Sammi & Soupe Dumpling

went with my roommate during chinese new year—could have just been an off day since it was so busy, but I’d like to leave my experience anyways. there was a small line but we were seated fairly quick, but after that, the service was quite atrocious. they had 2 poor girls doing all the bussing which was probably why everything took so long. I think a fundamental issue is that this place tries to be ‘high-end’ atmosphere-wise, but there only seemed to be small groups of 2-4, more casual gatherings, which makes the time between food atrocious.

roommate and I came at approximately 6pm, ordered our food at 615, got our food at 630ish, ordered more food at 715, food came out at 730, and waited until 815 for the bill (eventually waved over a waitress, chances are we would have waited even longer if we had not). there were a couple other tables who experienced the same circumstances I believe, but obviously we aren’t going to be rude to the workers about it.

the food was very tasty and I really loved it; we finished within maybe 10 minutes of eating just for context, but essentially we waited longer than we’ve ate (maybe a 1:4 ratio, 30 minutes of eating to 90 minutes of waiting). my roommate and I played a little game of “how many times will our waitress pass us until we get our bill,” (around 15) and we even placed bets on what time we would (he guessed 749, I guessed 8). our waters were not filled again apart from initially receiving the cups.

overall I really liked eating the food, it was not worth the extremely long wait however, but the horrible service is what made this such a memorable experience. I don’t blame the workers at all. we had a laugh about it afterwards and I will likely come again since the spicy pork soup dumplings were very flavourful and I was a huge fan of the chili oil (the wonton soup was spectacular too! the pan fried dumplings were good but not the best, you could tell they’ve been sitting for a bit since it wasn’t hot anymore) if the service is the same, I don’t think I will be coming back. if anything, maybe don’t come when it is very busy, but even when it got less crowded, my group wasn’t tended to.

tldr: service bad, food good, wouldn’t come if I have the same waiting times

I love love and love their soup dumplings! When k moved to Ottawa I was craving for soup dumplings and I found this place! My kids love this place! I have all their dumplings best is chicken and shrimp!

Very good restaurant highly recommend. If you like dishes with peanuts this is your place to go to and they have a cold tofu Dish as well a nice little appetizer with chili oil nice thing to have while you wait for the main course… as usual photos down below.

We visited as a group of 7 on Saturday early afternoon; the restaurant was packed, but we were able to be seated immediately.

Total after taxes and tip was approximately $160. It’s noted that we weren’t too hungry, so we didn’t order that much. (Note that not all food items ordered are pictured.) For big eaters or those who are famished, expect a higher bill. Some notes on some of the food:

The hot and sour soup was a bit thin, but was seasoned well and tasty. I would’ve loved a bit more soup though; it was a small bowl.

Peanut butter cold noodles were a bit disappointing, as it was under seasoned. The noodles used also tasted and felt almost like spaghetti; I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what they used.

For soup dumplings, we ordered normal pork, sweet pork, crab & pork, and lamb & coriander. The dumplings tasted and looked like they were made fresh on location, and had an adequate amount of soup filling in each. They were very satisfying to have, as soup dumplings are just a phenomenal food item.

However, the dumpling skins were just a tad lacking on chew and texture, and some were steamed too close together, leading to a few broken skins and spilled soup. The normal pork and crab & pork ones were the best, but were a bit on the sweet side for some reason. The sweet pork ones were just way too sweet. The lamb dumplings were interesting, but led me to the conclusion that lamb and soup dumplings don’t go well together.

If you’re craving soup dumplings, this place will satisfy that craving, but there are many improvements that could be made (better skin, better seasoned filling, more soup, more careful placement in the steamers).

While the corn was good, this is actually the best thing I did eat on my trip to Ottawa. I love Xiao long bao and this spot did not disappoint. It’s located right underneath a gay bar (who put on a really fun drag show I went to as well), the highlights for me were the chocolate, shrimp with tom yum, juicy pork with snow crab, and juicy pork with truffles dumplings. I was really quite hyped for the lamb with coriander dumplings but they were a bit of a miss.

Went here for lunch on two separate days and loved it both times.