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Chinese Dumpling House
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
3636 Steeles Ave EastMarkham, ON L3R 1K9
Neighbourhood: Scarborough
(905) 947-9880
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
21 reviews for Chinese Dumpling House
Review Highlights
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"Their green onion pancakes ($1.99) are good." In 5 reviews -
"...also acclaimed for her hot and sour soup, and according to..." In 3 reviews -
"Something a bit different from the usual pork and leek." In 2 reviews
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21 reviews in English
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Review from Kyle G.
Markham, ON
2/29/2012
Like most reviews, I gotta say this place makes some of the best dumplings in the GTA.
They are served in a traditional steam basket. If you order more than one basket, they're stacked on top of each other so the dumplings stays hot until you're ready for it. Besides the dumpling, I would recommend their pig belly. It's fattening but it's really good. You can skip on their fried onion dough; it's ok but it's really not their specialty.
Go in small group. This place is like a shoe box and they squeeze their patron in a cafeteria table setting. It really is a place for you to stuff the dumplings and get the heck out once you're done.
Cheers. -
Review from Michael L.
Richmond Hill, ON
5/20/2012 1 Check-in Here
Hit this up with a friend who has gone with family before. She and I didn't realize that the entire order sheet would be is chinese, but we made do with some handy character matching between the order sheet and the menu given!
We ordered the pork w/cabbage and the beef/w pickled radishes steamed dumplings each serving 15 pieces. two people 30 dumplings, bring it on! we tackled them with gusto, but it was still quite a challenge and we were stuffed by the time we finished lunch. in total, $13 lunch for 2!!
Great food and a great price what more could you ask for =D. -
Review from Tina N.
Toronto, ON
4/25/2012 1 Check-in Here
Dumpling Haven, a great way to fill your tummy on a chilly day. It's usually ideal to go with a group of at least 4 so that you can try different dishes and share. The food here is good and the portions are large and affordable. The dumplings are served in woodensteamer baskets and cost about $5 for a dozen pieces.
When you step into the restaurant you get to observe 2 women making the dumplings behind a window. The dumplings are delicious and the wrappers are very soft, some of the freshest and yummiest dumplings I've had. Good place with a wide variety of meat and vegetarian options.
The service was good as they are friendly but are limited in English (the menu also has a English version, just need to ask). Give this place a try - a meal for 2 will cost you about $20 for a large amount of food. But warning, it can get kinda boring eating dumpling after dumpling. -
Review from Joshua L.
Richmond Hill, ON
5/23/2012
My wife and I love chinese food. A few years ago one of my chinese friend introduced this restaurant to me, and since then, guess.. everytime we go that area, we can't just pass!
Most people here wrote about their dumplings but our favourite dish is Sweet & Sour Pork! It's totally different than the ones you would find from other chinese restaurants. It is much thinner, bigger and SO CRISPY! Definately recommended.
But one menu to avoid is (don't remember the name) Baked Sweet potato sliced & dipped in a HOT melting sugar syrup. Because It is so hot, they gave us a glass of cold water to dip into it to cool it off before eating lol, otherwise your mouth will be burned. Be careful!
Other than that, we have tried most of their menus and love them.
We highly recommend this restaurant! -
Review from Steph L.
10/23/2011
Dumplinglicious!
I've had a hard time finding a dumpling house that was satisfying.
This place at Metro Square is definitely one of the better ones I've been too.
It's everything you'd want in a dumpling house.
* Cheap. 15 dumplings for $4.99-$6.99. That is how much dumplings should cost!
*Tasty.
*Fresh! Dumplings that you can see being made!
Is it just me, or it's not a real dumpling house unless it's tiny and a bit grungy.
Also, if you don't speak Chinese, you can still order easily.
They have the menu in English as well. You just write a number besides what you want.
We ordered two types of dumplings and the onion pancake.
The pork and celery dumplings were good. The celery added a bit of crunch and texture. Something a bit different from the usual pork and leek.
I liked the lamb dumplings more which were flavourful, juicy, and tender! The skin of the dumplings was a bit thick, but perfectly rubbery and not overcooked.
The onion "pancake" was tasty. More doughy than onion-y. It's also not really in the shape of a pancake. More like a fried dough spiral with onions.
I'll definitely be back for a cheap dumplings! -
Review from Fabienne C.
Richmond Hill, ON
12/24/2011
Definitely one of the best dumpling houses in the GTA. They give you a bang for your buck, 15 dumplings which you can see hand made as you walk in, and served in a traditional bamboo steamer for less than $6.99.
2 downsides -
1. Wait times
it's popularity combined with its tiny size results in there forever being a line-up. Plus there isn't much space to wait in in the first place. Depending on your group size, it can take forever.
2. The staff.
As you're waiting, you can see the servers working really slowly, which definitely adds up to them losing profit. The food is amazing, the staff (mostly ~30y.o. Chinese women) definitely need to step it up. Their attitude isn't too good either, but then again, the style of this restaurant isn't the equivalent to that of say Milestone's.
However, we are regular customers when we're in the area.
Definitely order the pork/leek dumplings. They're a crowd favourite.
Also, the pan fried onion pancakes and the spring pancakes. (Though the ratio of spring onions to dough in the spring pancakes seems to be lacking the last few times I've been here..)
Oh, my family also always orders the beef brisket noodles. It's hard to find a place that does them right, and here's a restaurant that knows their noodles! The broth isn't too salty, and the noodles soak up just enough of it to (a) not be mushy (b) have a bit of flavour. The beef brisket itself is well-done, flavourful, and tender.
Hands down I'd come here again. -
Review from Bob Y.
Toronto, ON
3/4/2012
Please click the folllowing link to see a more detail review of this restaurant. I would give this place a 0 star if I can.
http://18boot.blogspot... -
Review from Nadia O.
Toronto, ON
12/10/2011
Hands down, the best place in the whole GTA for dumplings! So juicy, so tender, freshly made right on the spot and served in a a bambu dish to keep hot all for a great price. Need more than dumplings? There's lots of variety on the menu. *Must pay cash.
I have nothing else to say so I'll say it again; this is the BEST dumpling house in Toronto! -
Review from Jackie W.
Markham, ON
9/18/2011
I come to this Dumpling House occasionally, mainly because their dumplings are one of the best in Scarborough and Markham area.
They give you 15 FRESH dumplings for just 4.99$ which is a lot. Other then their dumplings, I usually also order their leek bun which is pretty good but sometimes might be a bit greasy and their beef noodle. They actually make their own noodle, thus, the noodle has this very interesting texture when you chew on it.
The only downfall here is probably their service and the environment of the restaurant. If you are into dumplings and you want to find one that is relatively cheap. This one is the one to go to! -
Review from Archimedes T.
Toronto, ON
Ok just went there again because the default dimsum place was packed and the Grotto Noodle House was not open for at least another 30 minutes and I was hungry.
Went in to get a seat, as expected from a low end Chinese restaurant I was just overhand pointed to my seat by the waitress. Is it just me or the more attractive physically the Chinese waitresses are the more unattractive their personalities tend to become when they are working at a restaurant.
Anyhoo, after doing the pattern matching between the Chinese order checklist and the menu which had English; I couldn't get someone to provide me the English checklist and their menu does not have numbers to correspond to the checklist.
So just a fair warning to potential customers, don't expect good service from here, at least unless the one that looks like the owner (some middle aged Chinese guy) is around.
I ordered two dishes for myself. An stir fry eggplant with ground meat dish. The dish itself was quite good, though it was a bit on the salty side, I think they can do with less, the taste is quite good already and masked with the salt they had put in.
The other disk I got was the pork/leek dumpling. The wrapper is good again (or at least better than what I had tasted last time) otherwise this would've gotten them one star less. The dish itself was good except for the high salt content.
I think they may want to to get some rice in order to buffer the salty taste, but I am not a big rice fan so I just had to drink more tea to flush the salt down.
If they fix the salt level, make it more non-Chinese friendly and get rid of those waitresses that do not really want to be there, they may end up with another star or two from me.Listed in: Default Restaurants
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/2/2010
Okay I have not been here for over a year. It was put in my do not bother list after two consecutive… Read more »
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Review from Min Min T.
Scarborough, ON
10/29/2010
You know you're in the right place when you walk in to see this place is packed, there's a line and everyone here is Chinese.
Between my mom and I, we ordered three dishes. My mom enjoys the sweet pea shoots ($7) served here; unlike what you'd normally get at Congee Queen or Asian Legend, the young pea shoots are of the small-leafed variety, grown indoors and are more delicate.
And guess what?
There are vegetarian dumplings too! Unfortunately, they're not vegan, and have small pieces of egg in them. It's a steal, at $5 for 15 pieces!
As Tony C. and many others have said, the deep-fried green onion pastry is a great treat to have. Personally though, I like the saltier version at Asian Legend.
Despite the wait, the service is speedy, impressive considering that everything here is fresh. The prices here are also unmatched. Dinner for the two of us? $15.80.
Definitely coming back!Listed in: Scarborough Hangouts
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Review from Tony C.
Richmond Hill, ON
9/24/2009
Dumplings galore, if you want good dumplings at a reasonable price this is the place to get it. 15 dumplings start at $4.99. My favourite is their pork and cabbage dumplings, be careful when you bite into them, the juices are bound to squirt out! Their green onion pancakes ($1.99) are good. Hot and sour soup, good. My favourite thing to order here is their fried dumplings(pot stickers). A lot of selection too, I think they have over 100 items on their menu. They have a limited selection of rice and noddle dishes, they have a bunch of traditional Chinese meat and seafood dishes that are worth trying. Whenever I come here, 15 dumplings, 6 pot stickers and a green onion pancake are a must, can't go wrong with those items.
One thing to complain about this place, it's too small! There's always a wait for a table, I don't think they take reservations either, not good for a big group of people. Also you don't come here for the ambiance, it's purely for the food. -
Review from Chris T.
East York, ON
9/14/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I go here at least once a week. You have to order the crispy sweet and sour pork. I know I know but trust me on this. All the dumplings are made fresh to order and really good.
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Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
5/25/2010 14 photos
Dumplings! Dumplings! I love Dumplings!
Arrived on a Sunday early evening for dinner.. The place is small and packed! We waited around 20 minute for a table for 2. The waitstaffs are really efficient to let us order our food while we were waiting so our food just appeared right away when we got seated!!
I found the prices here are really reasonable. We ordered a Pork and Chives dumplings ($4.99), Cold Noodles ($5.99), Beef Brisket Noodles ($5.99) and Garlic vegetables ($6.99).
It is fun to watch those ladies making the dumplings right in front of my eyes! Even they make the wrapping skin! The dumplings tasted really good! Not Salty! with a lot of soup inside and the skin is nice and thin... (YUMMMMMMY)
The Cold Noodles is just average! The soup based not sweet and sour enough. However, it is so nice and refreshing to have it on a Hot Summer Day!
The Veggie dish is excellent value! It taste as good as the $9.99 one that charged at 369 Shanghai Restaurant!
I will definitely skip the Beef Brisket Noodle! Don't order it! You will be so disappointed! The little piece of brisket and the soup both does not have a lot of flavour! OK! It is more like no flavour! And no amount of hot sauce can ever save this! It is one of the time, I wish the food is smaller, since we hate it!
I will definitely be back again for some more dumplings!!
The service is fast and efficient! Just get your food and eat it fast and get out quick!
Cash Only! -
Review from Fraser G.
Toronto, ON
6/14/2010
Every weekend I pick a new dumpling restaurant to satisfy my discerning, and demanding, desire for dumplings. Chinese Dumpling House won this past weekend's lottery. Being an entirely new restaurant to me, I was sufficiently excited to trek out to north Scarborough and see what the deal is.
While their name may suggest they exclusively serve dumplings, like most of the Chinese dumpling houses in Scarborough and Markham, they have a full menu of food with the dumplings tucked into their own little category at the bottom. The name is either a marketing ploy or an indicator of their speciality - only the food itself can decide.
The restaurant was near capacity when we arrived, but we were still seated immediately. Only the hostess spoke English so she served us as well.
The dumplings were priced between $3.99 - $5.99 for plates of 15. My friend and I settled with (read as: indecisively ordered everything): chive, shrimp, and egg, beef and radish, leek and pork, and chicken and mushroom dumplings. Our order was taken promptly and we were provided all the pleasantries of efficient, but indifferent service.
While awaiting the dumplings we engaged in a conversation over the utilitarian minimalism of the restaurant. As to be expected, the space is filled with clean plastic furniture and tables, with gifted lucky-cats and red lanterns over the counter. Little other decoration adorns the restaurant. We both agreed that it's better for the restaurant's interior to have no memorable presence.
The food arrived after fifteen minutes, a leaning tower of gourmet served in steamers. The dumplings were delicious - despite being steamed, they were filled with juicy goodness. The shrimp dumplings were salty with a nice bite of chive to them. The chicken and mushroom dumplings leaned towards mushroom taste, with a salty burst of flavour that quickly resided to earthy. Moving to the beef, we found it to be well spiced with starchy flavours - the radish providing a good vessel for the spicy oil and soy dipping sauce. We were already feeling full when we pulled out the last steamer, loaded with the leek and pork, but that fullness did little to dissuade us from rapidly popping back the last 15 with smiles on our faces.
It is safe to say my dumpling experience at Chinese Dumpling House was satisfactory. While there were no 'specialty' dumplings, or anything unexpected, what we did eat was fresh, tasty and most certainly up to par. Plus, with a price tag of under $25 for pure gluttony (under $15 otherwise), there leaves little to complain about.
NOTE: The restaurant is a little inconspicuous. It is not inside the mall - it is at the north end of the southern complex and is easy to miss. If you take the northern driveway into the complex, look to the left as you drive towards the central parking lot. -
Review from Joanne W.
4/26/2010
My friend and I went to this restaurant for lunch today. We ordered three dishes for the two of us: jellyfish & cucumber salad; green onion pancake, and 15 steamed pork dumplings.
The jellyfish & cucumber salad was absolutely delicious for a cold appetizer. Their green onion pancake seemed to be missing a bit of flavour to it, but if you add a tinge of soya sauce, it was good. The pork dumplings was amazing! Lots of juices in them.
All together, it cost about $15 - which is quite worth it! I was really full in the end.
However, the only difficulty is that the servers are not very fluent in English, so that was just one difficulty. However, great place for lunch! -
Review from Vivian L.
Scarborough, ON
4/24/2011
I was incredibly excited to have discovered this place on Yelp because my grandma from Beijing has always cooked some delicious northern chinese food for me. So since I haven't gotten any of those classic flavours in soooo long, I was incredibly excited to try this restaurant. Luckily this place did not disappoint, and I definitely will be returning. In terms of the positives, I would pretty much agree with everyone about their dumpling quality, and the vegetarian one (with the egg) is truly the bomb. The dumpling skin is so thin(without breaking) that you can easily see the good stuff on the inside, and all my dumplings arrived at the perfect temperature (not cold but not scathing hot)!! In addition, my grandmother was also acclaimed for her hot and sour soup, and according to my parents, the restaurant did a wonderful job with the soup, on par with grandma! (The fact that the big ass bowl of soup is only 4.99 doesn't hurt either.)
Aside from the dumplings, I was also excited for the potstickers, another grandma classic. Now I must say that having not had potstickers in foreverrrr I was incredibly excited to order this. However I was left slightly disappointed because the outer skin was not pan fried to the perfect point of crispiness. However I won't fault them too much for this, since other tables' potstickers seem to look fine, so my table might've just been unlucky.
As for the green onion pancake, it was actually kind of disappointing and I am surprised by all the hype about it. From what I noticed in my plate (and everyone's around me) there was a lack of green onion, which kind of defeats the purpose of a green onion pancake in my opinion. Going with the negatives, we also ordered a plate of fried noodles, which had a great noodle texture but was VERY greasy, and for some reason the veggies in it were kind of bitter. But I didn't really hold the noodles against them since I realize it's not their specialty.
Finally I was excited to try their dessert with the sweet potato dipped in honey, then put into cold water so the honey will form a candy coating around the sweet potato. I don't think I will be ordering this again, since they neglected to provide us with ice water, which meant the honey wasn't cold enough to become a coating and instead washed off in the water. The dessert was a great disappointment, and being the most expensive item (6.99) we ordered, it was a bad note to end the meal with.
Overall, I believe that this was a great experience if you know what to order. I feel like the items that you can find in any Northern Chinese home is done very well in this restaurant, where as the other items (more restauranty as opposed to homey) are a bit lack luster in my opinion. I'm glad I've discovered this place, and can satisfy my northern chinese cravings happily now! -
Review from Ana W.
5/20/2010
One of my favourite dumpling restaurants in Toronto!
Where do u get 15 fresh dumplings for $5? I also love their red bean paste puffs that are covered in sugar... SOOOOOooo good! They have some very unique dishes worth checking out too, like the glass noodle appetizer... or their green onion pancakes... hot sour soup...*drool*
The portions of this restaurant are meant to be shared. It's worth every penny.
If you ever come during peak hours, be sure to come well ahead of time or try making reservations. There is usually a 4 out of 5 times I've been here I've had to line up. -
Review from alfred i.
North York, ON
8/5/2011
Get the leek dumplings -- they're amazing. The dumplings here are made fresh right before your eyes. This is a great cozy restaurant.
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Review from Read M.
Toronto, ON
11/25/2010
The dumplings and sauteed soy bean sprouts in garlic are amazing at this place. They are almost always busy. Their prices are very good. The restaurant is very cramped and tiny though. I feel sorry for the two ladies who stand at the front of the restaurant making dumplings all day. The owners should get them rubber mats to stand on to lessen the shock on their feet.
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Review from M d.
Etobicoke, ON
6/21/2010
stumbled onto this place after RUNNING AWAY from the grotto noodle house across the street. didn't look much but came out very impressed. the place is small but the food is fresh, large portions (ie/ 1 noodle bowl is good for 2 people and then some, dumplings - an order is a steam tray), tasty and very enjoyable. best thing of all.....prices are really reasonable.
wished the place was slightly bigger so that you had more room and didn't feel bad for lingering as you see the line up forming. would definitely go back over and over again!
