Dumpling Darling - Des Moines

We tried the steamed pig dumplings and soup dumplings. The food was great and no problems open on the first day. Like the tractor soda and cocktails. The jasmine cocktail was great, but a little small for the price. Good service. Good staff. Good atmosphere. The woman and I are back!

Great place! My young daughter and I have a flight of her dumplings and had a great time trying the different dumplings in the matching sauces. Now we all have our favorites! We'll try more again!

Good things first: I had the lamb dumplings, chicken steamed buns, the seasonal fried rice and the “craft” soda. (Can’t believe we’re calling Tractor soda craft, but I digress). Everything tasted good, I enjoyed each and every bite off my food. I recommmend coming here several times to try all of the different types of dumplings and steamed buns. There’s only one reason I wouldn’t like coming back is the obnoxiously loud noise levels. Ambience is just as important as the taste of the food and I can hear my friends who sit next to me, I can’t hear myself appreciate the food.

Tried all sorts of dumplings and tasty foods! The fried Avocado Rangoons were delicious and crispy! Normally I am not a huge fan of brussel sprouts but their Fried Brussel Sprouts with sea salt were FIRE! My favorite thing though was Tuna Tartare! So freshh and yummy!! Besides not being greeted and standing awkwardly in the lobby for a good while, service though was not up to par. I understand the restaurant went to full service instead of self serve (without knowing that my expectations were on full service) however you need to adapt quickly. One of the dishes I shared was a little spicy so my water was disappearing quickly. The counter next to us that had jugs of water which I needed and extra napkins had many signs clearly indicating it was Employees only are. As a customer I must respect that. It was several minutes before I was able to get someones attention to get us more water, which the staff ended up just leaving a jug of water for us to pour ourselves.

They have a great modern atmosphere, but it was really loud. We stopped in at 7 pm on Labor Day and they were still really busy, so I was excited about trying the food. We ordered our food and proceeded to try to find a table to accommodate our group of 10. We ordered the Korean BBQ platter, Pork cabbage dumplings, Lesley's Lamb dumplings, Thai Chicken buns, Bulgogi Beef buns, and sea salt edamame. Oh boy, where to begin.... After anxiously waiting 30 minutes our food arrives. The dough in the Thai Chicken buns were undercooked and doughy, and the center of the Bulgogi Beef buns were cold. So I sent these 2 dishes back. After another 40 minute wait I ended up cancelling these 2 orders. One of the other couples in our group also had undercooked buns, while the other couple had hard buns. Either way they were uneatable. The Lamb dumplings were a little gamey, but I didn't like the sauce at all. The Pork cabbage dumplings were ok, the sauce is what saved it. My dumplings loving son was unable to eat either of them. My son ended up eating most of the meat from the Korean BBQ platter, the meat was pretty tender, but that is all he ended up eating. The kimchee tasted weird, like it wasn't fermented correctly or something. And I am not sure what I was supposed to do with all of the roasted garlic on my plate. Needless to say we all left hungry and disappointed. I try not to leave such bad reviews but it was an extremely dissatisfying evening for all of us. My son ended up eating most of the beef from the Korean BBQ platter, I thought it was pretty good too, but that is all he ended up eating. The kimchee was bland and we thought it wasn't fermented correctly. Not even sure why there is so much roasted garlic on the plate. My entire group was seriously disappointed with everything we ordered and we had to get something else to eat.