Dough Zone Dumpling House San Mateo - San Mateo (CA)

4 /5 Christopher Chung: Though mild, flavors are agreeable and tastes are somewhat elevated. * Beef Pancake Roll harkens very much of fusion, a flaky Chinese burrito. * Spicy Beef Shank makes for a fragrant appetizer, though the spice level and Sichuan peppercorn could have been increased by three notches at least. Same can be said of the Dan Dan Noodles. * Dumplings and Xia Long Bao (soup dumplings) are true winners. Try the pan-fried Q-BAO, bringing together the very best of a crispy potsticker crunch, soft chewy steamed bun with a mouth-watering flavorful broth upon first bite. Stylish and sleek interior makes for a good dining option with family, friends or a date.

3 /5 Shanfeng Zhang: Its more like an American Chinese restaurant. We love the service, the clean dining area and the relaxing music. Food is just ordinary. The dish size is extremely small though the price per dish is also cheap.

3 /5 Barry Louie: Walked in just before closing on a Saturday night. Welcomed and greeted. Ordered cucumbers, XLB, wontons in chicken soup, and pan fried chive dumplings. FOOD 3 Just ordinary. All of the dumpling items seemed manufactured and frozen. The cucumbers were fresher and better than the dumplings. The pan fried chive was not to my liking. Diced too finely and a strange garlic taste. Prices are reasonable. SERVICE 4 Staff were warm and accommodating. ATMOSPHERE 4 Airy open space, but lots of ambient noise from the loud clanging of, and collecting dishes.

3 /5 Sisi Chen: Was always curious by how packed this place was on the weekends so we decided to try it out for early dinner. The XLB came looking deflated and the top had dried flour. Almost every single one had soup already leaked out. The flavor is decent but I suspect these are machine made. The knot at the top of each XLB is undercooked and way too uniformed - it looks like it was stamped. The dan dan noodles was unimpressive - really small portion (think shitty instant noodle portion). The Q Bao (sheng jian bao) looked undercooked - not enough crisp at the bottom and right upon first bite, you can tell this was machine made. The dough is dense and had zero bounce. At least it was juicier than the XLB. Will not be back.