Denise C.
Yelp
I am always up for a tasty soup dumpling and actually any and all dumplings if they are made well. You may think to yourself how hard can it be to find a place like that nowadays? Especially if you are in an area specific neighborhood such as Chinatown Montreal. It's where the eateries are plentiful and the competition fierce! I googled Mai Xiang Yuan Dumpling Chinatown and they are known for extremely juicy dumplings. I was super excited to try it and seeing the place packed upon entry is always a good sign!
From the moment you walk in, you are greeted and told that they are a cash only establishment. However, the server points out that there's an ATM machine in house. Or, you can take your bills to a currency exchange just a block away. Lastly they will also take U.S dollars, so all good!
There was only one female server when I was there, and it was hard to get her attention. It took awhile to get our orders in, as she was trying to get to all the tables. I had to flag her down several times, once to place my order, again for water and then for small individual plates. Lastly, when I was ready to pay the bill. Although it is a small and cozy eatery, you could see that they definitely needed more staff.
The menu was not super big but it had enough dumpling varieties to keep you interested.
I ordered their classic juicy pork soup dumplings, their pan fried pork and Chinese cabbage dumplings as well as their steamed pork and cilantro shrimp dumplings. Oh and also a chicken wonton soup. Dumpling portions are quite decent here, with the exception of the bowl of chicken wonton soup which I thought was rather small. Soup dumplings were indeed very juicy and had nice soup to meat ratio. The pan fried as well as steamed dumplings were all nicely done and very moist and flavorful. The chicken wonton soup was just okay and in my opinion the broth was on the bland side. I would definitely skip the soup and just order more dumplings! I would say that it's an anytime comfort food for a dumpling lover so give it a try!