Review Dumpling Alley - Melbourne

The busy venue and stacks of takeaway ready for pickup suggests good food on offer. All of the dishes we tried were delicious. I abhor bad sweet and sour, theirs has a good ratio of meat/batter and the sauce is made with ketchup (this is the way). Large portions, efficient service, bright and clean venue; we shall be back.

Day or night, Dumpling Alley is always chock full of humans eating away so there must be something good about this place. ☀️The sunny bits: For a super busy eatery, their service was surprisingly friendly and efficient. The food touched down on our table in record time. We had the spicy Szechuan chicken ribs which came with peanuts, fried chillies and cute fried braided dough. This dish was amazing. I loved the crunchiness of every ingredient but it could have done with more spice. Next was the shepherd’s purse rice cake. I had no idea what to expect as it looked quite simple. Fortunately it was delicious. The savoury sauce was fantastic with the rice cakes. ☁️The cloudy bits: It can get squishy as there is limited seating. Fortunately it looks like they are expanding next door. Some seats are in the middle of the shopping thoroughfare so don’t expect any privacy if you happen to be seated there. ⭐️The forecast: Dumpling Alley is right up my alley!

Great value for money and delicious ! There was a queue but we only waited for about 10 mins for a table of four. Nice and convenient as it is situated in Westfield doncaster shopping centre. My favourite dish is the XO prawn fried rice and the big king crab dumpling where you can sip the hot soup with a straw.

Will go back for sure! Every time I passed by this place it is always full of people and now i know why. Delicious food. Very filling. The prices are great and there are so many choices from the menu. Staff very busy but always ready to greet you with a smile.

Love the panfried pork bun from Dumpling Alley. Always freshly pan fried so there is a bit of wait. It is always so busy here, always long queue. I've also ordered takeaway from here a few times and buns are still hot when we arrive home.

I'm not surprised. This shop has always reached a lot of customers. The food was delicious. Good quality. Definitely come back and eat it again.

Was curious to try as there's always a long line! We arrived around 12pm before the rush so was able to seated quite quickly at the bar watching the chefs make the dumplings 🥟 The XO stir fried rice cakes are one of the best we've tried at other Chinese eateries - not all stuck together, strong flavours and lots of sauce. Large serving too! The Szechuan XLB seems unassuming at first but has a good kick 🌶 - expected the flavour to come from a Szechuan sauce but looks to be more from a chili powder. The XLB skin is the right thickness and very soupy. We also ordered the King soup XLB - lots of soup, not much filling and skin is thicker. Not bad, good novelty but would prefer the normal XLB. Pork buns were ok, could be more filling inside and could be juicier. Spring onions a bit old and dried.

Probably the best dumplings inside Westfield shopping centre! The service here is good, busy and the quality is on point here! Juicy dumplings in a busy food court with no compromise to quality. Ordered the pan fried dumplings, grab and pork soup dumping, and siu mai. All were good! One xiao long bao was so juicy it exploded out in front of me, how embarrassingly juicy! Very well executed! Well done! Only real issue I had was the no explanation of the giant xiao long bao.. I opened the it with a spoon and all the soup came gushing out.. Then at the end of the meal, I realised there was a straw behind the bao.... Since it's a unique product, explanation would be necessary.. Up to you guys but I'm here to rare the dumplings and theyre gooood!

All their dishes are so delicious such as dumplings, fried rice and fried noodles. We kept going back to try different food. Can't wait to dine in to try their steam pork dumpling.

Dumpling Alley has always been my go to whenever I visit Westfield Doncaster. They have one of the best dumplings in Melbourne ✨<br/><br/>What i ordered: Black truffle xiao long bao ⭐️, dan dan spicy pork mince noodles ⭐️, pan fried original pork bun, salt cured pork with vegetable fried rice<br/><br/>They have a consistent quality among all of their dishes on the menu, you definetely won't be dissapointed 😊

This place is always packed, luckily it was a bit quieter today for dine in. But takeaway orders were non stop! <br/>Waited 15 minutes to be seated because of limited seating. The staff member took our temperature and seated us. <br/>The restaurant felt high class even though it was right next to Coles. <br/>We ordered dumplings which arrived after 15 minutes. The vegetarian poached dumplings were yummy, but the pan fried ones were just amazing! <br/>The filling was actually slightly different and much more flavoursome. <br/>I would probably say close second for the best dumplings in the Eastern suburbs. <br/>I can't wait to come here again!

Went for lunch on a public holiday. Line was long and worth the wait. Service was exceptional. Food was delicious. We ordered 2 serves of dumplings and they were very fresh. Can't wait to go back and try the other food.

That moment when there is a serve Coranavi and you still open your store to make money. <br/>Good luck

Wow: when will this place open up a real restaurant? Because their food was amazing. The seating arrangement is really tight and it looks like you’d have to queue a while during peak times, but if you time it well you shouldn’t have to wait. The shanghai fried pork buns were so doughy and fluffy and almost sweet. There wasn’t much soup in there but they were still fantastic. The prawn fried rice was so flavoursome and had a decent ratio of prawns and sausage. And finally, the pepis in XO sauce were large and plentiful. This place isn’t cheap (those 3 dishes cost a touch under $50), but the quality and taste was there. Staff were also pleasant, which is a nice change.

Had another great experience here today. I had the Szechuan spicy diced pork noodle soup<br/>(辣味汤面) with some pork dumplings(猪肉水饺). They were both delicious. Ive probably been here 7times and every time but one, the food was great. Ive also has the xiao long bao(小笼包) which was great, with the exception of one time. Also had the spring onion pancake which was delicious. Anyway it's a great place, check it out!

Wonderful beef noodle soup and yummy dumplings. The line is extremely long during dinner times so you have to get there early to beat the queue. Restaurant is a bit crowded but staffs are great and don’t mix up orders.

Good food fast. Noisy and busy but yummy food. Try the dry noodles. Delicious. Staff were friendly despite being rushed off their feet.

*3.5 <br/>Long queue lines on a Saturday afternoon, nonetheless we were able to order: pan fried pork buns, xiao long bao, beef fried noodles and Dan Dan noodles. Dan Dan noodles had a nice nutty flavour and great spice with the pork mince. I enjoyed the pan fried dumplings but felt it could’ve been more juicy, the meat also had a slight sweetness to it? <br/>Beef fried noodles were good as well- but there were some huge cuts of beef which would’ve been nice if they were in bite sized pieces.<br/>I found the xiao long bao to be my favourite of all dishes, flavourful soup and thin skin was to my liking. <br/>Seating can also be crowded unless your on an individual table, however service was quick & prompt which was appreciated on a busy Saturday lunch!

Portion was good, staff were friendly. But wasnt the wa tan hor i ordered didnt have enough gravy for the crispy noodle to be soaked in it, and it is just a little too salty.

While Dumpling Alley has a rating of 4 stars I do not believe it’s reflective of the food quality especially when compared to other restaurants serving similar food. Other than the pan fried pork dumplings which were amongst the few places I’ve been too that were good. The dough itself you could tell was well made and had the crispy bottom, a dish Id recommend ordering for anyone who visits here. <br/><br/>I believe there were some inconsistencies between staff and service as when I had initially ordered the pan fried pork buns, the waitress had told us they were sold out even as we saw them leaving the kitchen. We then had asked another waiter if they were available to which she said yes.

Dumplings, Dumplings and more Dumplings.<br/>Dumplings and Noodles are really good.<br/>Servnings are a good size too.<br/>Service is very good and quick .<br/>I will be coming back.

Had the xiao long bao (truffle) these were amazing. All the food we had was great, flavourful and hot. Had to wait in line but the line moved quickly and service was fast and friendly

Dumpling Alley opened in August 2019 and since its opening has been extremely busy with long queues, to the point they had to add additional seating behind Top Juice.<br/>I have visited Dumpling Alley twice, and most recently went again so this review will be based on my third visit. If you’re to visit on the weekend, please expect at least 30 minute wait in queue. <br/><br/>I went on a Friday and queued at 11.30am and there were about 16 people in front of me. I waited just under 20 minutes for a table for 3 people.<br/><br/>🔆LOCATION🔆<br/><br/>Dumpling Alley is situated on a corner location of ground floor in Westfield Doncaster in the fresh food deli/café area where Top Juice, Dark Rye, Coffee Hit, Colonial Market and Coles are.<br/>Given the popularity of Dumpling Alley, hopefully they can move to a bigger premise to allow for more comfortable seating.<br/><br/>🔆SERVICE🔆<br/><br/>Service is very good and quite fast. Once you’re seated. Water and cups are provided. Their cutlery and plates are quite nice in blue/white colour. The menu is very extensive and has everything typical Shanghai style cuisines, however their most popular item are their homemade dumplings which are made fresh to order. The wait for our meal was a little long however I guess its expected due to the restaurant being full house. Once an item is delivered, it is marked off on the order form. The waitress are very friendly.<br/><br/>🔆MENU/PRICE🔆<br/><br/>Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs! Haha! We ordered way too much food: <br/><br/>Pan-fried Pork & Chive Dumplings, $11.50<br/>Steamed Original Xiao Long Bao, $11.80<br/>Pan-Fried Original Pork Bun, $8.80<br/>Shanghainese Style Fried Noodle, $14.50<br/>Sour Plum Herbal Tea, $4.50<br/>Pot of Chrysanthemum Tea, $5.00<br/><br/>🔆VERDICT🔆<br/><br/>Extremely delicious! The secret in eating Xiao Long Bao, is to eat it ASAP once arrived as once it cools down, it does not taste that great. I am particularly impressed that the filling is quite tasting and just enough juice/liquid. Dipped with black vinegar and ginger is delicious.<br/><br/>My favourite is the Pan-fried pork and chive dumplings. On the plate it doesn’t look that great, but once I turned over the dumpling, I could see that it was pan-fried very well. The amount of meat filling is VERY generous and I am super impressed. The flavour and seasoning was very tasty. The last 2 times I ordered this was also the same taste therefore I can confidently say that they are consistent in quality. The pan fried Pork Bun was also quite nice, but by this stage I could only eat 1 as I was getting quite full.<br/><br/>The Shanghai Noodles was also tasty and again very very generous in size. We couldn’t finish it unfortunately but note that it is definitely good for sharing but I don’t think cannot eat all by yourself. I highly recommend Dumpling Alley’s dumplings. The dumpling wrapper pastry is very thin which is good. I really don’t like when dumpling wrappers are very thick its so hard to eat.<br/>A great addition to the dining choices at Westfield Doncaster.

Will come back for:<br/>+ Shanghainese fried noodles<br/><br/>Got takeaway from this place wanting to try out their dumplings. We ordered the pork chives and seafood dumplings. The dumpling skins were a little too thick for my liking. Ingredients wise it was fine. We also ordered the rice cake and fried noodles. I liked the fried noodles best (tasty, smokey and moorish). Unfortunately, the dumplings just didn’t live up to expectations and I’ve had better ones elsewhere.

I now understand why the queues are so long! This place is fabulous!! The dumplings are tasty and full of really good ingredients and the juicy buns - a bit too filling but worth the wait!<br/>Can’t wait to come back with the family and try a few more goodies from the menu!

This is a very busy place with a long waiting line if you come at peak hours such as dinner time. I’ve visited Dumpling Alley several times and the food is delicious! The list below are the dishes that i’ve tried; <br/><br/>-Steamed black truffle xiao long bao <br/>❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5<br/>This is the first place that i’ve ever tried xiao long bao with truffle, very different and special, delicious! <br/><br/>-Scallion pancake<br/>❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5 <br/>Salty and Crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside. <br/><br/>-Pan fried pork and chive dumpling <br/>❤️❤️❤️/5<br/>Amaze at how the dumplings weren’t oily at all the fact that they are pan fried. A pretty healthy pan fried dumpling option. However, wasn’t as good as the rest of the dishes i tried <br/><br/>-Pan fried original pork bun <br/>❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5 <br/>ORDER THIS!! <br/><br/>- Hot and sour soup with shredded pork and tofu <br/>❤️❤️/5<br/>Didn’t like this dish due to the overwhelming smell and taste of bamboo shoots <br/><br/>-Szechuan Fish with pickled mustard on rice noodle soup <br/>❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5 <br/><br/>-Shanghainese Style fried noodles <br/>❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5<br/><br/>-Stir fried rice noodle <br/>❤️❤️❤️❤️/5

Be sure to try the xiao long bao, which had very silky dumpling skins.<br/><br/>Pan fried pork buns were also a highlight. They were very fluffy with slightly crispy bases - heaven on earth I say.<br/><br/>We also had the braised beed noodles and opted to try it with rice noodles. Very delicate and well balanced broth.<br/><br/>My only critique is that you have to line up for ~20 minutes.

What a busy place we waited 15 minutes in the queue to be seated. It was well worth the wait!! One of the dish we ordered is Sichuan steamed chicken with noodle, but when it arrived we realized it has peanut in it. As my daughter is allergic to peanuts, the waitress kindly took it back and we are able to order a replacement dish. What great service!! :) Also we had the BEST EVER Ma Po Tofu bar none. It is tender, authentic and perfectly spiced! We will be coming back again and again. Thank you!

I ordered a dozen steamed pork and scallop -absolutely delicious,<br/>So delicious I ended up ordering another 6 pork and prawn boiled, followed by another 6 (piggy I know)!<br/>Only complaint was the atmosphere and shared seating; not a fan.

Decided to try this new local dumpling restaurant at Dumpling Alley! When I first arrived, there was long waiting line, but it didnt take long to get a seat. After we ordered the food came out without waiting too long. I ordered the braised pork belly with rice - the portion was a little smaller than expected but was full of flavour, tender and delicious!! The hot and sour soup was pretty good, the portion was bigger than expected which is awesome, but the soup itself wasnt a big 'WOW' for me. Lastly the King Size Xiao Long Bao was aesthetically pleasing, so juicy and was fun to eat but there werent as much meat in there as i hoped for. Overall it was a filling meal, definitely will come back for more to try other items on the menu!!

Pros: the xiao long baos were sooo juicy and flavoursome! One of the best I've had. The braised beef noodles was impeccable. Soup was very tasty and seasoned well. Noodles were chewy with the right amount of softness. The egg custard bun... wow, nice and spongy and creamy. Be careful with it though, it's very hot and runny so don't bite too hard into it or it'll go everywhere like it did with us!<br/><br/>Cons: the pan fried pork dumplings were a bit soggy. The meat in the pork dumplings was tougher than most other places (to preference of course). The braised beef was abit dry.<br/><br/>4.5

Probably one of my favourite place to get xiao long bao dumplings in Melbourne! The braised beef noodle soup and seafood egg gravy hor fun are also really tasty. But definitely should try the fried baos and xlb if it’s your first time there

This place has had perpetually long queues since its opening and word of mouth was that the food here was pretty amazing. I'm not a fan of queuing up for food (we are not in prison after all), so I was very excited to see no queues on a Wednesday morning - we zipped straight in and were seated immediately. <br/><br/>The background music of Chinese opera was fun. The seating arrangement was slightly squishy. We had a variety of dishes. Service was very quick and surprisingly pleasant. <br/><br/>The braised beef noodle soup was delicious. The herby soup plus the tender tasty beef went well with their signature noodles. The spicy minced pork noodle soup was disappointingly mundane. There was hardly any heat in the soup and the amount of pork was minuscule. I really enjoyed the cold chicken with noodles though. The sauce was lovely and the noodles were cooked perfectly. I felt that the Original Xiao Long Bao was meh. The skin was far too thick and bulky. <br/><br/>Overall Dumpling Alley was a reasonably nice experience.

There is always a huge line at Dumpling Alley and that probably tells you the food is pretty good. We waited about 15 to 20 min for a table on a busy Saturday afternoon.<br/><br/>We ordered the DIY bao. It was very tasty and the bao was super soft. It would be great if the cucumber and carrot were pickled because the dish needed a fresh tangy element especially given the meat was a bit oily.<br/><br/>The seafood crispy noodles was a large serving. The sauce didn't have much taste however.<br/><br/>The prawn and chicken dumplings were great and not dry. The bottom was a little bit burnt so I just peeled it off. Perfect with vinegar 👌<br/><br/>Instagram @flabnbone_food

Long line, very average food.  Ordered fried dumplings, xiaolong bao, king sized bao and some vegetables. Service was alright. Other restaurants in the shopping centre aren't that good so can't complain here.

One of the best Chinese food of such a category in melb, fried rice was grainy, tasty. Buns were still moist and soft after taking it away. Very impressive!

Apart from waiting in line for half an hour to get a table, everything else was amazing. A large selection of food in the menu from cold dishes to desserts. We tried 2 types of Xiao Long Baos. The truffle ones were amazing, a must have! The crab ones were a bit crabby for my liking but my friends liked them. The fried mini buns were the thicker dough kind but still had lots of juice which was delicious. Most dumpling dishes come in two serving sizes-half or full, which allows you to try more varieties. Dumplings were good too. Will have to try more on my next visit. Such a busy place, go during the week if possible.

Best xiao long bao ive tried in Melbourne !

For a shopping centre located restaurant, this place was pretty good. The dumplings tasted freshly made, the fillings were delicious, the dumplings were juicy, and food came out pretty quickly. For a dumpling place, you can't ask for much more than that (pan fried dumplings were the highlight).

It's hard to miss Dumpling Alley if you are shopping at Coles or near the fresh food market in Doncaster. There's always a long waiting line which piqued our interest; the food must be good then right. So one evening, we decided to join the queue too to find out what makes this place so popular. Now we werent there for a full meal, just to try out 1-2 dishes. After waiting for about 15 minutes, we got seated. We ordered a pot of Oolong tea along with Steamed Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao and Fragrant Crispy Chicken Ribs with Szechuan Dry Chillies. Both the dishes were outstanding, great quality and taste. Definitely going back to try out more dishes from the menu.

Watching the LONG queue to dine here definitely had me curious to know WHY?<br/>Curiosity answered very quickly when I had the opportunity to try this place... the food, the menu selection, the flavours, the variety, the presentation, the clean and stylish simple decor, the prompt service once seated, the enthusiastic vibe by staff, the price and value for money were all above and beyond my wildest expectations... yes this restaurant is in a shopping centre and perhaps in a weird location within the centre.... but don't let that deceive you... delicious food, can't wait to return soon to try something different and exciting food from their menu. If you want fabulous Asian food with no high price tag and fast service look no further... all roads lead to this place!

Probably one of the best Xiao long bao places in melbourne. Even though you have to line up at least 30min each visit, doesn’t matter if it is lunch time or not, it is definitely worth the wait!

Ever since its opening there has been a line for the place and we decided to try it to see what the fuss is about. Although there was quite a line when we got there, it went by really quick and we got seated pretty fast too (but there was a group of 4 in front of us that had to wait a bit longer and we got seated before them).<br/><br/>Their xiao long baos are delicious, though we wish there was a bit more soup inside. I ordered the zha jiang mian, which I thought was really tasty as well. It wasn't too salty nor too bland. But my partner chose their signature beef noodle soup, which I found alright. It was a bit on the flavorless side, but nothing some chilli oil couldn't fix. Price wise, it wasn't expensive, probably pretty average in terms of Chinese food in Australia.<br/><br/>Overall, the food was good and definitely worth. Good value! I recommend trying this place out!

My family is from Shanghai and all agree that this place is really good!! We got the XLB, chicken noodles and pork noodles. They were all great. The XLB skin is thin and holds so much soup, the chicken noodles were really tasty (though the numbing pepper was quite strong) and the pork noodles had a really nice and refreshing soup. The wait, though long, is worth it!

Food quality was ok, <br/>Size of servings are not big with some dishes，ending up ordering more than we wanted to.  <br/>We thought the price was too high for value.<br/>The setting is nice, but don't enjoy waiting in the queue for about 15 mins to get a table.

Delicious xiao long bao, fried dumplings and fried baos (sheng jian bao). The beef noodles was also pretty good! Will be back to try more of their menu. Queues can get pretty long so we came after the lunch rush on a weekday but there was still a bit of a queue. Didn’t need to wait too long before we were seated though. Wait staff were friendly and one was very kind to my little boy. :)

Xiaolongbao tastes very good. We ordered chicken with spicy source. This is the worst dish I have ever had. 5 pieces of chicken with weird source is $13 and it is not Spicy at all. <br/><br/>We were the 2nd in the queue before they opened in the morning and they do not accept booking. a table for two was available but lady said we could not take it as the owner’s friends will sit there. Until we leave, ‘the friends’ just show up and there were lots of people still waiting in the queue.

We came here on Friday about noon, as expected there was a long queue and we were seated after 30 minutes. The decor is nice. We ordered pork rice cakes, spicy chicken noodles, and shrimp & loofah xiao long bao. The spicy chicken noodles promptly arrived first, but the sauce was unfortunately extremely salty and totally overwhelmed the whole dish (we couldn't finish it). The pork rice cakes were delicious, however, and good value for $14.50 - would recommend this dish!<br/><br/>About 20 mins after these first two dishes came out, we asked about the xiao long bao which hadn't arrived yet, and was told that the dumplings had only just started being made and it would be another 15 minute wait, so we cancelled this order. It would've been nice to be informed about this extra wait at the beginning when placing our orders. Will likely return again in a few months..

New dumpling restaurant in Doncaster! Dumplings have a special place in my heart (tummy)<br/>The dumplings here are great!! Must try - shen jian bao, it’s like a fried dumpling but with bread (bao) texture for the outer skin. Don’t think I’ve had anywhere else with such soft bread before. This was amazing!! Truffle XLB is great too! Glad this was on the menu, as I was disappointed it wasn’t in DTF. (If you get what I mean)<br/>Didn’t give it 5 stars, as their steam/boiled pork dumplings weren’t the greatest. Which was a bit of a disappointment. <br/><br/>It’s still a fairly new joint so be sure to queue up early during peak times!

It is so bloody delicious!!! It’s my No1 dumplings restaurant in Melbourne! You have to try it. It a little bit expensive, but it’s worth. Super recommend.

Been waiting for this place to open for ages & now it finally is so had to go check it out. When we got there we were third in the lane & had to wait 35 minutes for a table. Which was to be expected. We order scallion pancakes, original xiao long baos, pan fried chicken & prawn dumplings & poached pork & chive dumplings. We wanted pan fried pork dumplings but they had ran out just before 12pm 😱 they told us that we might have to wait 30 minutes for the dumplings which was fine. The scallion pancake came out first. That was really yummy. The pastry was nice & the spring onion wasn’t too over powering. The pan fried chicken & prawn were the best! They were so nice & had a lot of filling. The xiao long baos were really nice too. Had a lot of soup in them. However we did notice we had 3 fishy flavoured ones instead of pork ones. So not too sure if that was a mistake? The poached pork & chive dumplings were ok. Nothing to rave about. Wish they had the pan fried pork dumplings to try.<br/><br/>Overall the food was good, the staff were friendly & on top of everything & also had a lot of variety. I think there was 5 different types of xiao long baos. Also if you’re happy to wait 30mins - 1hr to have some food go for it! It’s definitely nice but I probably won’t be back until the wait time is a lot less.

I could not believe there was a queue before 12pm on a Tuesday! The stir fried rice cakes with shepherds bush and pork was super yummy! The truffle xiao long bao were delicious, with a strong truffle flavour. Least favourite dish was the dan dan noodles - the noodles were thinner than what I like. We wanted to order pan fried pork dumplings or beef dumplings, but sadly and unbelievably Dumpling Alley had run out of these dumplings at 12pm!!! Will have to return to try the dumplings.

The new restaurant in Doncaster shopping centre, brings new life into the lower levels of the centre.<br/>The food are exquisitely made and are overall delicious in flavour. The hand crafted seafood dumplings and xiao long bao both embody the typical flavour of these dishes. The seafood dumplings included in its filling a variety of different seafoods with octopus and pawns to just name a few. <br/>The other two dishes, were the sweet and sour pork with fried sticky rice as as the base and a veggie clay pot. The sweet and sour pork might be a bit sweet for some people’s taste but the fried sticky rice balances it out. The veggie clay pot was dish combining a variety of different foods and developed a simple yet unique taste.<br/>Overall a good experience with a bustling environment and friendly and efficient service.

We came here for an early dinner on a Friday and were seated immediately. We ordered the hot and sour soup, pan fried dumplings, xiao loong baos, and crispy seafood noodles to share. The food was nice and service was quick. My favourites were the dumplings. The dumpling skins were thin and the filling was flavourful. The wait staff were a bit confused by orders but that might be due to teething issues.