Royal China

Hardly 0.5 stars. «Chinese food» is very Americanized. Food extremely greasy. No soup in Xiao long bao, and definitely over priced. Not worth going to.

This is the best dumpling place in Texas. I love how they make the noodles right in front of you. Tried the Dan dan noodle and that was one of the best noodles I have ever eaten. Also the soup dumplings were amazing. I’ve been trying a lot of soul dumplings at different places but this is by far the best one I’ve had in Texas. The environment is nice and clean and I really enjoyed my food. The prices are reasonable and the service was pretty great! I will definitely be coming back here soon and bringing all my friends and family! This is going to be my new dinner spot!

I’ve been looking very forward to dining at Royal China and I couldn’t be any happier about actually getting the chance to be able to. Craving some Chinese dumplings, my friend and I decided to go here for lunch and didn’t want to drive all the way to Richardson. The restaurant is a lot nicer compared to a normal Chinese authentic restaurant. The service was great and our waiter was very attentive.
We ordered the wonton soup as the appetizer and it was okay. I could go without ordering the wonton soup during my next visit to Royal China. Next, we ordered the hand-​made dumpling sampler which came in shrimp, chicken, pork, and a vegetarian dumplings. In addition to the dumpling sampler, we ordered the Xao long Bao (Pork soup dumpling) which was the best out of everything we ate. I strongly recommend ordering the soup dumplings!
Overall: I had a good experience dining at Royal China. To be honest, I think Jeng Chi is better. I will most likely return to Royal China since the location isn’t too far.

I came here on a Saturday night about an hour before they closed and was shocked to find out that there was a 30 minute wait for a table of two. I didn’t realize it was that busy of a place. We decided to wait it out since we’d heard such amazing things about the restaurant. I also was shocked to find out that it was a pretty nice place. I guess I should’ve looked into it a bit more. I was wearing workout clothes while everyone else was dressed nicely. I definitely didn’t dress up to par with the well decorated interior and the nice atmosphere.
I tried the chicken dumplings and the Moo-​Goo-​Gai-​Pan (which is described as chicken stir-​fried with mushrooms, broccoli, and snow peas in a white sauce). The chicken dumplings were really good. This was my first time ever having dumplings so I can’t make any comparisons, but it sure was delicious. I actually ordered a second plate of the dumplings after I finished the first; I couldn’t get enough! A definite ⁵⁄₅ for the dumplings. So why the three star rating? The Moo-​Goo-​Gai-​Pan was absolutely DISGUSTING. Literally the worst dish I’ve ever had at any restaurant. The supposed «white sauce» is more like starch in water. Definitely nothing close to a sauce. It looks gross and tastes even grosser. Also, this isn’t an issue of me not being use to authentic Chinese food because I came with a Chinese friend who agreed that the dish was awful. It honestly shocked me that Royal China had the guts to serve such a dish. We barely touched it. A complete waste of $ 13 (which is a hefty price tag for the amount of food anyways). I understand when some foods just aren’t my style, but this was a case of a poorly put together dish. Royal China loses major points for that.

I will have to say I was tricked into coming to this place again, friends wanted to go. They didn’t want to drive to Richardson to the Chinese strip center. Yes we had to wait for a table, which is fine for me, completely cool with it. It was the food. Just not good, was let down for the third time, there will not be another. It was so disappointing on so many levels words can not explain it. Just so you don’t think I’m being difficult the whole table thought that. I will not subject myself to bad over priced chimes food again. To be honest I think Pandas drive through would have been better.

A very careful 5 stars, well more like 4.5.
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅
Service ⁴⁄₅
Food 5/​5*
On a Friday night, the wait for 2 people was estimated to be about 40 minutes but we really only waited for around 20. Between frantically seating people, the host quickly took my name and I wasn’t entirely sure that he wrote it down. Never fear, he’s got his stuff together! In fact, he even came around to double check that people in the waiting area were jotted down correctly on his little yellow paper. I think I have control issues…
During the past visits, it’s been warm enough to wait outside or go exploring at that toy store down the shopping strip.
Service is good if you generally know what you want to order. It’s not the kind of place where they take the time to make recommendations, but that’s what Unilocal is for!
The basil eggplants is so amazing! This is enough to share as a veggie dish with others, don’t attempt it solo. In fact, this was the first time I’ve ever tried eggplant in general.
Thumbs up to the soup dumplings (xiao long Bao) $ 9 and dumpling sampler $ 10! I surprisingly enjoyed the dumplings in reverse order of what I thought I would like. Vegetable and pork were the best out of the bunch.
Dry stirred beef is also fantastic. It comes with broccoli and is big enough to share too. You get your selection of steamed rice or fried rice.
I would not come here for noodles, I’ve had ²⁄₅ dishes here from before but the husband and I have our ordering game down!
Lastly, the owner who I think they called Jo Jo (either meaning uncle in Chinese or that’s his actual name) is so cool and nice. Dumpling bar was a fun experience to sit at!

I hope I can leave a 0 star.
First time to be here, their service is the worst I have ever seen, they were very mean when taking our order, they even do not give us water, I have to ask to buy some bottle water and they still said they do not have it. Ugly place, ugly food, ugly service, will never come back.

Wow, where to start…
The food is very unauthentic. All the dishes were way to sweet and nothing like the food I just had in China.
While in China we had the most amazing soup dumplings. Reading in another review that the dumplings were spot on with China, my girlfriend and I were excited to go. They were merely a sad imitation. The skins were chewy and there was no broth inside.
I will say tho that the dipping sauce was similar minus the spice.
Speaking of spice, I ordered my food extra spicy and it was nothing of the sorts. Not even a little.
The restaurant was nearly empty and still the service was extremely slow. The food came out cold and the server was never in sight.
Fortunately I’m sure there are plenty of other Chinese restaurants at half the price in Dallas.
My girlfriend says save your money and go to Panda Express. Taste is very similar.

Great place for truly authentic and delicious food! The biggest problem here is trying to decide! Luckily I had my good friend with me who just so happens to be a pro here! I actually knew I HAD to come here after seeing her colorful dumplings photo. Oh those dumplings… how I loved thee! Their steamed goodness plays sweet dreams in my mind when I think about it! Maybe my fave dish I sampled was the recommendation of our server. A spicy noodle dish called Sichuan Ma-​La Mian. Just get it and Mail my thank you note later. This dish is not suitable for small children. Let’s not talk about how I might know this but just trust me. Keep your spice to yourself! The Scallion Pancake was another fave! I love shareable dishes and trying so many new tastes. The Dan Dan noodles, while yummy, paled in comparison to the other food on our glutinous table. The dry stirred beef however was sweet and yummy and made a good compliment to the spice in the Sichuan Ma-​La Mian. Okay so no need to judge us and how much we just ordered. We sacrificed and did that so you can now know the glory that is a night at Royal China. Go and enjoy and for heaven’s sake save some dumplings for me!

This place was pretty disappointing. The food is decently prepared, but it’s got a lot of problems, such as:
1. Incredibly inauthentic food. I would call most of it Chinese-​inspired, but not Chinese.
2. Long waits.
3. Really expensive for what it is. The dishes we ordered (like pork belly, dan dan noodles, pot stickers, mixed vegetable dish) all seemed to be 1.5 times the prices they should be.
4. Reeeeeaaaaalllllly slow service. Like 5 minutes of sitting down before anyone asked what we wanted to drink, 10 minutes between finishing our food and being able to find someone (anyone) to bring us the check. I wonder why the waits are so long…
I don’t understand why Americanized Chinese food is always shiny. It’s weird. I’m also not sure why this has been rated best Chinese food in Dallas. My wife and I have only lived here for 6 months, and I can think of three other places that are better and cheaper, without the ridiculous waits.

Another one for the books. This place lives up to the hype. I came with my family today and my mom kept exclaiming how much she loved the food. She said it was the best Chinese restaurant that I’ve taken to her to yet! I will say that I called ahead to make a reservation at 6:30pm and we still had to wait another 20 mins. It is super packed so definitely call ahead or get there early.
The good stuff.
— Scallion pancake: reminiscent of the green onion pie at Coco’s in Austin. Nice and crispy. Maybe due to the rush, they only cut it in four large pieces. No big deal, we just cut it in halves again.
— Xiao long bao: SO GOOD. For Dallas anyways! It’s not quite on the same level as that famous place in NY but I will take it. Better than Jeng Chi’s for sure. Eat it with a soup spoon with a little bit of the sauce they give you and take small bites. It’s hot!
— Dumpling sampler (steamed): Delicious and flavorful. You get two of each, chicken, shrimp, vegetable and pork.
— Crispy red snapper: Hands down my favorite dish that I ordered tonight. The sauce is this amazing oyster sauce with some good shit mixed in it.
— Peking duck: Again, maybe it was the dinner rush, but they forgot to bring us the hoisin sauce for the dip until we asked for it. The sauce is a must, otherwise the duck is too dry and bland. Instead of the traditional buns, you get a thin crêpe like wrap to eat with. Different but still good.
— Beef Noodle Soup: Not what like other beef noodle soups I’ve had, but it was still savory nonetheless. The noodles you can tell was a labor of love. It’s kinda neat to look behind you to see the people hand pull your delicious noodles. It was the last dish to come out so it takes awhile to make. I tasted some sesame oil in the soup base which I absolutely love.
A swing and a miss for these two dishes…
— Mapo Tofu: What? It’s like a staple dish for most Taiwanese /​Sichuanese restaurants. The tofus were way too big and the sauce was not good. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’ve had better. Sichuanese Cuisine is my favorite place for it. Pass on this dish.
— Green tea ice cream: I just like to end my meals on a sweet note and this is a pretty basic dessert at most places. It was a cheap version of the green tea ice cream that stained your mouth. No bueno.
Other than that, I had a great time and my tummy is throughly pleased. Try not to be too hard on rating the service. Our server kept forgetting things and we had empty water glasses for most of dinner, but we understand it was super packed. She was pretty stressed out so we appreciate her trying to stay on top of things. This place is pricier than average Chinese restaurants so if you’re looking for food that is cheap and quantity, don’t care here and crap on their ratings. Quality is key. We only had five people for all the food we ordered and barely had any left over. It’s worth it.

Okay so a caveat– many people told me to go to royal China saying it’s better than jeng chi. My expectations were pretty high as jeng chi is so f*cking good.
Ambiance– very nice. A little bit of a modern twist and fairly clean.
Service– average maybe a little bit slower than I would have liked but not bad.
Price– pretty expensive for how much u get. They def don’t win against jeng chi on that.
Food–
1. Dumpling sampler. Cool colors. Decent dumplings. Would say they needed a sauce to make it more special.
2. Xiao long Bao– bigger than normal with more meat and more soup. U get fewer though compared to jeng chi. I would say Jeng chi wins. Royal China xiaoong bao are way too sweet with no balance that comes from a vinegar based sauce (which wasn’t salty our tangy enough) and ginger (just a ginger sauce thing instead of the real stuff)
3. Lo-​rou noodles. Pretty good. Probably the best of all the dishes. The hand pulled noodles are good but I think they should have been chewier and got pulled too much. The pork belly was veryyyy delicious and tender. Sauce was great.
4. Scallion pancake. Ick. No scallion flavor even though I saw them in the pancake and just wayyyy greasy.
I’ll be back probably to give it antiher shot bc I didn’t get a chance to try the Dan Dan noodles.

Décor: ⁴⁄₅
–Lots of seating however it can get busy too, expect a wait
–Ideal seating is for parties of 4
Service: ⁴⁄₅
–good, fast service for the most part.
–you stop getting water refills once the check is served, i guess a sign they want you to leave
–clean up crew can get a bit loud with the dishes
Food: ⁴⁄₅
–overall food is solid here
–Xiao Long Bao — small in size, tastes great that we ordered 3
–Sichuan Spicy Wonton — the spicy sweet & sour sauce is addicting, so much that we ordered 2 of these and used it to dip the noodles from other dishes in
–Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup — would not get again, standard noodle soup dish that has nothing to brag about
–Henan Lu-​rou Lamian — dry noodle dish that has flavor however nothing to brag about

Overall bad experience, waitress service charged our tab even though it was myself, my husband and my child I’ve never heard of servers automatically adding a gratuity for themselves for a party of 2 and a child. She even had the audacity to write it in herself and what tip she felt she deserved like we weren’t aware of how much to tip. I even asked for a napkin and she said they didn’t have any? She was extremely rude and she may not know it, but I as well work for the service industry and you really shouldn’t be so stereotypical. As far as the food it was mediocre and not authentic food very Americanized and overpriced definitely not worth it, will not be back, only reason visited the location was due to the high review ratings. She got the tip she wanted and we left without complaining, but not a cool experience.

I came here with my sister, my nephew and both my young nieces. This is a dimmly lit restaurant that is very crowded and popular. My nephew saw several school friends while we dined.
I was excited to try the soup dumplings and was happy with them. XLB are my favorite things in the world and I try them at every place that offers them. Other dumplings were good; the sampler had a bit for everyone but there were definite favorites in the crowd.
My niece loved watching the noodles get made by the chef. I remember being as fascinated as she was when I was her age.
I would love to come here for a more adult dinner. I think many of the options are a bit more sophisticated than the average kid’s palette.

ENTER THE NEW DYNASTY.
When you find this restaurant, you become confused. The appearance does not fit the name, «You’re kidding me, this is Royal China?» But you enter the doors and you realize that this may be the most interesting speakeasy-​esque restaurant. Dimmed lighting, Chinese art and fixtures, and chefs making noodles and dumplings before you. Welcome to Royal China; where the air fills your lungs with a Chinese cuisine that you probably haven’t faced before. Be prepared, their menu is well stocked and ready for war… your appetite.
And now, the food.
The Food:
Dumpling Sampler: NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS.
Open up the bamboo steamer and you quickly discover Noah’s Ark – two of each of the pork, chicken, shrimp, and vegetable dumplings. The skins of these dumplings are color-​coated with vegetable juices as informed by the waitress. Red corresponds to shrimp, green to vegetables, white to pork, and yellow/​orange to chicken. You can watch each dumpling being made fresh before your eyes. Each dumpling was light, but provided a fresh meaty flavor (except the veggie dumpling). The shrimp dumpling had a strong shrimp flavor with slight hints of saltiness that worked well. The pork dumpling was a little watery but maintained the fresh essence of the pork. The vegetable dumpling was dominated by carrot flavor and the presence of carrot. The chicken dumpling was extraordinarily light with a slight hint of chicken.
Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings): A SPOON OF SOUP WITH EACH BITE.
A Shanghai delicacy that is commonly copied, but rarely recreated. Xiao Long Bao is the steamed soup pork dumplings, each one packaging a spoon of savory and porky soup. Best eaten when they are hot, but always take caution that there is hot soup on the inside. Overall, very moist with fresh pork that is steamed just to the point of being cooked and no more. The soup dumpling stays intact within its structure, but breaks open inside the mouth, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. A wonderfully simple dumpling that is light on the taste buds, but strong on its impression.
Lanzhou Dan Dan Lamian (Noodles) (Homemade): PERFECT COLD NOODLES
Homemade cold noodles suspended in a cold, tangy, and sweet Sichuan peppercorn + soy sauce. The noodles were wonderfully chewy, providing it with structure and a gummy texture. You really get to appreciate the noodle’s elasticity and the sauce’s flavors from chewing. The sauce itself is overwhelmingly sweet and tangy to the point where it saturates the taste buds, and your appetite (–1 star). The Lanzhou Dan Dan Lamian reminds me of the Korean cold noodle soup, Naengmyeon, in terms of how sweet, tangy, and citrusy. Overall, expect a sweet, cold noodle soup that makes you beg for some sodium to cut into how sweet it is.
Henan Lu-​Rou Lamian: EVERLASTING NOODLES GET IN MY BELLY.
Lunch and a free show, starring the chef and the noodles. The chef takes a piece of noodle dough and elongates it by bouncing it on a stone table to make the noodles. Homemade with a nice rustic feel that you immediately notice when they bring the dish out. The Henan Lu-​Rou Lamian consists of hand-​pulled noodles with braised pork belly in a sauce with five spices powder (star anise), mushrooms, and soy sauce. The pork belly and sauce are savory with a nice meaty caramel thickness. Sweet, salty, savory… did I mention savory? The noodles are chewy and shuttle the sauce into your mouth. The pork belly melts in your mouth and yields to your teeth, in contrast to the challenging noodles. Slurp them up and really taste them. The five spices/​star anise add a dimension of complexity that cannot be replicated. Enjoy them while they’re hot, but be warned; you get maybe 5 – 6 extra long noodles that go away faster than you think.
Purple Haze: WHEN VEGETABLES EAT MEAT.
This is a cut of hollowed eggplant filled with pork and Shiitake mushroom, served with a viscous garlic sauce. The eggplant was braised to soft, but not mushy goodness that accentuates the sweetness of the eggplant. The pork filling was the star of the show with its fresh porky goodness that provided the savory counterpunch to the sweet eggplant. The garlic sauce provided a viscous sauce that gave the pork and eggplant a nice and simple kick.
The Verdict: THE EMPEROR’S DISHES.
Enter hungry like a peasant and leave full as an emperor. Royal China’s menu consists of a huge variety of dishes and teas that take a good minute to decide. The dumpling sampler is a great way to start, with fresh dumplings of different meats. The soup dumpling is fresh, warming and soothing the soul with each bite. The Lanzhou Dan Dan Lamian provides the cold, tangy handmade noodles that distinguish itself as an appetizer, while the Henan Lu-​Rou Lamian is the meaty, complex, homemade experience that you are looking for. Shoot for visually pleasing with the Purple Haze. Enjoy the chefs make dumplings and noodles, as well as the dimmed light atmosphere. Even if you can’t pronounce t

I’m not going to pretend to be a connoisseur of dumplings because I’m not… I just really like dumplings. After reading all the glowing Unilocal reviews of the dumplings here at Royal China, I knew I had to check it out for myself. People have always said, «you know a Chinese restaurant is good if you see a lot of Chinese people in it.» Well, what my friend and I had noticed was that we seemed to be the minority (we’re Asian). Royal China has pretty solid food — it’s just not worth the price. Service was good, though.
We got the hot and sour soup, Sichuan spicy wonton, dumpling sampler, xiao long bao, and scallion pancake. I didn’t try the hot and sour soup myself so I can’t review it but my friend said it was decent. I enjoyed the spicy wontons although they weren’t spicy at all. The dumpling sampler was cool, but I could do without the orange (chicken) and green (vegetable) dumplings. I was not a fan of the vegetable dumpling… haha. The XLB were good — the soup was very flavorful, you definitely need a soup spoon to eat these. But at $ 9 for 6 XLB… that’s $ 1.50 per dumpling… I expected them to be MUCH bigger. I’ve heard people say that Royal China has the BEST XLB in Dallas… I’m not entirely convinced. Scallion pancakes were good enough, crispy and not too oily.
So since we were already there and even after ordering a massive amount of food, we each decided to get a noodle dish since they make their noodles fresh here. I got the dan dan noodles with thin noodles and I don’t really have anything to complain about other than it was slightly too sweet for me. But I think that’s my problem because according to the description it’s supposed to be spicy, sweet and tangy.

I was sort of dragged here with a friend to meet up with two of her friends, who I didn’t realize/wasn’t told were dating long distance. I didn’t know one of them at all and met the other maybe two times briefly in the past 3 years, so it was a bit of an odd dinner. Anyway, regardless of that, my friend said her friends had said they wanted Chinese food. Since my friend is chinese and knows how to use the internet, she quickly identified Royal China as the BEST chinese restaurant in DFW. I’m not SO sure about this, but I digress.
No chopsticks on the table. Makes me think this place is designed for the non-​chinese. And it clearly is from the menu — there are a lot of traditional chinese (good chinese, not discount chinese takeaway places) dishes that are blatantly absent. They do have a ton of noodle and dumpling dishes, which is the reason I think they have such a huge fan base. Since I wasn’t feeling like eating dumplings or noodles, I can’t say much about that. Everyone at the table seemed to enjoy them but no one proclaimed «this is the best **** I’ve ever had!!!» at any point either. A few of the noodle ladies were definitely hispanic, something my friend only noticed after going on and on about how they got these excellent chinese women noodle pullers specifically to make the noodles at this restaurant.
I ended up ordering a chicken dish (da chien) which is basically chicken and some vegetables in a sambal chile sauce. It was nicely spicy and they velveted the chicken so that was a win from my perspective. I also tried the eggplant and the fried string beans, both of which were great and I’d order again.
Overall, I think the chinese food at other places in Dallas is more legit, but I’m not chinese, so whether you believe that or not is up to you! Both Shanghai and Kirin court, and honestly, even Garden Restaurant (which has a lot of malaysian influence) have more traditional chinese offerings, and you can get dim sum on demand at Garden restaurant! The location of Royal China is just too far away from downtown/​Deep Ellum for me to go there unless I’m being blackmailed to meet someone who has absolutely insisted on it as the location.
P. S. On the fortune-​telling side, my cookie said to «plan for my move», which is actually happening pretty soon!

This seems to be a Chinese restaurant that specializes in northern Chinese cuisine or food with alot of flour such as dumplings, scallion pancakes, beef rolls etc… My friend and I ordered Xiao long bao (soup dumplings), Lan Zhou Dan Dan mian, scallion pancakes, and hui guo rou (twice cooked pork). While some of the dishes are very authentic, the restaurant and the patrons seem to suggest this is a more American Chinese restaurant more so than a place where alot of Chinese people frequent.
The Xiao long bao didn’t look like it was very soupy from its appearance but it had a good amount of soup in it! The Dan Dan mian and the twice cooked pork had alot more chili oil than I’m used to seeing in those dishes but they were nonetheless very tasty and had a little bit of spice as well, although the twice cooked pork was pretty salty! This place would get four stars but I knocked it one star for the price as it seems to be on the pricier side for Chinese food.

I’ve had this on my to-​go list for quite some time and unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. I usually go to Richardson’s little China Town for cheap, authentic, delicious Chinese food and I was hoping Royal China would meet my expectations.
Their dishes were overpriced; I’d actually find something much better and cheaper in Richardson. My friends and I ordered the Dumpling Sampler (8 dumplings with 4 different types of dumplings), Dry Stirred Beef, and Lemon Chicken. The Dumpling Sampler was really colorful and beautifully made. The dumplings tasted great but not really the best I’ve ever had. I really loved the Dry Stirred Beef but I wouldn’t go back just for that. As for the lemon chicken, I thought it could have used more flavor in the breading and in the sauce (maybe more lemon juice in the sauce?).
The wait time was also very long — my friends and I dropped in on a Thursday evening and waited about 45 minutes for our table. This place gets packed so make a reservation if you want to check this out.