(415) 753-9617Parking: street parking
Hours: Lunch Thurs-Sun 11:30am - 2:30pm, Dinner Tues - Sun 5pm-9:30pm, Closed Mondays
Last Visited: February 8, 2020
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$
Dumpling Alley was just featured on Eater SF's 22 essential Chinese restaurants article late last month as #6 on the list with xiao long bao and the shrimp stuffed donut as must-order items. However, less than two weeks since the article went out, these have already come off the menu. I wasn't the only one asking for XLB, and learned that these two items, plus the fried shrimp balls are no longer available because of the time and/or labor it takes to make them. Despite warning about the long wait for XLB, which most customers agreed to, the backup on orders often grew through the evening, and even when they were available at the time promised, people still became grumpy because of the wait. With that, they decided to remove these off the menu. The new menu, available in a few weeks, promises to have more specialties, including a selection of fresh vegetables.
We arrived at 5pm right when they opened and were the first table seated. The two guys running the front of the house were friendly; we were immediately greeted and given the choice of any seat in the house. After ordering, we had a chance to ask about the XLB situation and whether they would be on the new menu, as well as what the scoop was with the rest of the items that were no longer available.
The first dish arrived after a 15-20 minute wait. The last dish after more than half an hour, although we ordered everything at the same time. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time because it's not one of those places where the food comes out right away. In the mean time, you can watch the dumpling maker in the window preparing dough and wrapping each dumpling. She was really friendly and even brought out different colored dough for the kid that showed up at the table next to us later in the evening. What a great way to keep kids entertained. I haven't seen any other Chinese restaurants take the time to do this.
- Shrimp and Chive Dumplings (10 pieces) - It was worth the wait as the dumplings were super fresh tasting with a thin wrapper. The filling had fresh chives and each one had a sizable piece of shrimp inside. There aren't any condiments on the table, so what you see in the photo is the dipping sauce that you get. Four stars. $9
- Alley Stir-Fried Thick Egg Noodles - Thick noodles are cooked with red and green bell pepper strips, chicken strips (breast meat), onions, and cabbage. The flavor is very mild and though it had good 'wok air' (super hot and steaming), it wasn't particularly special. Good portion. Three stars. $11 - Pan-Fried Pork Buns (6 buns) - These were done very well - tender bun, juicy filling, and a slight crunch on the golden sesame encrusted bottom (no soggy bottoms here). Five stars - this is the must try item on my list. 8.50
- Organic Garlic Bok Choy - Nicely salted, this dish of sauteed vegetables is a bit pricey (about 10-12 heads), but tasty. I give it four stars since it still had that crunch, but was thoroughly cooked. $12
It's unfortunate that the XLB isn't available anymore - the dough for the wrappers and buns were really good, so I imagine the XLB wrapper would have been good too.
It would also be better if they would put some vinegar, soy sauce, and chili sauce on the table so you can make your own dipping sauce because you feel limited to what they give you now. The other area for improvement is serving time and waiting time for the receipt. The kitchen seems to be making everything to order without enough chefs so food takes a good amount of time to come out and dishes arrive sporadically.
We were getting close to being done with the three other dishes when the vegetables finally came.
All in all, good food; we'll see what the new menu will bring. Try it if you can find parking or happen to be in the area.
