Xiaolong Dumpling

Unbelievably good. Surprisingly large servings. Extraordinarily friendly service. This place is the real thing. Try the crystal noodles. Even the wanton soup is elevated. A small place in a former gas station means that there is so,times a wait. But. Worth it.

We had an amazing lunch here, the service was really good and so friendly. We can really recommend the mapo Tofu, won tan soup and the veggie crystal dumplings, we almost forgot to take pictures becauseit was so good. The Thai and milk tea were also delicious and very reasonable priced. We will definitely come back when we get the chance.

We came after lunch and the service was so quick and friendly. Helen gave us excellent recommendations. The food was delicious! We wanted to try the soup dumplings but they were out but that just gives us another reason to come back and try more delicious food! We had the hot pot and the garlic chicken and the crystal dumplings and all were winners. Definitely worth checking out and absolutely worth the visit! If you are looking for a awesome spot for authentic style Sichuan that is full of flavor without being super spicy this is a great place to try.

Before you read further, mind that this place was rated by Yelp as THE BEST ASIAN restaurant in Houston 2024 - which is an incredible statement considering the almost unbeatable chinese and viet food scene. Executive summary: this place would not even be in a top 50 of Asian restaurants in Houston for me. First - the mind blowing discovery is that a place called “soup dumplings” has only ONE soup dumpling item on the menu…?! How does this make sense? lol Apparently they are famous for Sichuan dishes and noodles. We tried pretty much the whole menu. The fish was truly good - flavor and texture. Everything else was borderline mediocre: soup dumplings have thicker dough and the flavor of the soup base is not on point. The noodles were flavorless and not the type I would expect in such a place. The pot stickers filling didn’t have a good flavor either. The crust was soft and not crispy. Parking situation is confusing - only 6 parking spots in front of the restaurant. And they offer additional parking at a paint shop next door, but there are no signs - you have to walk in to find it out. The service was straight poor. Completely understaffed - 1 server for the whole place on a Sunday. It took >40min to bring us our food. They didn’t even give us water for everyone and when we asked they were just overwhelmed. No chopsticks in the table - had to take ourselves the one time use wooden chopsticks from the bar. Some people waited 20min to get seated…

I am so glad that I was able to dine here. The owner Helen is fantastic. She has personality plus. Not to mention the food, which was absolutely delicious. I started my meal with the chili oil wontons, which was flavored outstandingly. And then I finish my meal with the.Biang Biang beef noodles. Helen even brought me out a complementary steamed Chinese cake. The entire experience was amazing.10 out of 10. Looking forward to coming back and trying other items on the menu. It was so good. I went back again the next day. Had the Dan Dan noodles they were so delicious. The seasoning and flavoring was exceptional. I also had the scallion pancakes, so flaky and light. And I finished everything up with the Walnut shrimp. Very lightly batter that was crispy and slightly sweet. Definitely recommend.