Alex and I saw this review in the Boston Globe, so we decided to try The Dumpling House on Mass Ave. in Cambridge.
The whole experience was very much like eating in Chinatown. First it took forever to find a legal parking space, and the one we found was about a half mile walk from the restaurant. We didn’t have to wait in line, and the room was attractively decorated with a semi-circle of big windows letting in light, both pluses. But it was as crowded and noisy as any popular Chinatown dumpling place, and the waiters were slow to get to us and rushed and inattentive when they did. They missed one of the items that we ordered entirely, and dumped the rest on our table with abruptness. The food was decent. As the review mentions, the soup dumplings were very juicy – tip: use a soup spoon to catch the juices if you don’t eat it all in one gulp. And the greens were very tasty. But the beef in the beef and scallion roll was so gristly I couldn’t eat it. I’d say give it a try if you’re prepared for the full Chinatown experience.
Not to be blamed on the restaurant, but an annoying end to the evening nonetheless, is that I got rear-ended on Mass. Ave. on my way home after dropping off Alex. I had slowed for traffic ahead of me, and the guy behind didn’t notice until the last minute, tried to divert, and clipped my left back bumper. He was in much worse shape, with his whole front pushed in and hood buckled. We got acquainted while we were waiting for the police officer - he was an EE working at Lincoln Lab and driving his father’s car. It was his first accident ever, and he was very apologetic. Still, it’ll be a big nuisance for me to get this fixed. Grumble.