Review Shanghai Dumpling Cafe - Canberra

We were dying for some Chinese food but we wanted steamed dumplings and found this place by recommendation on Google and it didn't disappoint. Upon arrival you could tell this place was good by the crowd of people. Having lived in Suzhou for a couple of years this place brought us back not only by taste but surprisingly by the price. We highly recommend eating here and ordering the steamed pork and prawn dumplings.

Amazing Chinese that has become my regular favourite. I love the eggplant hotpot and dumplings 😋 Delicious!

Just terrible. I waited over an hour and when I asked for my order the waitress just shrugged. No food came for me. Others at my table ordered dumplings, they arrived but severely burned. Avoid this cafe, service and food is just awful.

Nothing related to shanghai, not the food, the decorations, and none of the staff is Shanghainese. Why they had such fake name for quite a long time. So angry with this.

Great vegetarian dumplings, good value too. Quick and easy, non-pretentious. Nice atmosphere.

All-time, hands down favourite dumpling house in Canberra. It doesn't pretend to be something it's not. Reasonably priced, delicious dumplings and hot tea is what I come for and what I get every time. Feels like home. Last time I went I tried the peanut butter noodles and was blown away.

Found this place by chance, had to stop. Great pan fried pork dumplings

Great food, service and atmosphere. A very homely and comforting experience, would highly recommend. Fantastic pork buns and dumplings.

Ok I would dearly have loved to give this a good review as it is near a Uni and affordable. However the maggots that came with my soy sauce- it was swimming with them, grossed me out beyond belief. No apology from staff and they didn’t seemed surprised.

Great place for cheap dumplings! Really good for big groups. Just had a birthday dinner there and they just kept bringing the dumplings out!

Great dumplings and good steamed buns. Not so much a fan of the noodle dishes. Well priced, good ambiance - always busy and quite loud, I prefer getting take away. Free iced tea is given which is a nice bonus. Service was average-good.

Came on a busy Saturday night, it was packed! The girl on the phone was very friendly and accommodating. The waiter with the hair was also very polite and helpful. I would say the service from the older people was pretty typical (ie usually tolerably bad) and the rest was fine. Decor was typical dirty dumpling restaurant.. no worries, I am used to it. Not a big issue.<br/>Unfortunately the food and the price was not a combination that would entice me back. The shanghai fried noodles were a little oily which is ok but were rather plain with very little vegetables, meat or sauce. The wonton noodle soup base was nothing to write home about. <br/>The worst bit were the dumplings! I have NEVER had dumplings with such THICK doughy skins before. The ratio of skin to dumpling was at least 50:50 for all the dumplings! It felt like eating dumpling cases with a very small amount of filling. I have had much better har gao, fried beef and steamed pork dumplings before, where the fillings excite you, the skins are so thin you can see the filling clearly and you just stuff yourself like crazy because they are so good. This is not the case here :( It wasn't even THAT cheap ($20 a head), so I can't put it down to that!<br/>I am thinking the rating is very much due to the dearth of options available in Canberra. The dumplings here are average at best so I would hate to see what else is being offered elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Keep up the service but please roll those skins out a bit more!

Ducked in for a quiet bite after work. Great little spot tucked away in Childers! Seemed great value for around $13 for 15 dumplings in soup? Wasn't in a dumplings mood even though we decided upon this place, but instead ordered salt n pepper delights which were great considering our appetites, in portion size, quality and price. Might try the dumplings next time.

Never coming again，my girl friend and i ordered two different noddles and they were exactly the same… What's more，people living in Shanghai never eat dumplings like that，you should change your name，don't cheat the customers any longer！

It's cheap, it looks like a diner and it's open every day in an area that at least has decent parking during the evenings. What more could you ask for? There is flavour (which I'm sure is partially assisted by MSG), lots to pick from, and takeaway containers when you aren't able to finish the meal. On this occasion I had the Mapo tofu on rice, spicy eggplant with noodles, Shanghai fried pork dumplings and steamed vegetarian dumplings. Enjoy them with vinegar and chilli sauce and you'll be satisfied.

This is a no frills restaurant that services yummy dumplings at a good price! You get about 15 for $12. They're not the best I've had but the I've had the spicy eggplant and chicken dish a few times and I like it. Although it's only got a few tiny pieces of chicken in it so that's a little strange considering it says 'sliced chicken' on the menu. I think I would prefer it without the chicken. It's not to oily with the rice but can be really oily in the soup with the noodles. You get cold water and hot tea on arrival and free of charge and you can take your meal away if you don't finish it all. I want to try more things at this place and it's close to my work so it's really convenient. I think it gets pretty busy and service can be a little slow if you go at a busy time. The decor is simple and there are long communal tables as well as some small ones.

Dumplings are okay, quick service. Disappointed with the main meals, ordered pork ribs with soy on rice. I dont even know where to start, the rice was cold and real hard to chew, topped with dark tasteless soya sauce and the toughest pork ribs ive ever taste and compliment with some random chopped veggie. Not coming back.

Always a good time. Good service and enjoyable food: I recommend the eggplant dish with rice (without chicken though! )! Best to eat earlier I reckon when it's not too busy.

It's not the same as dumplings in China, but perhaps a better taste for Aussies. Chinese people may complain these are a bit sweet, but after having spent two years in China, I still consider this place to have some of the best dumplings I've ever tasted. Must have the veggie ones!

Bland! You can't distinguish one dumpling from another. A waste of money, very disappointing.

Amazing soup. The dumpling soups here are as good a meal as you will have just about anywhere. Great stock, really delicate eating. I have been amazed by this place on several occasions.

Taking it as it is. Nice simple, tasty food. However, be prepared for a little bit of a wait and a shortage of waitstaff. The night I was there it was one (obviously junior) member of staff being left to man the floor of the entire restaurant. She did as best she could, while the more senior lady who seemed to be in charge would just smile and continue on her way. Made me a bit nostalgic for primary school, really, having to keep my hand in the air to receive service.

Unhappy customer. Very average food.incredibly rude service!<br/>first guided in by waitress to a big table. then boss came around giving me dirty looks <br/>and scolded me for taking up a table to myself. when she got me to another table, the kitchen staff who got my food was confused and yelled at me for swapping table without consulting their staff....WTH!<br/>will not go back!

Slow service, take away orders pushed to back. I waited 30 minutes for a take away of pan fried dumplings while table orders of people who have come after me was served first. <br/><br/>Poorly managed service, very disappointed with the waiting time. I would recommend ordering by phone and coming only after the order is ready.

Forty minutes for a plate of dumplings...

Empty tables, but still can't get seated.. The service here is terrible. Tried to go here the other night with a couple of friends, and despite several empty tables, we were made to wait. Waited nearly half an hour, staring at these empty tables before we gave up and left.

Cheap and cheerful. All the food here is pretty good. Especially for the price, it's very reasonable by Canberra standards. service might not be amazing, but given it's just a cheap dumpling restaurant I think it's very reasonable!

Worse service ever. I have been to the restaurants for a handful of times. Everytime I go there, although the food is ok (just the dumplings), the service is bad. Last time I tried to pay for my food, the manager (which may be the owner) stared at me like I was something unwanted and spoke some other language(most likely mandarian). Since I don't really understand chinese, she was like"You don't know that! We only accept cards when the bill is over 20! Didn't you read it?" What's more, it costs me extra 1.1dollar to take away my stuff. And the waitress doesn't even give me a plastic bag to carry my three boxes of dumplings. To be honest, I don't call myself picky when dining out. But I think we should deserve what it(like food and service) worths based on the price that we paid. And for shanghai dumpling, I would say it's the worse restaurant ever!

Cheap, cheerful and often noisy. I like this place and it reminds me of many Hong Kong eateries

My family and I love going to this cafe, the dumplings are incredible and we always leave feeling full and satisfied. Service can be a tad bit slow but after eating delicious, cheap, dumplings it won't even cross your mind again. Great place to eat, especially for students on a budget.

Great dumplings, great price. Love the dumplings here, and come more often than I care to admit. I agree with others that the service is poor, but if you don't mind fetching your own water or chilli for a $13 meal it's forgivable.

WORST Chinese food EVER, EVER!. I am a Chinese and I'm telling you not to try anything here if you really want to know what Chinese cuisine tastes like. I have tried this restaurant three times, all with some dishes and rice cuz some friends told me before that the dumplings were sometimes not fully cooked. The dishes were so disappointing! You just can't tell them apart because they are all sweet! Whatever it says "spicy" or "special sauce" or the professional Chinese name, you will always find it sweet. That's why the food their can only be called FOOD instead of CUISINE! I can imagine that all the dishes don't feature in their should-be flavours.<br/>Sweet tip: don't ever come in :)

Service is sub-par

Best dumplings in Canberra by far. Go here every time I visit Canberra (from Melbourne) and used to go regularly when I lived there. Nothing special about the service, but for the price and quality, it doesn't matter. Dumplings are exactly how I love them - thin and fluffy cases, flavoursome and fresh fillings, served hot, and cheap. Can be hard to get a table, so book if you can. Even when busy, dumplings come out quickly and all together. Highlights are the vegetarian fried dumplings, steamed pork wontons with sauce, fried beef wontons, steamed vegetarian dumplings. I can't get the wontons like these anywhere else! I wish I could find a place in Melbourne who do these. Xiao long bao isn't the best here (they call it 'pork buns'). BYO anything, no corkage charge.

Great night out. Some friends and I came here prior to a concert last night, and I so enjoyed the food. The service is a bit slow, and one of our dishes came out a lot faster than the others, but when it arrived it was excellent. We had the beef fried dumplings, the vegetarian buns, the vegetarian dumplings (AMAZING! especially with the accompanying sauce) and the broccoli with oyster sauce. <br/><br/>I would absolutely go here when in town again, but maybe on a night earlier in the week when it's slightly less mad.

Read a review about shanghai dumpling cafe in feast magazine and was I instantly excited. Walking in the door and one glance at the menu and I was instantly disappointed and annoyed. Not many dumplings and the dumplings that came out were chucked on a dish (not a steamer) and as a friend let me know... They tasted like Costco frozen dumpling :( not impressed by service for example no wine glasses we got tumblers when asked?? <br/>Would not go back and I will be writing a letter to Feast magazine about their bogus review.

Great place. Had fried vege, beef and chicken dumplings. Yum. Spring onion cake also a good item. Combo soy-chilli oil dipping sauce with a dash of vinegar for the uninitiated. Will be back soon!

Eggplant noodles. Their eggplant noodles are awesome. pieces of eggplant, with chicken mince in noodles. definitely try this dish. Dumplings are ok, nothing special.

This is a good value for $ eatery, BUT dumplings are disappointingly inauthentic. Wrappers for dumplings/xlb/buns were too thick, doughy and heavy-handed. I guess you get what you pay for.

Veg dumplings are great. The vege dumplings and buns here are great, but we found the other noodle dishes we ordered a bit oily. It is excellent value for money though (something that is very hard to come by in Canberra!).

Good dumplings - my fav is dumpling in soup with chili oil. Service is sometimes a little slow.

Everyone I know seems to be a bit dumpling-crazy at the moment – and why not? Dumplings are great! If there are suggestions that we might be going out for dumplings, no one needs to convince me to come along. The Shanghai Dumpling House in Civic seems to be a bit of an institution – at the very least for ANU students across the road. Like, it seems, most dumpling houses, it’s very busy, and it’s best to book in advance. The wallpaper – which abruptly ends 3/4 of the way across the wall – is mesmerising We’ve got a very large group today, but a late starting time of 1.30. The medium-sized restaurant’s lunchtime rush is thinning out when we arrive, and while there’s no table set up for our big group, it’s fixed swiftly. There’s not a great deal of attention to detail – some of our soy and vinegar sauce jugs are near or actually empty until we flag it, for example – but it’s not enough to cause concern (in fact, I feel a little silly mentioning it!). Service throughout remains reasonably

We loved loved the dumplings, but the actual dishes themselves weren't good. My soup was bland clear soup with drops of chilli oil in a massive bowl. The PB noodles were also bland - strings of noodles (which were good) with runny PB stirred through and dumplings.