Dumplings Plus

Not the best in Melbourne but will sort out your dumplings cravings. Definitely order the Shanghai dumplings, which are like their soup dumplings. Also the Chinese broccoli with garlic sauce is delicious. The place is always busy and the staff are the no nonsense type. In and out. You don’t really want to stay any longer anyway as its not the nicest of places. But again the dumplings are good and the prices are great.

One of my favorite dumpling places in the world. Just a cheap, simple place to get some very tasty dumplings. Have taken friends here over the years and everyone loves it. Order the dumplings in hot chili sauce and pan fried dumplings and green beans and pork and you have a perfect meal.

Service was super fast and the food freshly made with chefs putting together dumplings and moneybags in front of your eyes!
It’s quaint, family, not the most upmarket places but if you can get past that then all sweet. Three of us girls enjoyed the pork dumplings, honey chicken, steamed greens and cashew chicken and were stuffed! $ 30 each including a beer and food in a takeaway box.

I guess by most restaurants it is a solid 3 star but they USED to be 5! They were the best dumpling place in the city and I’d happily pay a little more and receive less friendly service for their quality food.
Not the case anymore. Go down the road to claypot king and enjoy their food in a less lavish environment.

Dumplings plus is a good cheap place to go for dumplings. I would highly recommend the boiled pork chilli oil dumplings (9 dollars for 15).

The pan friend Pork Dumplings «Pot Stickers» are the best! If you sit downstairs you can watch them being made from scratch in the kitchen. We would come here just for these tasty delights, but we also love the dumplings in chili oil, the chicken with chili and peanuts and the very kid friendly sweet and sour pork. Staff are efficient and never rude. The ambience downstairs is a lot better than most in china town, (and you can see the dumplings being made), upstairs is a bit more basic, but the dumplings make up for it!

Saw the new lunch menu so I decided to give it a try. Ordered the Deep fried chicken ribs with salty egg yolk on rice 金沙鸡 扒饭. They couldn’t make this dish look more boring even if they tried. However it turned out to be quite tasty. The grainy texture of the egg yolk really went well with the crispy chicken ribs. Top marks for the chicken. If only they spared some greens & sauce to make the rest of the dish more palatable
Some of my other favourites here included the spicy diced chicken on rice 宫保鸡丁饭 (big serve, lots of meat) and pork dumplings in hot chilli sauce 红油水饺. Unlike most other places, this dumpling dish was not a soup, rather a thick flavoursome chilli oil, sesame & soy sauce base for 15 delicious dumplings.
Overall an above average restaurant that I look forward to dining in during lunch breaks.

This place has cockroaches on the floor during the middle of the day. Seriously gross. Avoid avoid avoid.

Rude service. Mediocre food. Was there for someone else’s bday dinner and will NEVER recommend this place to anyone. Hutong has better food, service and location.

Everyone sells me on Dumplings Plus with «but it’s better than Shanghai Dumplings» — and that it is. That said, I am still a dumpling snob because I did grow up on yum cha after all. The dumplings here are good, and they do taste quite nice (but condiments in the form of soy sauce and maybe red vinegar are definitely needed).

Visit with a large group. You’ll enjoy it much more. This place is made for sharing different dishes. Located on Swanston St you have plenty of other dumpling houses nearby that are cheaper but Dumplings Plus has some hidden menu items worth visiting for
ATMOSPHERE
The joint is always busy and you may have to wait or share a table with strangers (make new friends:) the décor is getting tired and is the usual Chinese «faux» Imperial Palace fit out with lots of dark wenge colour woods and splashes of red décor items. The cleanliness of the place has slipped over the last three years but it doesn’t stop us from coming
FOOD & DRINKS
the menu is extensive but easy to navigate. The dumplings are made on site. NB* before you order remember, what ever you can’t eat, the staff will gladly place in a plastic container and let you take it home so don’t hold back when ordering. So what would I recommend… dumplings of course! Just work your way through but ensure you order the Shanghai Style Dumplings and a plate of fried pork dumplings. For mains I highly recommended the Chilli oil Fish in a a huge stone bowl. The fish will melt in your mouth and don’t feel compelled to eat the fried chillies on top (ouch…I did). The savoury pork mince and green bean dish is a favourite and super tasty. The lamb pancake (tastes like a lamb kebab in a Chinese pancake… you have to have one for the table to share –yum)
SERVICE
This is a dumpling house with High turnover of staff. The manager always seems to be on duty and never smiles. The language barrier challenges any conversation with the staff other than menu items. The service can range from excellent to god dam awful but always aim to expect bad and then I can focus on enjoying the food
THE ROUND-​UP
There are much cheaper dumpling houses in the area but I keep going back here. I think it is the familiarity of Dumplings Plus and is a quick hop over the street to Cookie and Rooftop Bar for a follow up beer after the meal

The plus in Dumplings Plus probably refers to my stretched out waistband after a meal here. I’ve only been here for pan-​fried pork dumplings, and I have nothing but good things to say about this place. The key to having a good time here is to be aggressive and let the staff know what you want.
As with most Chinese restaurants, service is almost non-​existent, but these freshly made dumplings more than make up for it.

I come here for Friday lunch with my workmates and we’re always able to fit in. There is quite a lot of space upstairs. The dumplings are good for the price and the meal is very cheap. Service is speedy. Décor is nice, overall much better than Shanghai Dumplings and worth paying a little bit more.

After coming here against recently with my partner, I’ve decided that m previous 3 star review should be knocked down to 1.
Customer Service:
Some of the worst I’ve seen.
I hate it when Asian restaurant do this. I understand because they want to get more people in, but I absolutely hate it when they sit you down next to some random group of people for everyone to fit. My partner and I were inches away from another couple and it was pretty awkward.
I ordered tea, and 10 minutes into my our meal, my tea still hasn’t come. I told the waitress «I ordered tea, but it hasn’t come so instead I’ll just take water.» She comes out with tea and I said «sorry, it took a bit too long. Now I just want water.» to which she responded with such an obvious grimace that resembled the face you make when you smell shit. Then she went off and had a little rant to the other waitress in Mandarin (which I spoke, but I guess she didn’t think I did) and said, and I quote: «That bitch said she wanted tea and when I brought it out she said no.»
Thank goodness I had already received my food otherwise I would be highly suspicious of spit on my dumplings.
When the couple next to us ordered, I overheard the man ask the waitress if there were any nuts in a particular dish (I assume he was allergic to nuts). She looked so confused and didn’t understand what the hell he was talking about. I wanted to be a good samaritan so I said «nuts» in Mandarin. No, it wasn’t as if she didn’t understand the word, she just didn’t know about the nuts. Nut allergies are pretty common, so she could’ve been a bit more sympathetic.
Aiyah…
Food:
Not terrible, but the quality has definitely dropped. My dumplings were a bit burnt and soggy. Thankfully, there was still juice inside that made up for it somewhat — but not the best dumplings I’ve had at all.
My partner and I left with a newfound distaste for Dumplings Plus and the awful staff it hires.
And thus ends my very last trip to that establishment.

Let’s get one thing straight: you’re not here for fine dining. If you are, then find another restaurant in Melbourne — god knows there’s plenty of them. This is a dumpling joint — plain and true.
I disagree with the majority of the other reviewers ragging on this place. The décor is nicer than some of the dumplings places up in Chinatown, but face it — service isn’t traditionally a huge draw card for this type of restaurant.
It’s true that price per dumpling is higher than other places, but it’s a convenient location if your local station is Central, the food comes fast and it’s of a good quality.
The atmosphere is loud chatter, I would believe that there is music attempting to be played somewhere, but you can’t hear it for the sound.
All in all, a good, convenient dumpling restaurant with decent food, and quick service — albeit not necessarily the friendliest.

Came here again last night with the girls and was more impressed than the last couple times. It’s a great location, so I’ll keep coming back but this time we added an Eggplant dish ($ 18) that was great! We usually order the chilli dumplings (yum), soupy dumpling (average) and tom yum soup (usually delicious). I’m updating my review as this time when we ordered the tom yum soup, it was actually inedible. All we could taste is black pepper, no hot, no sour. It’s usually a really nice soup and we’ve ordered it multiple times before but this time, no dice. I’m upgrading my last rating as they were very hospitable about us not wanting to eat the soup and took it off of our bill straight away. Some places would ask you to speak to the manager or create some hassle but they simply acknowledged that it wasn’t good soup and took it away.

Food: OK. Nothing great, there are definitely better dumpling places around. However, I will give them points for Pork Dumplings in Chilli Sauce. It is definitely the thing I would go back for.
Customer service: Slow
Overall: Not a bad place for quick bite.

I would change the name from Dumplings Plus to Dumplings Minus. As in dumplings minus all the magical tastiness that you would normally associate with a typical dumpling.
That said, the food is edible, the place is clean, and if you sit at the back you can watch them make dumplings through the glass window. Though if you watch too closely you may lose your appetite.

Despite the not so complementary reviews, I didn’t mind Dumplings Plus. Perhaps this is because I arrived with pretty low expectations, assuming it would just be another generic Asian place on Swanston.
Instead, the food was really reasonable. The dumplings were yummy and we had a lamb roti roll that was a real standout. While you’re eating you can see the girls in the kitchen dressed in pink and making dumplings which is a cute touch.
While this place is nothing to get too excited about, for a no-​fuss meal its not too bad at all.

I never expect much in the way of service from Chinese ‘fast food’ eateries of this standard and, once again, I wasn’t surprised.
I didn’t get much of a greeting or even a smile. Service was very direct and to-​the-​point — waiter comes over with pen and pad, says nothing but stands there expectantly, I give my order with a smile hoping to inspire some conspiratorial friendliness, defiantly blank look is received in return, order is scribbled down and waiter has disappeared before I can turn my smile into a frown.
Not too long to wait before my dumplings arrive as do the mayi shang shu (aka ants climbing a tree — no ants and no tree though, just minced pork and green beans) and rice all at once.
Food was delicious, hot, fast and cheap so i have absolutely no complaints. Everything was just as I expected it to be and I left with a full tummy. End of.