Mr. Dumpling

I loved this restaurant. Wished they didn’t close!
Pros
Delicious food
Many options
People were very nice
Family run
Clean and nice environment
Great location–
Away from too many of the other restaurants where traffic and parking are a nightmare and behind 99 Ranch.
Con:
Service was a little on the slow side.
(But better a little slower and great food rather than horrible food and quick service)

I am craving for AYCE hotpot and this restaurant is the only one I can find on Unilocal around San Diego. I don’t expect much about this restaurant after reading the reviews on Unilocal.However, I would give this restaurant zero star if I can. Dinning tables are oily and dirty. Food is dirty too. I understand it is a AYCE hotpot and I can’t expect much as its just 18.99 person, but the food are so dirty and it is not fresh at all.
Service is terrible. The waiter basically ignores your request and questions whenever he wants.

OH. MY. GOD.
This has to be by far one of the places where I have received the worst service, but I mean BAAAAAAD.
So they have the option that the majority goes for, the hot pot. This means that you pay a set price (I believe $ 19.99) for all you can eat meat, veggies, eggs, clams, etc. So all of these options that you order come raw (meat) and uncooked. Then you place them in the hot boiling water (either the spicy side or the normal side) to cook. If you do not want the hot pot option, you can order individual entrée items, which is what I did. So anyway, the waiter comes by our table and asks «What do you want?» to the first person sitting in our table of 5. He’s not sure yet so someone else orders, then when we have all ordered, the first person asks him a question about a meat and the waiter straight up goes, «YOU NEED TO HURRY UP. ITS BUSY. I DON’T HAVE TIME. ORDER!» I was so shocked that someone would speak like that to a customer! Okay, so after that rude comment, we also ordered some veggies. The meat came out and no veggies, we asked the server once he came to the table and that we wanted to order something else too, and he flat out ignored us and left. Then he brought out my food, twice. So the second part was supposed to be rice and he brought out more noodles. Then he kept leaving every time we would try to order something.
So as far as the flavor of the food, it was eeeeeh. I’ve had way better for way cheaper. I will not return to this restaurant. ever.

$ 18.99 for AYCE! They are under construction so the outside is not that appealing. It’s past 99 ranch and near business buildings, in a kinda sketchy area but it’s do-​able.
Right when you enter, it smells like the spices from hot pot! The food is good, decent meat, vegetable, tofu and broth choices.
But the service could be better. There’s a Language barrier and they don’t check on you. It’s somewhat difficult to get their attention, but be patient they’ll come to you.
I love soup so I’ll come again and the price for AYCE is worth it! j

Came here with a friend on a Friday night during dinner service. It was my first time here; my usual hot pot spot is Little Sheep but decided to give this place a try since it’s a bit cheaper. Walked in and we didn’t see a server around and weren’t even greeted. We waited about 20 minutes for a table since we wanted to get the hot pot. The food was good but the service was so so. We did the AYCE and ordered a half and half Thai hot and sour fish broth as well as the spicy beef broth along with various meats and vegetables. They have generous portions of the sides and my friend and I almost didn’t finish it all. Note: they charge extra for leftovers! So make sure to order whatever you can finish.
I dropped my chopsticks and napkin on the floor on accident and asked one of the servers for extras and she didn’t seem to understand what I was asking. When she came out again from the kitchen, she gave the extra items to another table, even though they had enough and didn’t even have food on their table yet. I had to ask another server and enunciate my words to make sure he understood it. The servers seem very inattentive and it took my friend and I at least three tries to get someone’s attention for additional items. Overall our experience was average, but the price and food were good. I’d come here again if I’m craving cheap AYCE hot pot.

Came here for the 1^st time ever with my elderly (read: particular) Chinese parents for lunch. Was a little nervous because of mixed reviews. Long story short, we like it!!! Nice décor, clean, & good service. We ordered soup dumplings, pot stickers, pan fried pork buns, noodles and rice cake. The noodles were a little salty, and the rice cake not as chewy as I like, but all the others were a hit!
We’re going to try the Hot Pot next week. This place is a gem-​a little out of the way which is why they get overlooked I’ll bet. They would do really well if they were on Convoy!

My friend and I came here on a Friday around 2pm for the All You Can Eat Hot Pot, for $ 18.99.
I have mixed feelings about this place.
The menu selections were great and had a variety of options to choose from. It varied from beef cuts, to goat cuts, and different seafood. Also, there were a bunch of fresh vegetables to choose from as well.
We decided to split the pot, half spicy broth and regular traditional broth. They were both delicious. They even had a condiment area to choose different sauces to pair with the food.
Overall, I liked the food.
I think the letdown for me here, was the service. We only saw one sever. The dining area was not full. I think there may have been 2 or 3 other tables being occupied. I felt bad asking questions because I don’t think she understood what I was asking and it was hard for her to give answers. She hardly ever came to the table to refresh drinks or take orders for the next round. And when I asked for rice, I had to ask three times, and it took awhile.
I’d go back for the food, but I would really really need to be craving Hot Pot.

Well I went here against the advice of many reviews and I’m glad i made that choice.
This is now my favourite ayce hotpot place. I went to little sheep before for their crazy tuesday special but the line was so long and the guys forgot stuff a lot but since summers over Ive been searching for a new hot pot place.
Mr dumpling is located behind 99 ranch by the side of the road and can be easy to miss. I came here on a tuesday and they weren’t open (maybe because it was raining heavily idk) and i called once on a wednesday and no one picked up. But today was saturday so when i came by they were open. I came with my extremely picky parents and boyfriend and warned them about possible horrible service.
The service was amazing! Maybe it was because there werent a lot of people but the owner stood close to our table and refilled water constantly, came over when we finished with a round of food without even needing to be asked, recommended food etc.
Now about the food. We ordered the 18.99 ayce hotpot. My mother is really judgemental and picky about food but even she liked it! We asked for lamb, beef, two types of noodles, fresh spinach and the fabulous fish fillet. I dare say that the fillet and meatballs are much better than those of Little sheep. There was no time limit. We just ate and ate and ate until we were all stuffed. The food was really fresh and the broth was good.
Definitely coming!
Furthermore the place is really tastefully decorated and clean

Pros: This place has a variety of items to choose from. All u can eat so try everything on the menu.
Cons: Service was horrible. Our broth was running low and we asked for more. No one came after awhile and the pot started burning. We asked another server for more broth and all she did was bring more water to pour into the pot. We asked for a new pot cuz it was burnt. She blamed us for burning it lol. Well it wouldn’t have been burnt if someone had brought us more broth when we asked for it.
This place is short staffed. They need to hire more ppl especially for the weekend

We loved it! I don’t get the bad reviews at all. The restaurant is nice and clean and the service was attentive, polite, and prompt.
We ate like kings! We had the spicy Szechuan beef broth and the Angelica chicken broth and ordered plates after plates of meat and veggies — all arrived fresh and beautiful. Both broths were wonderfully seasoned and delicious.
We had beef and lamb and chicken and pork and bukchoi and mushrooms and… And… You get the idea. It’s all you can eat for $ 20 a person — how can you go wrong?
The sauce bar was filled with a myriad of different dipping sauces, garlic, cilantro, green peppers, chives as well as different types of oils. I made a very garlicky concoction I still dream about. And they have pickled garlic!
Nom NOM nom
So we ate for two and a half hours — crazy! It was lovely to be able to pace ourselves, enjoy good friends and conversations, and feast like emperors.
We will be back again very soon!

Buns everything!
You know, this isn’t the BEST chinese food place i’ve ever had. But this is definitely one of the top ranking ones IN the San Diego area. It’s what chinese food should be. Cheap, delicious, and filling.
Whenever I come here I always order at least the steamed pork dumplings and the fried pork buns.
Then I usually accompany that with a noodle or rice dish.
Their spicy oil noodle dish is really good. It has an interesting numbing feeling with spicy sesame oil taste.
The kimchi fried rice is also decent and delicious.
I’ve been here a couple times, but the most recent time the service was much improved. The servers are much more attentive and they have more help now.
Finally. the side dishes of cucumber and beansprouts are addicting here.

While I was in SD, this was my favorite place for Taiwanese food. Honestly, I think there are few places in San Diego for good asian food, and this is one of the few.
I’m gonna admit, the service is pretty terrible. The restaurant could be completely empty, and you’ll still have to wait. If you speak mandarin, you’ll definitely be seated sooner than if you don’t.
I haven’t been here for hotpot, but the dishes they have are fantastic. I can’t remember the exact names, but the noodles are great. The vegetarian sesame noodles are the ones i remember best, and the flavor is fantastic. I say definitely order the dumplings. Those are my favorite, and they’re actually pretty good.
While this place isn’t great, it is definitely one of the better Asian restaurants in San Diego. If you can ignore the terrible service, this is a great place for dinner.

I don’t live in SD anymore but I always know that there’s this one restaurant that serves the best AYCE hot pot in town. I get it each time I come back to visit. Here’s why:
Unlike most AYCE places out there, I get the most attentive service here. They constantly come by and ask if we need to order more or add more soup/​water. when we order something, it arrives in 2 seconds. Huge portion. Some places make you wait forever and only give you a little stuff each time, but not here. The soup is great and there’s a wide range of selection. Price is very decent. (18.99 per person. All day.) The sauce bar is great too. The menu has a great range of selection and everything is fresh, what more can I ask?!
Their fish filet is to die for. I recommend the spicy fish filet soup base.
Btw, for the Unilocalers who gave one star and stated «food is decent but their service sucks», well I don’t know about the service (because mine is friendly and quick), but by saying that you are instantly being bias by putting all the stars solely based on service but not other factors.

AYCE hotpot for $ 18.99, no thanks. Decent food but extremely RUDE service. We walked in with a large party and the employees were in shock. They kept asking us whether or not we had made reservations… uh no, now please seat us already. We were taken to the other side of the dining room and it was completely empty. I could already tell that the servers were going to lag it with our food since we were a big group, and they did.
We started off by ordering a bunch of meats from beef ribeye to lamb and some fresh noodles. It took about 30mins for our table to receive the soup broth and a plate of meat. We kept ordering different dishes and the servers would brush it off and forget about them, which became really annoying after asking them a 3^rd time. The ingredients here are edible, but you may get sick by their sticky and dirty utensils. All our bowls had some grease residue which made it really nasty when touched. The only thing I can worth mentioning here is the sauce bar where you can pig out on the Taiwanese BBQ sauce, minced garlic, green onions, and chili oil. But that’s it.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT: There is a cute little 10-​year old Asian boy working here, please put him out of his misery. He needs to be a kid and not forced into child labor by his parents.
The reason why this place was such a disappointment is by far the service. We finished our meal and paid the required gratituity, but my friend liked the kid and decided to tip him a little extra. He walked up to him, handed him a $ 10 bill and said, «Go enjoy a movie on me this weekend.» The little brat looked at the bill with a disgusted face and replied, «You know I have a bank card right?» Then walked away. It’s a shame how these parents raised their kid with such a smart azz attitude. Won’t be back here until this place learns to hire some actual servers who are able to handle alcohol and have a longer attention span.

Came here on a Tuesday night for their hotpot ayce. The décor is very nice, sending an authentic Chinese feeling. We even saw a pool table and a mahjong table in the other section of the restaurant that wasn’t open. Overall it gave me a very good impression — super clean, spacious and comfortable; they gave us (two people) a six-​people table. Rare (positive) atmosphere at an authentic Chinese restaurant.
Food was pretty good, lots of choices to choose from. Lamb was our favorite. Seems like a family-​run business, our server was the son that looks like he’s in early years of high school. He was very attentive and polite throughout, always content to take our orders for food unlike some other ayce places. In the end his little brother came out to help closing and he was so tiny and cute.
They have a sauce bar that had probably 10+ different sauces/​ingredients for you to mix and match! I was super excited because it felt like I was back in those hotpot places on Taiwan: D
Overall good experience and excellent atmosphere/​service! Would come back when I crave good hotpot deals.

There are two types of Chinese restaurants in San Diego: those that cater to the local Asian population and those that cater to all the Whiteys (excluding yours truly, with my more refined palate, of course). Mr. Dumpling, located near 99 Ranch in SD’s Asian mecca, seems to want to be catering to the former but meets the expectations only of the latter.
The XO spicy noodles tasted more salty then spicy, and were rather slight on meat. The noodles were cut quite short, which I suspect is due to the preferences of non-​Asian clientele. The beef roll was odd as it featured a pancake-​like wrap that awkwardly stuck to roof of my mouth. It also didn’t have a lot of flavor. The version at Mama Liang’s is much, much better.
And the shengjian bao… It’s good to see this dish in SD, as I’m not sure I’ve seen another place here that carries it. But it’s not prepared in traditional (Shanghai) way. They tasted like large xiaolong bao, meaning fried but, in this case, with no juice. They were even wrapped like xiaolong bao, and had a slightly cloying, very sweet finish. The xiaolong bao themselves were similar to those offered at Dumpling Inn, meaning that they were competent even if not terribly amazing.
Summary: Mrs. Dumpling needs to giver the mister a stern talking to.

After hiking the Mt. Woodson Trail (aka the Potato Chip hike), we wanted to celebrate Chinese New Years’ by eating yummy dim sum. We ordered the shao long bao, green onion pancake, and shrimp dumplings to-​go. Unfortunately, the lady had our order wrong and gave us another dish instead of the green onion pancake. We were so hungry and tired at this point that it didn’t matter. Each dish tasted like reheated frozen dumplings. We were disappointed.
Should have just gone to Ranch 99 across the street!

Overall just an «ok» experience as reflected by these 3 stars. There was nothing that made me go… «Wow! I gotta come back.»
On this particular date night, we had the XO fried sauce noodles, pork cabbage fried dumpling, beef roll, and xialongbao.
Although the XO fried sauce noodles had good flavor with subtle spice levels, it didn’t look at all like the picture on the menu. The noodles were also relatively short and choppy.
The pork cabbage fried dumpling looked interesting, but the bottom (as indicated by my picture) was overly fried and therefore had a wonton like bottom texture. I was told that these were supposed to be like the xialongbao (soupy), but it was pretty dry inside.
The xialongbao is comparable to those served at Dumpling Inn, but not as good as Red Mood Noodle House
The beef roll was interesting, but I didn’t really care for the spongy outside. (The beef reminded me of pastrami.)
All in all, the prices are reasonable and the service was questionable, but deep down my dumpling heart was left unsatisfied by Mr. Dumpling.

I don’t know why not many people know about this place!!! $ 18.99 for ACYE hot pot! Any day! Any time!!!
This place is always empty every time I come which saddens me a lot because the hotpot here is amazing! You get to choose two type of broth (it’s extra if you want seafood) and from there you get a huge menu with the selection of meat you can get (chicken, beef, lamb) plus seafood & vegetables as well!
The meat here is really fresh, which is essential for hotpot. The servers & kitchen is always really nice and always accommodate to how much meat you want per plate if you ask. There is a sauce bar in the back with a lot of variety of sauces and plenty of raw eggs!
Will definitely come back (especially once the cold season starts) for yummy hotpot!
I recommend:
— Lamb slices
— Beef slices
— Mussels
— Quail eggs!
— Potato

My boyfriend had a great idea that you can totally review in the form of a letter. You know, Dear Mr. Dumpling…
Which is a super cute idea and I wish I came up with it so I could use it. But anyways, if I could tell Mr. Dumpling what I think about his establishment it would be this:
The facility has a small parking lot and some street parking. So parking should be pretty easy unless it’s packed out. The restaurant looks a little janky from the outside, but is pretty nice inside. Apparently hot pot is THE thing here (but it’s called Mr. Dumpling?). A party of 8 of us came in at around 130 on a Sunday afternoon. The service is not great but not bad.
There are quite a few options, but nothing sounded super great. I think I am just not the right person for this place or something? We got the bbq sauce noodles, which were 3 stars and not bad, and wonton soup which I didn’t like. My friend liked the soup a lot though, so I suppose it’s hit or miss based on personal preference?
This has ended up being my most useless review ever, but I would say give this place a shot if you want, particularly if you want some hot pot, but there are better options in the area.