Dumpling Wang
Dumpling Wang was a new restaurant that opened in Long Island City pretty recently. With the large influx of new Chinese restaurants opening, this whole area is starting to become like a mini-Flushing area. The caveat is the prices are not Flushing prices, so you’d have to wonder if the value proposition is comparable and if the food also is decently tasting. When Dumpling Wang first opened, there were large lines, and people were complaining about the service. We were able to walk in at 4:30 PM on a Sunday without any wait or issues.
Ambiance & Service
The interior is a very typical Chinese restaurant. In fact, the ambiance is similar to the ramen place nearby. There is a window where you can see the people making fresh dough and wrapping the dumplings by hand.
The service is very quick. You order through a QR code, and they know instantly which table ordered food. This helps with not needing much interaction with the hosts. They simply bring the food and eventually the check.
Food
The Iced Sweet Soy Milk ($3.50 each) tasted like normal cold sweet soy milk that you’d get at any Shanghainese restaurant. It was not too sweet, so I thought it was good.
The Preserved Mustard Greens & Shredded Pork Rice Cakes ($12.95) was slightly on the salty side surprisingly, and I didn’t get enough of the preserved mustard greens flavor. I thought the rice cakes themselves were good, but the seasoning was average for me.
The Pork Soup Dumplings (8 pieces for $10.95) were homemade and surprisingly had a decent amount of soup in each one. They were a little on the smaller side, but the meat was pretty good. For the price, it’s not bad, and for the taste, it was commendable. The skin is slightly on the thicker side compared to others, but I don’t really have a problem with that.
The Fried Spring Rolls with Napa Cabbage & Shredded Pork (2 pieces for $5.50) was also homemade, and they tasted more like flattened spring rolls than rounded spring rolls. The innards were pretty moist due to the cabbage, and the fillings were light. I wished they packed more things into them, because the spring rolls were perfectly crispy for me and offered a nice ratio of pork to vegetable.
The Steamed Napa Cabbage & Pork Dumplings (6 pieces for $8.95) were dense dumplings, packed with meat and cabbage. Flavor wise, they were pretty good, though 6 pieces is definitely on the light side. The skin is thick and has a decent bounce, but it probably won’t be the best dumpling you’ve ever had.
Overall Impression
Dumpling Wang is an average dumpling house. The dumplings will probably not make a huge mark on the map, but if you’re in the area, they should satisfy your dumpling fixes. Because this restaurant is Shanghainese, which is sparse in this area, this may satisfy your Shanghai cravings at times. However, I wouldn’t make a special trip to come eat here.
Yelp & Google Jabs
overall, there are many, many places in the area that have better dumplings, even if they don’t necessarily specialize in them
I would say that not many places offer dumplings at this price and really taste homemade. So the question is do you care if they are homemade and fresh or just reheated from frozen from a supplier.
We came during the grand opening week on Wed - it was relatively full but we didn’t have to wait for a table… The service was pretty slow - the noodles came out somewhat fast but then we had to wait 30+ min for our next dishes to arrive.
That is because this Elitist came during the grand opening. The grand opening will always have its kinks to work out, so for someone to judge it immediately on the grand opening doesn’t really help much. When we went just a couple weeks later, it seemed service was very speedy, and we were in and out within 30 minutes.
Revisions
- May 31, 2026 - Initial revision.