First serving was enough for 3 people at most. Had to request more rice to the owner herself, because our requests to the wait staff went fully ignored. Dry rice anyways. Blah. No staff attending us at all really. Over 15 plates of food, imagine the space we needed. We cleaned our table ourselves. Put them on the side. On the other tables. On the corner. We knocked over a bottle of beer. Went to pick up more napkins ourselves to the counter. We ordered three rounds of beers, two rounds of sake. Yes, our online order was submitted. No, not served. Yes, back to the counter to claim. In summary: - Good walking exercises between food to claim the missing food, drinks, silverware, rice. - No food is worth noting or memorable. - Ordering on Chowbus forced some gratuity for a service where we self helped. Ya ya, big group above 6, but they can't handle big group order, so what service are we rewarding again? - The A/C was not optimal. I also smelled like Chinese afterwards. Not recommended. Not going back. Nothing to see here. Look elsewhere.

Hayley F.

Xiaolong Dumpling opened in 2024, is a small restaurant. It has limited seating outdoor too. Food orders were made via Chowbus. Scan the QR code on your table, submit your order, and your food will be served to you. My partner and I had the Hong Kong BBQ bao, shrimp dumplings, crystal dumplings, salt & pepper fish, soup dumplings, and signature fried rice. The BBQ bao, which I suspect was from a frozen packet (I asked the lady, but didn't get a straight answer from her), had a great filling with fluffy dough. The shrimp dumplings were ok, but seemed like from the frozen packet too. The crystal dumplings should have crispy bottoms, but they weren't, which was a letdown. The salt & pepper fish could use more pepper. The signature fried rice didn't have good flavor, and the dish could be drier to be called fried rice. The soup dumplings were good. I loved the flavorful soup inside. I loved their packaged drinks. They were cute and easy to transport around. Service was excellent though. I chatted with the owner, Helen and she was very friendly. There is limited parking outside the restaurant, but there is additional parking available across the street at the paint store.

Samara B.

I would give this place a 3.5 stars , but since 1/2 stars aren't allowed, we'll round up. Super small parking lot, apparently you can use the paint store parking lot across the street. The inside is also small, maybe 10-ish tables outside, but they also have a patio with tables. You order at the table with a QR code and on your phone. I am generally not the biggest fan. We ordered cucumbers and they went to a different table who told someone they weren't theirs so they took them back and brought them to us. I usually order soup dumplings but apparently, on my phone and the app, I just clicked and unclicked the button when I was scrolling. My bad. I really didn't like ordering on my phone because if you have a big group, you have to pass your phone around.... Idk. Just not my favorite way of ordering. The food was ok. Nothing wrong . It was tasty. Nothing screaming unforgettable or craveable. If I lived near by, I would eat here a lot , but probably won't drive out of my way to eat here.

Gabrielle S.

Cute n cozy little spot although consistency is lacking throughout the dishes. We've been here a few times now and some dishes are hits while others fall flat. The black pepper beef was disappointing and overly drenched in sauce and the flavor was not all that appealing. Of everything we've tried here I'd definitely recommend the biang biang noodles which have the perfect bite and the spicy chicken cubes. I'd only come back if I'm in the area since Helen is always a treat to visit with. I'd still recommend trying it out for yourself!

Amazing service!! Food was super good, and super quick! Ordered the Sichuan Beef, Bao Buns, hot & cold tea. This is my new favorite Chinese restaurant! :)

Kyla V.

Ok, I love Xiaolong Dumpling, but I only really go there for 3 things: the mapo tofu, garlic eggplant, and sesame chicken. When I went the first time, I tried their dumplings. They're not bad. In fact, they're delicious, but texturally, the dumpling wrappers are a bit too chewy for my preference. If you like softer dumpling wrappers, go to San Dong Noodle House. However, their mapo tofu is the best I've had in Houston. The lady who runs the restaurant is super sweet and gave me and my bf egg drop soup on the house. Inside the restaurant, it's casual but nice enough for a cute fit. Restrooms are clean and parking is available across the street at the paint building.

Samantha R.

This is a perfect Chinese takeout spot. Everything was fresh and flavorful. The extra bok choy in the lo mein really made the dish! The edamame could have used a little more seasoning and the dumplings dough was a little thicker than I would have liked. The beef and broccoli was perfect. I went the day before my birthday and the owner was kind enough to bring out some extra miso soup, it was deep in miso and soy flavors. They were very quick and attentive with service and there was more than enough parking. Also everything was clean, I would recommend!

Jason Z.

Located in the Fourth Ward area just south of Allen parkway inside the neighborhood. There is some limited parking in their lot; the concrete is quite broken up and rough so be wary of that; otherwise it's street side parking. There are some indoors and outdoors seating. The owner is very friendly and pretty attentive; ordering is done via scanning their QR code and ordering on your phone. The food came out pretty quickly. The menu is your standard Chinese Sichuan style menu that is prevalent nowadays. Ordered a couple appetizers, soup dumplings (3/5, these were alright flavor wise but definitely not exemplary), some pan fried dumplings (3/5, same, the starch crust is nice looking but the filling was a bit average), and some char Siu pork buns (2/5, was not a fan of these as they tasted pre-made). We got walnut shrimp and kung pao chicken for the mains, shared family style. The walnut shrimp had a very thick batter which fell apart and was fairly oily, the sauce was good but unevenly distributed, and with the shrimp laid on top of cucumber pieces, they got soggy quickly; 3/5. The kung pao chicken was solid but still needed a bit more seasoning; at least the idea was correct and there weren't random veggies in there; 3.5/5. Overall, the staff and service were very friendly but the taste of the food in terms of the Sichuan options inside the loop was a bit below expectation. The carb heavy dishes tasted pre-made and the stir fried dishes seemed definitely more up their sleeve.

I enjoyed our meal so much! The edamame and soup were great appetizers. We also enjoyed Mongolian beef, shrimp and pork dumplings. The green tea ice cream was delicious. The service was great and so friendly! Also restaurant was nice to sit in and I enjoyed the overall ambiance.

Jean S.

The food at Xiaolong Dumpling was delicious! We love xlb soup dumplings so when we saw this restaurant on Yelp (with the solid 5 star ratings), we had to try it. We came on a thunderstormy Sunday and got a table right away. Parking in front of the restaurant was very limited, but we were able to easily park around the corner on the street. We ordered the pork soup dumplings (xlbs), rainbow, pork soup dumplings, green, onion pancakes, stir fried green beans, and the signature fried rice with beef. All of the food was so good! The fried rice was delicious, the string beans had the perfect crunch, the green onion pancakes had the perfect crisp, and the soup dumplings were tasty! We enjoyed all the food. The "rainbow" soup dumplings were just pea green in color, not actually rainbow colors...and it is a little sweeter than the regular xlbs. The restaurant was casual and staff were welcoming. The waitress was friendly and talkative. She checked on us once in awhile and made sure we enjoyed our food. The only thing was that we ordered the sesame balls, but it never came out. The waitress took it off the bill. All of the food we had were really good.

Brandon D.

My best friend just moved to Galveston for school and we met up for a meal in Houston. We decided to get dinner at Xiaolong Dumpling in Houston. The parking is pretty limited but there's additional street parking in the neighborhood. We were seated immediately and greeted by the owner, Helen. I was wondering how this place got so many reviews (good reviews too) for such a new restaurant. Throughout the whole night I could clearly see why, Helen is such a welcoming owner/waitress and makes sure you have everything you need. You genuinely is interested in everyone who walks in and sparks a little convos here and there. She even gave us free hot and sour soup on the house. You order your food by scanning a QR code on the table and placing your order on the website. My friend and I ordered the eggplant with garlic sauce, crystal dumpling, and stir fried flat noodles with beef. They were out of soup dumplings but everything else made up for it. The stir fried flat noodles and a good som flavor and the beef was very tender, no complaints there. The crystal dumplings were pretty solid too, they had an addicting crispy crust and were full of juice. The star of the show however were the eggplants with garlic sauce. My friend was skeptical when I ordered it but I sure did prove him wrong. They were by far the best bite of the night. Eggplants were soft and full of that garlic flavor with some spice too. We were eating it with the noodles at first but then we later got a new batch of rice which elevated the dish even more. I can't recommend this place enough.

Lotus H.

Helen was so warm and welcoming! She greeted each table group and gave complimentary egg drop soup- We ordered the Char Siu buns- homemade with sweet bbq pork stuffing. My ginger fish was mild heat but packed plenty of heat. Steamed rice was delicious with the fish and gave it a balance on the heat. Flounder pieces were large and silky smooth! Hubby enjoyed his huge serving of Singapore noodles and we def had to doggy bag it home for another meal. Topping off the yummy meals was the sweet sesame balls- perfectly fried with crispy outside and chewy inside. Red bean paste wasn't too sweet but just the right touch for dessert. Very attentive service. Street parking with limited property spaces. Good menu choices with variety of hot teas and drinks. Small dining area with only 10 tables. Scan QR code at table to order. Pay at table on iPad.