Vanessa's Dumpling House

This place never disappoints me.

Food is filling.
Food is cheap (a Godsend for peasant's like me today)
Food is *flavorful* and absolutely authentic as it can get.

I recommend any pork dumpling and pancake. Be daring and try one you wouldn't usually, I promise you that you'd at least like the experience.

Service is orderly and pretty fast even when it gets busy (and it can, consistently).

Ambiance feels, at its most busy, like an eat and go to make space for the next people, but you never feel rushed.

The last spot on my self guided dumpling tour (list of dumpling spots in my profile) and it was a bit underwhelming. Definitely try to say you have been but I wouldn't set high expectations.

I think Vanessa's is considered a staple in Chinatown as it is an OG spot. I personally know them for their pancakes but this was a dumpling tour so I had to stick with dumplings. This comes in 5th out of the 6 spots.

I ordered 30 dumplings for my group and they were freshly made. It was hot, had a nice consistent crisp and looked great. Dumplings were very juicy and amazing, until you finished chewing. I had a few dumplings and couldn't get rid of a very gamey aftertaste. This is usually symbolic of meat that has been sitting in the freezer for a while... definitely what I remember eating as a child but maybe I just went on a bad day? With that being said, the dumplings themselves were off putting from the aftertaste. If this is how it consistently tastes, I think stronger spices (specifically ginger) would help get rid of the gamey taste.

We had been wanting dumplings and had seen this was good reviews so we came here to get food to go. We shared the pork buns and the pork and chive fried dumpling, and added the spicy sauce.
The pork and chive dumplings were excellent and I would get them again. The pork bun was tasteless and I would skip.
Fast service and cheap.

Despite getting a little more expensive over the years, still, Vanessa's will always be my favorite place for dumplings. The staff is friendly and kind. The quality is consistent as they've made upgrades and changes without sacrificing the way that they do business.
I always get veggie dumplings with a sesame pancake. The dumplings are always amazing, frozen, or fresh. Make sure you come check them out!

Ordered delivery from Vanessa's Dumplings! The price is cheap but there are cheaper better dumpling spots in the area in my opinion! The cabbage and pork fried dumplings were decent and the sesame pancake with Peking Duck as a little too chewy. It might've just been because it was delivery so it wasn't as fresh when I got it so I would need to try in person to give a fair rating imo!

Last time I went here was years ago!
I'm back again and the food is still pretty solid. The prices have gone up slightly but I'm appreciative that they accept cards now in addition to cash.
Always friendly service when we go and I see they updated their labels to accommodate more people. Nothing beats Vanessa's dumplings in Chinatown! It just hits the spot every time :)

Dumplings at Vanessa's are not bad, but the skin is definitely thicker than other dumpling places. Service is very quick if fried, but boiled dumplings take much longer. Inside, you seat yourself and it can be hit or miss depending on how busy it gets. It's generally a louder environment with a quickly eat-and-go vibe.

This place was located in Chinatown and we stopped by for a quick bite. I loved how cheap the prices were for really good food. The line wasn't too long and it didn't take a while for our food to come out. We got the pork and chive dumplings, which tasted great for the price we were paying. It was a bit crispy on the side and very juicy. The star of the show was the sesame pancake with Peking duck! It had a bit of vegetables inside and it tasted amazing. I would definitely recommend getting that out of all of the other items on the menu. People eat and leave pretty fast, so there was seating available during the time we went as well. Pretty busy place, but worth it!

Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Ambiance: 5/5

Came here as part of a food crawl. I haven't had the pleasure of trying this place for a really long time, and have heard this place makes lists of best dumplings regularly.

I think the dumplings were solid. i wouldn't call them the best in Chinatown, but that's a hard competition to beat. I think notably, the pork dumplings were actually ordinary but authentic. They were tasty but nothing that I need to come back for.

BASIL AND CHICKEN DUMPLINGS**
Now this ended up being the star of the show. The basil was so fragrant and really had such a pleasant flavor to complement the chicken. This isn't a filling you can find often in my experience, and we really enjoyed this. However, some people did think that the pork was still their favorite. I'll note that out of the group, I was the only one who grew up eating dumplings at home though.

Good decent place. Inexpensive. Cash only.

The fried dumplings weren't as good as the boiled. Tables were pretty dirty to eat on. Good hot sauce and soy sauce on tables to use.