Dumplings' Legend in City of London, Westminster

This was our first time dining at this restaurant, and it was an unpleasant experience. The dumplings (xiaolongbao) were very disappointing. The dumplings (xiaolongbao) we received were shrunken. When we tried one, the skin was thick, and the filling was minimal. Having eaten dumplings in other Chinese restaurants in the UK and other Asian countries, we found this completely different from what we expected. Moreover, since the restaurant advertises itself as specializing in dumplings, we found this quite strange. We shared our feedback with a waitress, who was relatively polite. However, another waitress nearby had a terrible attitude. She launched into a long and rude tirade, accusing us of making things difficult for the restaurant staff. (We were only trying to provide feedback and we wondered if this was an exceptional case; if we don’t tell the waitstaff, are we supposed to speak directly to the chef?) Not wanting to cause a scene in public, we had to ask her to stop. Later, we requested to speak with the manager or person in charge in order to address the waitress’s bad attitude but no one was available. Therefore, we can only leave our comments here. In summary: -If you’re looking for good dumplings, avoid this restaurant. -The staff are rude.

*update jan 2025 - on my trip to London I came back for more, only to be sadly disappointed in the drop In quality. Tepid average dumplings. :( I have eaten at my fair share of Chinese restaurants and their egg fried rice with prawns was amazing. Their dumplings were good too - I recommend the pan fried pork dumplings over the soupy ones.

Massive menu of amazing dim sum! But crazy ordering but it's fun!

Food was average, price was ridiculous, service was terrible. Practically chucked us out even though the restaurant didn’t close for another half an hour and there were plenty of people still wrapping up their meals. Staff hung around like vultures waiting to pack up the table. £83 for two plates of dumplings, some greens and 3 beers

Ramen, wonderful, with freshly made pasta

In my experience, the food has proven to be consistent for the last 5 years. The crystal prawn dumplings, chicken xiao long bao, and duck with rice and bok choy are my absolute favorite go to dishes. I always make a stop here when I’m in London.

Been here many times and will keep coming back. All dim sum are amazing

Great food and sensibly priced. The staff were very efficient and friendly.

A tourist trap. Watch the bill and very poor cooking Do not recommend

This has to be the worst place I've ever visited for Dim Sum, period. The food was terrible, cold and tasteless and resembled nothing like authentic Yum Cha restaurants. The service was mediocre at best with staff not taking away empty dishes and even forgetting a dish on our order. Sadly, it would've been better going to a Chinese supermarket for frozen ones than coming here, especially when the bill was nearly £80 for 3 people. Will not be returning nor recommending to anyone.

Great dim sum and friendly service!

Service was excellent but food was terrible. Had crab xia long bao as well as pork, they were both good. Sea bass was terrible, almost impossible to cook bad steam sea bass with ginger and scallion as it is the most simple dish but legends was terrible. Sent it back. Mapo tofu was equally terrible. Steamed scallop with black bean sauce.. terrible. The noodle on top had zero flavour. Did the chef call in sick? Wondered if there was no cook and a waiter had to prepare the food.. £130 lunch for two pp. worst meal I’ve had in China town..

They gave me a glass which still had some Blue liquid in it, no apologies , rude staff . Avoid like the plague

🛑Worst service ever🛑 The black security guy is extremely rude !

I’ve been here a few times and today was the worst experience I’ve ever had at a restaurant. This will be my final time ever eating here. The waiters were rude, I was served by a young looking Chinese lady and she had no manners and didn’t know how to talk to me and my friend kindly. She was quite passive aggressive and if I’m being honest I think she was racist. I will be going to golden phoenix instead. Dumpling legend? More like Dumpster legend. PS the food was also extremely cold and not worth the price AT ALL.

When I was going to the toilet a young female waiter ran after me and rudely asked me if I had paid. This was so disrespectful, especially because my family spent over £300 and had already paid. Teach your staff correct hospitality, I will be telling all my friends and family to no longer come here.

The experience totally depends on the person serving you. I went with my family and my experience was really bad. Subpar. The food was cold. The host was rude which is not right.

The most terrible esperience in my life.

Me and my black husband asked for a table for two but we had no reservation. We waited 20 minutes but they let in three other tables for two even though we were here first. We also noticed that everyone they let in were white.

First rice meal after 9-days of Euro trip ...what a relief ...🫢🫢

On New Year's Eve, a minimum consumption of 30 pounds per person is mandatory, and the security guard at the door has a poor attitude. It is not recommended to dine in this restaurant.

WORSE IMPOSSIBLE WITH SLEEVE CUT INCLUDED. We selected this restaurant in Chinatown because it appeared on the internet (and on the door of the establishment) that it closed at 11pm. As soon as we approached the door (9:50 p.m.) a restaurant employee approached us and insisted that we quickly get into the restaurant. Once seated and as soon as they gave us the menu, they began to insist that we had to order NOW because the kitchen was closing, something that surprised us because, as I indicated, the restaurant's closing time was 11 p.m. and no one had warned us about it. which urged us to order before sitting down. When we asked about the reason for such urgency, they told us that the kitchen was already closing. Given such urgency, we had to order quickly without barely having time to read the menu. Around 10:00 p.m., when they brought the first dishes (part of the order still had to be brought), they brought us the bill and told us that we had to pay NOW, that they were closing the cash register. When we told them that we would pay, as usual, when we finished dinner, they reluctantly left and after 5 minutes another employee came insisting that we had to pay, to whom we reiterated the same thing. Given our refusal, several employees appeared again consecutively and, finally, so as not to ruin our dinner, we decided to pay in the middle of the service, obviously requesting that the tip be removed from the bill. After this unpleasant treatment, we tried to continue the dinner, which turned out to be mediocre and did not at all live up to the grandiose name of the restaurant. However, continuing to dine normally was almost impossible with a group of approximately 6 employees looking at us with bad looks and rushing to remove anything from our table as soon as we put it down while many others cleaned the adjacent tables with strong-smelling chemicals. At 10:30 p.m. we were already outside the restaurant and, to our surprise, while they were closing the door, one of the employees gave us a defiant cut of the sleeve. Bad manners (tone when addressing the customer, including sleeve cutting), lack of honesty (rushing to “catch” customers without warning that they would be pressured to eat and settle the bill expressly), misleading advertising ( wrong closing time on the internet and at the restaurant door) and the mediocre food (the dumplings were a mass of tasteless filling) make a visit to this restaurant a deplorable experience. If you want to ruin your experience in London, I recommend it.

They didn’t have any info about our booking but they sat us any way.

Dumpling Legends, legendary place for me for couple of years. I’m working in hospitality also so after work it was perfect spot for a pint and some Chinese food because it was open till late. About food I can say many things, ups and downs but for the menu over 500 positions You have to know what to choose, otherwise could be very difficult. In general I like the place, always busy there, food as I said, up to Your personal preferences, but I believe everyone can find something. To be fair I was never disappointed, maybe I’m lucky or I just know what to order? Wish best of luck, just please let us pay by card finally!

THEY SERVE GREY TEA. 🤢. 1. Grey tea - we asked for the typical Pu-er tea and it came out grey. We asked them about it, they said it’s normal. I have never seen GREY tea globally. It tasted like dish water. 2. No Chinese goes there - big sign on food being not authentic. 3. Bad food in general. 4. Crazy expensive. 5. Tourist trap.

The staff are always smiling and so welcoming. The hospitality they showed us, was on another level. Highly recommend

Food was tasty but every item is with high price

Unfortunately, it was a disappointing experience. Our waiter seemed uninterested and, at times, downright rude. She was short with us when we asked questions about the menu and then someone else came. The food, while decent, didn't make up for the lack of hospitality. It’s hard to enjoy a meal when you're made to feel like an inconvenience. At the end someone came for payment, we informed her about our experience and told her that we don’t wanna pay service charge, after listening this she was quite angry and keep asking who was the waiter why we don’t wanna pay etc!! she was quite rude too.Overall, the experience was frustrating.

It’s neither amazing nor bad, but in an area crowded with tourists who just need food to fill their stomachs, it’s acceptable. The menu has all the favorites, Xiao Long baos, Phoenix claws, ha cau, fried wonton. You know what to expect, but also expect a rather large bill and small serving portions. Really uninspired and not much better than the local Chinese takeaways you can find on most British high streets.

Ordered duck and dumplings, the duck was super dry and the dumplings were disappointing

The fact that the place was full of people was not, in the end, an indication of quality. The dishes are certainly plentiful but tasteless and really expensive for a more than mediocre restaurant. Absolutely nothing against simple or bare or poorly furnished places, but the cost of the food and the quality are decidedly disproportionate compared to the context.

Food not very tasty if not poor. Discreet service. Experience to forget.

Booked a table for boxing day 2 months ago. Last night at midnight got an email saying the table was cancelled No reason no call no communication. Have tried calling and they don't answer. Got through. They just told me they're now too busy. When i asked why they cancelled my booking that has been on the books for 2 months they just shouted "cancelled" at me and hung up. Lovely.

They have a variety of Chinese/ Hong Kong food to choose from the menu. Food is delicious and good portions. I personally recommend soup dumplings, or xiaolongbao (小籠包), which are juicy and meaty.

The waiters were being extremely rude and didn’t even bother to ask us how we were doing, like other restaurants. There were lots of cigarettes on the floor and rushed us to pay the bill. There were crab shells in the crab dumpling and the portion was really small. Not to mention that the food was £60 for 4 dishes!!

WHERE NOT TO EAT IN CHINA TOWN : Ok We had the worst experience ever. We have visited Dumplings legend many times in the past. Sadly our waiter was the rudest waiter we have encountered ever in China Town. He tried to charge extra and when we asked him to refund the difference he said “wait” With a hand gesture. !! He brought the rice out before any of the starters and when we laughed and said , oh, u brought out the rice first , he says, “patience”!! Who talks like this to customers. His manager came and took charge and refunded us the extra charge back to my card. After all that rude behaviour, he says , “ Now take your things and go”!!! Unbelievable!! Not sure why he is working in a restaurant if he does not like to serve customers with a smile. His manager said he was having a bad day but seriously, how can they employ such a rude waiter. We only went there for their dumplings, never again.

We go here atleast twice a week. The dumplings are very very high quality. The food arrives really quick even though the place is usually full. The only negative feedback is that the staff tries to push you away to accommodate more tables.

If you want to have a dizzy or feeling of throwing up after eating a meal, ‘dumplings lengend’ is the right place to go! The food has wayyyyyy too much MSG and over-consuming the heavily seasoned food has gotten me a 2-hour me time in the toilet. Feeling dizzy and can’t sit up straight, hugging the toilet the entire time. Nevertheless, the food are overpriced while the quality is very poor. The shrimp dumplings we ordered are food you’ll never receive in an actual Chinese restaurant. ‘Dumplings Legend’ is a restaurant to scam tourists money. Moreover the service was absolute bs. The waiter was trying to stuff all the plates in a very small table, leaving us no place move and eat properly. The waiter didn’t notice my phone on the table and decided to put the sizzling hot plate on my phone while dripping the sauce all over the table. At last we paid £91 for two ppl dining out. This is not the food quality and service we are looking for when we paid almost a hundred quid. As someone who is from Hong Kong and enjoyed traditional Chinese food, I recommend you to check out other restaurant in China town instead of walking into this tourist trap.

I hesitated to come here but it was a long day and I needed my Chinese food fix. Honestly for the purpose of something open late night where you can have a drink and a large selection fine. Otherwise if you’re Chinese I would steer clear with a five foot pole .

You have to order food for at least £15 per person and the staff are unfriendly. Most dishes cost around £13.

Great and fast service besides the peak hours. Tasty food. The tables are a bit small and too close to each other

I ordered 3 types of soup dumpling, the normal pork, spicy pork and chicken. The spicy pork was by far the best of the 3. It had a nice flavourful broth and a good soup/filling/wrapper ratio, although i wouldnt have considered them to be “spicy” i can see that people with less spice tolerance would have thought they are. The normal pork and chicken both lacked in flavour and were bland and the chicken barely had any broth. I have taken into consideration that i did order during lunchtime which would have been a very busy time for them. I would go back to try more items on the food menu, and maybe the spicy pork soup dumplings, but not for the other two items. I did mention that my food was on the colder side and they have refunded my order which marks them up in my opinion.

Their soup dumplings were so good, they also ate 5 years ago and were not disappointed.

All the dishes we tried were excellent.

Pretty expensive for what it was.

Sadly well past its prime from when I first came 20 years ago. But at least it's cheap.

Fantastic food ,lovely family. Great place to eat.

Great food, authentic food and really good for a group of 12.

If you want an absolute racism establishment go off! White people behind us got in. go off though

Big place, staff always friendly and helpful. Food is good - some of the pastry is a little thick on some items.

Food was delicious plentiful. Staff atmosphere 👌 👏 xx

Good Chinese especially dumplings,

Ate dumplings for the first time. Were very tasty. As a tip, don't order too much at once

Lovely little place. Great service. Excellent quality food.

Friday dinner works party could not fault anything food was fantastic, service was great and friendly best restaurant iv visited in China Town by far .

Very nice good. Hot and always topped up.

Excellent service, fast and very good reps. The sweet and sour chicken is excellent. I recommend

The beer was as expected. Very, very rarely, poor Asian food or service was rated. We will remember the visit, unfortunately not positively. Absolute disaster

I tried a number of signature dishes and they all came up reasonably well done: fried pho with beef, ministeamer dumplings, chicken soup, prawn dumplings... That means the dim sum chef, chefs are very 👍. Seatings are a bit cramped for my liking, but it is London Chinatown. Service is fast and courteous but nothing out of the ordinary. Location is good and convenient, bang in the heart of Chinatown - short walk either from Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road station.

Muy buena comida. Los dumplings son la especialidad y si cumplen su prestigio. Pedo una Chicken Noodle Soup y… MUY MUY buena. Los dumplings bastante buenos. El servicio es muy rápido en los alimentos pero después pierden atención a la mesa. En general bastante recomendable.

Fun and relaxed place, open late. Service was friendly and excellent. They post their menu prices without VAT, which is illegal. I left happy, but just a little confused over the unexpected 20% charge on the bill.

It was a last minute stop as I was hungry. The food is average, which is a shame, as it used to be a pretty good restaurant. Wonton noodle soup (main dish) was just warm. Lots of wonton noodles and wontons. Broth was ok. Lacked any real depth of flavour. I ordered salt and pepper chicken. There was no salt and no pepper. It tasted like cinnamon chicken. A very strange dish. I did send it back and got it removed from the bill. Another China Town restaurant I won’t be going back too.

Milk tea is not allowed to be brought into the store to drink

The food is delicious - one of the best in Chinatown, perfect fluffy dumplings and tender duck - arrives within minutes of ordering and is reasonably priced. The bad reviews complain of poor customer service- I get that but they're running an incredibly busy canteen-style restaurant, managing to turn around dishes in a very tight timeframe and so yes the service is brusque (but efficient) to match

We had the Black Pork Xiao Long Bao, stir fried green bean with minced pork, and grilled buns with pork and truffle. They were all very good and petty authentic. The food was served at a good speed despite how busy it was. Would come again.

Good veggie Xiao Long Bao! Service was fast and efficient Good if you are alone ☺️

To flee…. On the map it makes you want When the dishes arrive it’s visually appealing again But once in the mouth it’s disaster, disappointment after disappointment. Don't be fooled by the pictures of kings on the walls. It's inedible.

Dumpling Legends is one of our favorite places in China Town, and we have been there dozens of times. On this most recent trip to see show on the West End, we went at least 1/2 dozen time over the course of the week. The strength of the DL are of course the dumplings / dim sum. They are fresh (you can watch them being made in the day time), meaty, and delicious. My wife's favorite food in the world is their egg custard buns. Their other dishes are remarkable also. They can do Sichuan well, though it is not their speciality. I appreciated that the added fresh chilis to their chicken Sichuan dish. We have been all over the menu, and we have yet to find a dish that wasn't appreciated by someone at the table. The only quibble is that while we were in London this week, they reduced their hours. They had been open to 3 AM - which made DL the place to go for a leisurely recap of your shows. The hours reduced to 11 ( I believe), which means you may have to hustle to get there.

Would give minus stars for service. Horrrrrrrrrible experience as far as service is concerned. It's like they don't want people to sit in!!!!!! Food was not bad.. but I'd rather do a takeaway and eat on a bench in open. The management should create a team of service members that are polite. Horrrrrrrible service

Really bland dumplings and incredibly rushed service, the waitress actually took the plate from under me as I still had the last dumpling in my chopsticks 😂 actually shocking. There really wasn't anything noteworthy, just a tourist trap.

10/10! Fabulous service, friendly and attentive staff. Incredible food, (the spicy Pork Xiaolongbao is a must order!) And an amazing atmosphere. We arrived at opening time on a Monday, 11:30, and by 12 tables were filling up quickly. I would recommend getting there early to ensure you get seated, but even if not the wait is worth it! Reasonably priced for the quality of food you get. Loved it and can’t wait to come back!

Outstanding meal. Staff is incredibly friendly and courteous. Really enjoyed a great lunch

Good food, great atmosphere, and excellent customer service

Not quite finished eating, the table is cleared and the bill is placed on the table. Ambiance like a canteen. Food just very mediocre. Not recommended. Unfortunately it doesn't work without a star

Very good food, but with this service it doesn't help at all. No service, automatic 12.5% ​​gratuity surcharge, if the water is still, the most expensive water in 0.8l is immediately brought to you without asking and in an unfriendly manner.

The food is good for the price and the variety of options is huge. The service is quite rood, but at least fast and efficient.

The food is okay; it's actually better than we expected, as we know how Chinese food (more like Cantonese food, nothing like Chinese food from northern China) tastes in such restaurants in Chinatown. However, the service is very bad. The guy who took our bill looked like we owed him a million dollars. We will never come here again.

Food was good, and came fast. service was good I really enjoyed the sichuan spicy

Excellent quality and service plus great choice of menu.

The lobster black truffle dumplings were very good, but that was about it. The service was incredibly poor. They’re very rude. Soup dumplings were all right, but I expected more from the dumplings overall, namely, the pan fried dumplings, which were small.

It was an awful experience, service extremely rude. We ordered 2 sets dumplings (8pcs each) and we were forced to consume more on top of the mandatory service charge. We also asked for a glass of water but never came. Food pretty was good. Save your time and money, there are plenty of options in Chinatown, don’t make my mistake, go somewhere else.

Very good food, terrible service. The price, for the area, is acceptable. We paid €30/person without drinking alcohol or dessert.

The place is good, they have an insane quantity of choices and they serve your order very fast. I tried this place under a friend suggestion and even though was good, I know of a few places in the same area where I believe the dishes were more to my taste. This being said absolutely a valid option for a good traditional meal

worst experience at a chinese restaurant ever. My friends and I popped in after having a stroll around central London as we saw there was a queue outside so we assumed the food would be good- also considering the prices. We ordered roast pork, which came to our table stone cold, we then decided we do not want that particular dish anymore as pork served cold seems like a serious health hazard. Our special fried rice came out slimy and with sauce on top that ruined the entire meal. We complained to staff and they were ridiculously rude to all of us, we kindly asked them to remove it of our bill however the woman rudely refused and stated towards me a black woman that ‘I knew you would be like this when you walked through the door,’ which I found profusely horrible. After a while she settled for taking off the rice which was £12 and she only took off £6.80. I am highly upset at the service we received at this disgusting place. No hospitality at that chaotic place whatsoever. If I could give 0 stars I would.

The food is very inconsistent and very expensive for the end product. We were disappointed with the meat dishes in sauce and the service was not very friendly. We enjoyed the dumpling and fried rice.

Avoid this place! Rude staff and they rush you so they can have the table back greedy money making awful rude people!!! The food isn't the best quality and so many more better and cheaper chinese restaurants in the area of soho please avoid this awful restaurant, the manager also the most rudest person ever she shouldn't even be working in hospitality & the dumplins like goey slim not so nice like they advertise!!

All the dumplings tasted the same and the service was inhospitable.

Excellent Hygienic food🦟 Experience in London Long story short, In my noodle, there was a mosqito and unknown material on inside of plate. When I told the Chinese staff, she said she can give me 10% off to the dish without saying sorry with incredibly rude face. If you were nice to me, I would paid and left. But I couldn’t stand their incredibly nice behavior, so I did spoke up, and finally the owner said just leave without paying. I ordered a noodle. The Chinese female clerk was rude, so I thought she was paying for me. She said I sit just next to the couple and it was really really close. Also felt uncomfortable because the couple next to me looked at me so much. So I decided to going to eat quickly and leave, but I found out the mosqito while I was eating. All my life, going around the world, going to different restaurants I've never had such a dirty dish before. Not only a mosquito, but also unknown substances inside of bowl surface because they not washed properly. I notice because when I tried to scratch them, they were removed 🤮 When I saw the review here, I saw it wasn't clean, but I didn't expect it to be this dirty. I thought I was going to throw up when I saw them. The staff just tossed me to the owner. The owner said like “IT IS NORMAL AND NATURAL MOSQITO IN THE DISH BECAUSE WIND COME TO INSIDE THE RESTAURANT” Excuse me. Seriously? I also couldn’t hear some apology from them, and she said I could go without paying finally. But of course without some apology. Also I heard something bad words like blaming me when I left the restaurent. The only fault for me was I should eat them slowly to stop eating. I was so rush because of feeling of being hungry and discomfort. Thank you for you guy’s unbelievable behavior and services below than Mac Donald🦟💕

Second visit, food lovely great choice , friendly waiters/waitress.

The food is soooo good here. The best place in London to get xiao long bao (soup dumplings).

Expected better. The spicy duck dumplings were great the others we tried ranged from okay to a little better than okay. Service was good.

This is our favorite lunch place for all these years, dim sum are always good, manager Derek always look after us very well, highly recommend if you want proper Chinese food.

Expensive and not worth the price.

The food is okay, but the service is really bad. It's not a good experience to take away our plates before we finish eating.

Average Chinese food & trash service from the manager.

We basically walked by here by accident and saw those dumplings filled with meat. It was also a great luck that they were just opening. But it was truly a gourmet experience. Spicy pork dumplings are top. Anyone who likes this cuisine should definitely stop here.

Good quality, fun, friendly China town institution. A wide range of interesting dim sum. Friendly service. Great pricing. A real banker. Highly recommend.

This place is called Dumpling Legend for a reason! The prawn gyoza were superb. We also enjoyed the soup dim sum. Another standout dish was the chicken noodles. I could eat these all night long!! The staff were great and friendly to the kids. Each were given a lolly on the way out. This place came recommended, and I would have no issue passing that sentiment on

Non mi ha entusiasmato. Ho cenato in questo ristorante e devo dire che è stato al di sotto delle mie aspettative. Dumplings nulla di che, pollo dong bao pieno di aglio, noodles con pollo discreti. Verdure piccantissime. Conto salato 111 pound. Non ci ritornerei.

Food was great. Service wasn’t so great