Mother's Dumplings

»Average at its best...

I've never written a review on a restaurant before but I just had to for this place so people don't waste their time and money here. I'm Chinese and I love dumplings so when Mother's Dumplings opened near Spadina & College, I went to try it out with my family. We were soooo disappointed. 1) there are only 3 waitresses to serve the whole restaurant and it was busy when we were there for lunch. 2)...+READ I've never written a review on a restaurant before but I just had to for this place so people don't waste their time and money here. I'm Chinese and I love dumplings so when Mother's Dumplings opened near Spadina & College, I went to try it out with my family. We were soooo disappointed. 1) there are only 3 waitresses to serve the whole restaurant and it was busy when we were there for lunch. 2) they use plastic dishes and teacups that smells like it hasn't been washed properly. Who would trust plastic dishes to the hot water and steam used in commercial dishwasher and sanitizer??? 3) When we order the steamed dumplings we noticed that there were only 8 per steamer yet the menu specified orders come in 10 or 20. When we asked the waitress this, she said 8 per order was correct.

This type of food should be fairly cheap but not at this place. An order of vegetarian noodles, steamer of dumplings (8), egg & chives pancakes (4 pcs) and a SIDE dish of thinly sliced five spice beef would cost you $40 with taxes! At this price, you can get way more and better quality food in many dumpling house in the Markham area. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone. If it wasn't for the lack of competition in the area, I highly doubt this place would sustain in a more competitive location like the Markham area where you can get dumplings and Northern China cuisine that's tasty and at a truly reasonable price. If you must have dumplings in Chinatown, I suggest you're better off at Asian Legend on Dundas Street West. At least the decor is more pleasant and the service is better.-COLLAPSE (by GofEat, created December 1, 2010)

»Mother's dumplings dumbed down

It's a well-known phenomenon in Chinatown: small restaurant does very well, personal attention, great food, etc. The restaurant moves to a bigger location, hires inexperienced cooking and serving staff, and the quality goes down. The dumplings at MD have become lumpy and uninteresting, the green onion pancake is thick and lumpy as well, and so on. Still the crowds keep coming. The Dumpling House,...+READ It's a well-known phenomenon in Chinatown: small restaurant does very well, personal attention, great food, etc. The restaurant moves to a bigger location, hires inexperienced cooking and serving staff, and the quality goes down. The dumplings at MD have become lumpy and uninteresting, the green onion pancake is thick and lumpy as well, and so on. Still the crowds keep coming. The Dumpling House, more south on Spadina, is better and there may be undiscovered gems among the newer additions to the dumpling restaurant scene. This is written in sorrow - wish I could be more positive.-COLLAPSE (by kurtwalter, created May 15, 2010)

So I finally tried the new Mother's Dumplings location. Many of the reviews here are correct, there is long line-up (20 minute wait when I arrived at 6:30), strange configuration of tables (most of the four-people tables were occupied by two people), no more frozen dumplings for take-out, hand-made noodes for Da-Lu soup aren't available at this time, and the service is slow.

There are still...+READ So I finally tried the new Mother's Dumplings location. Many of the reviews here are correct, there is long line-up (20 minute wait when I arrived at 6:30), strange configuration of tables (most of the four-people tables were occupied by two people), no more frozen dumplings for take-out, hand-made noodes for Da-Lu soup aren't available at this time, and the service is slow.

There are still some high points - the dumplings are still all hand-made and excellent. There were only 8 items crossed off the menu (3 of them being the handmade noodle version of the noodle soups) so it wasn't half the menu as some other CH'ers experienced, and they hand you a menu and ordering form as soon as you arrive so you can ponder your order while you wait, and can place the order as soon as you're shown to your table.

acd123, I didn't try the pork and dill dumplings, but wish I had.

I did have the shrimp, melon and pork pan-fried ones that were tasty, but wouldn't say they were amazing. The Lamb Sui Mai however, was incredible. I would definitely go back for those. The Green Onion pancake was meh. I was indifferent. I do have pictures and a full review up on our food blog for whoever's interested.

The restaurant is definitely overwhelmed with the increased business, which they mention on their website: “Customers, thank you for your patience. We did not expect the significant increase in patronage. We are struggling to catch up. Again, thank you for your patience.” Hopefully they learn to adapt quickly. But despite the new digs, the dumplings are still very good and reasonably priced. I certainly wouldn't write this place off.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (49 Replies) (by Platoputas, created April 29, 2010)

»New Location - Better than ever!?text=Remember their previous small basement location? Well, up on Spadina there is a beautiful new much larger restraurant complete with Chinese decore, andwith the owner's photo collection in the back dining room. Same d

Remember their previous small basement location? Well, up on Spadina there is a beautiful new much larger restraurant complete with Chinese decore, andwith the owner's photo collection in the back dining room. Same delicious food though, same low prices, and the serving staff are still amongst the most polite in the industry. Been there twice this month, busy but well worth the wait. (by Nor Trauts, created April 3, 2010)

»New Location - Fail

I used to be a huge fan of Mother's Dumplings - a regular client - until they moved to their new location. The management has absolutely no idea of how to handle the new capacity. The day I visited the new location, the line-up at the door was huge yet there was no one there to manage it. After two people jumped the line in front of me and the waitress just went ahead and seated them I got...+READ I used to be a huge fan of Mother's Dumplings - a regular client - until they moved to their new location. The management has absolutely no idea of how to handle the new capacity. The day I visited the new location, the line-up at the door was huge yet there was no one there to manage it. After two people jumped the line in front of me and the waitress just went ahead and seated them I got confused. When the third person jumped the line and the waitress seated the person even though I approached her and told her I was there first and waiting for almost 30 min, I got pissed. I finally got seated and spent... another 20 min waiting for the menu (which had half of the things crossed out) and then... another 20 min waiting for the food (not making this up!). Can't blame the waiters, really, the 3 of them were working 20+ tables. When the food finally arrived... it was the wrong order! I was served one extra dish I did not order. Now, ok, that happens, right? What doesn't happen too often is having the waitress approach you and suggest that you pay for that extra dish... wait... what? Sorry "Mother Dumplings - your dumplings are good but not good enough to accept poor service of this kind of level.-COLLAPSE (by Iggy2, created March 12, 2010)

»New Location - Fail

I used to be a huge fan of Mother's Dumplings - a regular client - until they moved to their new location. The management has absolutely no idea of how to handle the new capacity. The day I visited the new location, the line-up at the door was huge yet there was no one there to manage it. After two people jumped the line in front of me and the waitress just went ahead and seated them I got...+READ I used to be a huge fan of Mother's Dumplings - a regular client - until they moved to their new location. The management has absolutely no idea of how to handle the new capacity. The day I visited the new location, the line-up at the door was huge yet there was no one there to manage it. After two people jumped the line in front of me and the waitress just went ahead and seated them I got confused. When the third person jumped the line and the waitress seated the person even though I approached her and told her I was there first and waiting for almost 30 min, I got pissed. I finally got seated and spent... another 20 min waiting for the menu (which had half of the things crossed out) and then... another 20 min waiting for the food (not making this up!). Can't blame the waiters, really, the 3 of them were working 20+ tables. When the food finally arrived... it was the wrong order! I was served one extra dish I did not order. Now, ok, that happens, right? What doesn't happen too often is having the waitress approach you and suggest that you pay for that extra dish... wait... what? Sorry "Mother Dumplings - your dumplings are good but not good enough to accept poor service of this kind of level.-COLLAPSE (by Iggy2, created March 12, 2010)