ShanDong Dumplings

Reviews

• Melissa S.

  star star star star star 13 July 2026

  This place is such a hidden gem. My boyfriend and I were in the area on our way to a different restaurant, but were distracted by two women in the window making dumplings. We decided to come in and order something small to see what the place had to offer. When we got the menu, we say they sold a minimum of 12 pieces per dumpling order and said, "screw it," and had our dinner there instead.
  
  In all: the chicken and celery dumplings were great. But the chicken and mushroom stir fry was unbelievable!
  
  Would definitely do to this place again.

• Bill W.

  star star star star_border star_border 12 July 2026

  My gf and I flipped a coin to try this place due to the negative reviews. It wasn't bad at all. We had the pork and shrimp steamed dumplings and the spicy beef noodle soup.
  
  I'm pretty sure the reason for the negative reviews is because most people have never had Chinese food from Shandong!
  
  They used peppercorns from Shanghai in their beef noodle soup which has a numbing effect. I wasn't expecting it but it didn't ruin the soup... just surprised. I'm actually not a big fan of the numbing effect, but the tender beef and noodles were on point!
  
  I'm glad we tried it, we might go back again to try something else next time.

• Cindy T.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 25 June 2026

  Terrible experience.
  We ordered through postmates. More on that later.
  
  First off, if you don't speak the language, at least say sorry, don't just hang up.
  My coworker speaks mandarin and when we called to complain, the lady just hung up on her.
  
  Then we called again, she spoke in Canto, this time I spoke with her.
  
  We ordered 6 items. Only 5 came. And among the 5, 2 were wrong/defects.
  
  About the missing item, she said that it was not something they have on their menu. I was like what?! Then tell us! She said it's Postmates' fault. They should update with her and kept telling me to complain with Postmates. Told her I already did and I'm the customer here and we need the food.
  
  Onto the wrong items/defects.
  
  My coworker ordered a 20pc steamed dumpling. Again, she said that they don't have that on their menu. The most they do is 12. But we found 13 in the box. So...
  
  And again, tell me if you don't have certain items! Just call. It's 2019- it's easy to pick up the phone and call!
  She said she told the Postmates guy and he said it's ok. Common sense tells me you are the restaurant making the food, shouldn't you take part of the responsibility if not most? Again, how hard is it to call? She just kept saying it's Postmates fault...
  
  Then, onto the wonton soup, there were barely meat in the wonton, I got a bowl of wonton skin...she admitted that they will take responsibility- finally! Funny thing is when I asked for a replacement, she told me to talk to Postmates again or go pick up because they don't do delivery. I was like, there is a reason for us to order delivery. I said I understand they normally don't do delivery but since this is an exceptional case, can they do it. Still no.
  
  At that point I was like never mind, thank you and just ended the call there. I can't. What kind of customer service is that? It's 2019! Unbelievable.
  
  So the 6 of us basically shared 3 items that came correctly and 2 defect items.
  
  Postmates in the other hand was super efficient and helpful and already gave us a full refund.

• Megan R.

  star star star star star_border 24 June 2026

  Perks of being in the SGV: ALL OF THE DUMPLINGS. Gave ShanDong in Old Town Pasadena a try after a very hot few hours at the Rose Bowl Flea and left as a new woman. Nothing like some AC and Chinese comfort food to cure what ails ya.
  
  We were in right around 3 pm on a Sunday and it was pretty quiet, which was nice. The two of us split a scallion pancake, an order of pork with leek dumplings, and an order of spicy juicy pork steam dumplings. They came out in that order and the meal got better and better--the scallion pancake wasn't my fave, but those spicy steam buns were something else. So dang good.
  
  This ended up being a ton of food for less than $40, which I would consider a win. Parking in Old Town is tricky, but there's a lot just a couple blocks west that's free for the first 90 minutes. Also worth noting that a couple people popped in for takeout while we were here, an option I'm sure we'll take advantage of in the future when those dumpling cravings hit!

• Jennifer L.

  star star star star_border star_border 23 June 2026

  3.5 stars. Pretty solid dumpling place in Pasadena area. Took awhile for the food to come out though. Got our first dish after 25 min.
  
  Loved the beef noodle. Not what I expected at all, but it had very fragrant chili oil. If you don't like oily food, stay away though.
  
  Both dumplings and pan fried buns were pretty good, but I just wish there were more fillings.
  
  Beef wrap was big but a bit dry.