Dumpling Empire

Hole in the wall with some excellent food. Shanghai soup dumplings were great, as were the garlic green beans. The seaweed salad wasn't to my taste, but the tea was good. Service was terrible, but it worked out well for us. We just wanted to chat. No pressure to leave once we were done eating, which was nice.

Great food, great value. Usually other places put lots of MSG and makes your thirsty for hours. I don't think they use that much MSG. The cold slided tofu was tasty and tye texture was perfect. One of the best that I've tasted in years.

Straightforward and tasty dumplings, potstickers, soups, and complementary tea. And they have a delicious spicy hot sauce. I think one order of dumplings comes with a dozen and maybe 1.5 orders per person should be just about ideal for average hungry person.

The place seems shabby but it's all about the food here. It can get crowded sometimes, and there can be a small wait as they cook things to order, but there's free tea and the opportunity to pack one's big dumpling-shaped belly with lots of tiny dumpling-shaped dumplings is well worth the wait.

You can definitely tell that the dumplings are really fresh in here. Our favourites were the corn and pork and the chicken and spinach. Would not recommend the chicken and celery, as the celery taste was a bit too overpowering. It was cool to see the dumplings being made in the back room as well!

Side note: we came in a group of 16 and even though the restaurant was small they were really accommodating, so props for that!

Apart from the spoken English and Cantonese, this could be in China. Veggie dumplings, $9 for 12. The skin was great, the filling not so much, but that's what you deserve when you don't get pork. Great spicy sauce on the table. Quick service, seating for 35 in two small rooms.