Little Ting’s Dumplings – Best Dumplings in Seattle

Little Ting’s Dumplings

Recommended by:  Friends who live in Greenwood. We’d never heard of it and it’s outside of our normal radius, so we would have never found it without their suggestion.

Description on the Little Ting’s Dumplings website: Little Ting’s Dumplings is a cornerstone in the Seattle community and has been recognized for its outstanding Chinese cuisine, excellent service and friendly staff. Our Chinese restaurant is known for its modern interpretation of classic dishes and its insistence on only using high quality fresh ingredients.

Neighborhood/Type:  Greenwood

Address: 14411 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133

Music playing: None

What we ate/drank: Onion Pancakes, Pork and Chive Pan Fried Dumplings, Pan Fried Pork Buns, Lamb Steamed Dumplings, Hot & Sour Cucumbers, Pork & Pickled Napa Dumplings, Handmade Noodles w/Spicy Sauce, Pork & Fennel Dumplings.

Comments: When most people mention Chinese dumplings you mainly hear about Din Tai Fung or Dough Zone.  Some others mention J’Dumpling House(Ravenna)RIP, Ping’s Dumpling House, Xian Noodles, Jiaozi! Dumplings House (RIP), Chiangs Gourmet. We believe we’ve found the best dumpling place in a small strip mall with a total of 8 parking spaces way up north in Broadview. They not only get points for doing the classic traditional dumplings better than anyone else in our opinion, but they also have the not-so-common dumplings you don’t see too often like Chive and Scallop, Sea Cucumber and Pork, Uni(Sea Urchin), and Spanish mackerel.

As of the writing of this post, we’ve been to Little Ting’s Dumplings three consecutive weekends and to ensure we don’t make it four, we decided to buy a bag of 50 pork & chive dumplings to either steam or pan fry at home. Timing is very important if you decide to come here to eat.  We try to come first thing Sunday when it opens at 11:00 right after our daughters swim classes nearby. We can easily get a seat. Invariably, when we leave the place is packed. Don’t ask where everybody parks. As mentioned there are only 8 parking spots and Little Ting’s Dumplings shares it with another restaurant. At any other time, we just order take out so we don’t have to wait. If you have a party of more than four, it’ll be difficult. Although they do have a separate side room with a big table, but I think you have to reserve it. If possible, I’d encourage you to try and eat in because there’s is level of presentation that you miss when you take out. In total they probably have about 8 tables with only a few meant for four people. If you have a party bigger than this, they’ll have to more individual tables together. The space looks like it used to be a sushi restaurant due to the counter on the right, but instead of a sushi chef behind the counter, there’s usually two people making the dumplings that have just been ordered. With the exception of the store front, there are no windows, which can make it dark.

According to this Seattle Times article, the owner’s husband’s family owned a dumpling shop in China.

When they got to Seattle, Guo says, “We couldn’t find [an] authentic Chinese restaurant. For us, it’s American style. Some dishes, we’d never heard of … orange chicken, Mongolian beef. “In China, we never had that kind of dish,” Guo observes. “So it’s very funny for me: ‘Oh my god, it’s Chinese food!’ Sort of! Maybe!” She laughs.  

“I like to eat; I love to cook,” Guo says. “I’m thinking, why don’t I open a restaurant?”

The location has been open for three years now, but as mentioned we just recently found out about it. Amazingly, they’ve never used advertising and have grown their business through work of mouth just like how we found it.

To us, the dumplings and pan fried buns are the stars. We’ve tried the soups, pancakes and handmade noodles and it’s just okay. We do like the Hot & Sour Cucumbers, though.  Unless we’re with friends, who want something else, we load up on just dumplings and buns. I love the presentation and taste of the pan fried dumplings. They put a layer of flour on the bottom so when it’s fried it creates a crunchy floor that connects all the dumplings. When you break apart the individual dumplings the crunchy layer creates some mini “crackers” that our daughter loves to eat.  I love the taste of the pan fried dumplings, but it does cost a dollar more than the steamed dumplings that my wife prefers, so we normally get an order of each.  Either way that it’s cooked, the dumpling wrappers are strong enough not to fall apart when biting the dumpling, but also thin enough so that the dough doesn’t dominate the taste of the filling.  The pan fried buns are also really good(and also have the crunchy floor). The inside of the bun is so juicy. You best eat it over the plate or you’ll be throwing your shirt in the wash.  As mentioned above, they have a huge selection of different types of dumplings and we’ve yet to go through all of them. My wife’s favorite is the steamed pork & chive. My favorite is the pan fried lamb.

One note, they do not serve alcohol. You can ask the

Hot & Sour Cucumber

If you are interested in taking frozen dumplings home with you, just ask what they have available. They come in bags of 50 and the bag of pork and chive dumplings we got were $26, so a little over fifty cents a dumpling. This is the perfect solution for an emergency meal.

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 3.75

Service: 4.75

Food/Drinks: 5

Bang for the Buck: 4.75

Overall: 4.75

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is

• • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
  • Most locals know about it
  • Locals “in the know” know about it
  • Only those who live close by know about it.
  • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

Eavesdropping Convos: None. A funny anecdote, though. The last time we did take out my wife and I wanted to hoard all the Little Tings dumplings for ourselves, so when we got home we also prepared frozen dumplings we got from the Asian Food Center in hopes of giving these to our 18 month old daughter while we ate the Little Tings dumplings. We figured they look exactly the same from the outside and she’s too young to notice the difference. We put both the Little Tings dumplings and the pre-packaged frozen dumplings from Asian Food Center onto a single big plate. My wife and I took the Little Tings dumpling and we gave our daughter the other dumplings. She noticed the difference right away and refused to eat. We then gave her the Little Tings dumplings and she started stuffing her face.

Servers Friends recommendations to visit in the future:  When we were raving about the dumplings at Little Tings, a friend of ours recommended we try a new place in the University District that recently opened called Little Kitchen.

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