Journey to the Dumpling

Love the food and service. Although I could use a lot more protein in my noodle dishes.

My friends and family all love this restaurant, including me. It's easily one of my favorite restaurants in Elk Grove/Sacramento, from the ambiance, to service and of course the amazing food. Each time I've been here, it's been a full house and packed with customers. The place is filled with a lively and happy atmosphere.

I've tried many dishes at Journey to the Dumpling but during my latest visit I tried the Honey Walnut Shrimp, Mantou Baos, Xiao Long Bao, Tan Tan Mian, and Fujian Fried rice. You cannot go wrong with the XLB, they're a must get if you come to Journey to the Dumpling. One of the best XLB I've ever had! The fujian fried rice is super tasty as well! And for dessert, I always have to get the mantou bao with condensed milk.

Absolutely love this place and will be back very soon!

Came here for a lunch on the way home from Tahoe and this place was good! The soup dumplings were so flavorful. The har gow & siu mai were also so yummy and hit so good. Place is super spacious and clean. During lunch they were not as busy so they were able to seat us pretty quick.

We also ordered the salt and pepper calamari, green beans, honey walnut shrimp, pan fried pork bun, wonton in chili oil, and beef black bean chow fun. Everything hit and left us all satisfied!

*I am reviewing based on the fact that I do not eat red meat*

The food here is probably 4 stars for most but personally I wish there was more seafood or chicken options besides veggie dumplings. I still enjoy protein so I would appreciate if there was more variety.

I ordered the chicken steamed dumplings and the chicken filling was tender and flavorful but the wrapper was too thick for my liking. I'm curious if the XLB wrapper is as thick. I also ordered the salt and pepper tofu and it was very yummy! I believe the inside was silken tofu so it was extremely soft which I love and the outside was nice and crisp.

Food:
2 orders of soup filled dumplings -

The soup filled dumplings are consistently delicious
Comes with 2 sides of sauce : soy sauce mixed with vinegar

They put the smallest amount of ginger in only one container unfortunately and after coming here many times I have noticed this is a pattern so next time I will be asking for an extra side of ginger.

1 chow mein -

It came with shrimp and chicken
the noodles were a bit dry
the flavor was minimal.
Probably wouldn't order this dish again.

Always super busy place with people waiting in line to get seated.

Food: 5 Mics

Service: 5 Mics

Ambiance: 4 Mics

Food: Garlic Noodle with shrimps were so delicious. I kept going back for more until there was none left in the plate. Soup Dumplings were not too hot and enjoyable right off the back once the server brings them. Spicy Won Tons were spicy but they were good. I don't typically like spicy but these were soo good.

Service: 5 Mics on the service. Undoubtedly the best service at a restaurant in a while. Server was KIND and attentive. The server helped us make decisions to narrow down our choices. Keep up the amazing service!

Ambiance: Cool little joint...I came to eat. This place was clean and nice..

Eat here. Period!

A solid spot for Chinese food in the Elk Grove area, but as their name suggests, dumplings are their specialty. The Pork Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) are a must-try, for the dumpling noob or seasoned dumpling-eater alike.

In all my experiences, service has also been top-notch--waiters are happy to answer questions and provide recommendations. Read no further if you're debating on stopping by or not - just go!

I love her:
$9 Salt and pepper fries
$15 Pork XLB
$15 Crab and pork XLB

I really liked:
$14 Chicken dumplings
$15 Siu mai

I liked:
$9 Egg tart
$15 Green beans
$10 Green onion pancake
$6 Hong Kong Milk Tea

Fantastic Chinese #goodeats on our way to Tahoe. Everything here is at least a little better than what I would expect at this American price point. These might be the best fry I've had but it does use salt and pepper fish seasoning that I like.

The server we had was significantly better than what I expected. She was super detail oriented, open to adjustments, communicated well, and a pro at carrying more cups than should be possible in her hand.

There's some nice Asian decor here but not as extravagant as the Sacramento location but it's relatively clean and there was plenty of seating.

Delicious food when you have a craving for XLB! When Din tai fung is too far away on a Sat night and you are okay with waiting nearly as long (at home cuz yay yelp waitlist) this is the place to go.

5/5 XLB: flavor, soup, and nice chewy wrapping
5/5 garlic noodles with chicken: a delightful surprise that I would not have chosen and tastes way better than it looks. My friends would have liked the noodles to be more al dente (I thought it was great as is) and I always would appreciate a wee bit less salt (just my preference).
4/5 green beans. Nice and al dente. Solid. Not as amazing as DTF but it's a high bar. My local friend said usually it is more sweet/better
4/5 chili won tons: flavor was good but texture was a tad dry. I have had better at a spot in SoCal but my friend just sopped it up in more oil, and she loved it.

Overall great food, friendly service, just so popular (expect a wait at peak hours).

My bestie and I came in on a weekday afternoon. The only time I have ever seen that it didn't have a giant line! We were excited to try this spot out. Sadly, I was pretty disappointed. I truly do not understand the hype of this place.

The service was fine - Nothing to write home about. We specifically were here to try the soup dumplings, so we got an order of the crab and pork ones. They were so DRY, the tops of the dumpling were rubbery. The crab tasted old and it just wasn't very flavorful. The biang biang noodles were so strange - It was like a hot and sour soup flavor almost. There were like 2 chunks of meat. The noodles were ok, but way too thick. The once dish I did enjoy was the mushroom bao! I am pretty impressed by how the bao itself resembles a mushroom! It was also pretty tasty. Other than that one dish, everything else was a no from me.