Arts & Life

Dough Zone: A dumpling lover’s dream

Andie Wong, Editor in Chief • 20 hours ago

Dough Zone offers Pork Xiao Long Baos, a traditional Chinese dish.

Dough Zone Dumpling House, located on East 4th Avenue in downtown San Mateo, offers an abundance of traditional and modern Chinese dishes and has easily become one of my favorites. The Chinese comfort food chain originally opened its first location in Bellevue, Washington, in 2014 before expanding to Oregon and eventually to the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Upon arriving around 12:30 p.m. on a Sunday, we were immediately greeted by friendly waiters who seated me and my friends quickly.

We decided to do family style to maximize our experience and take advantage of their wide variety of dishes. Luckily, all the items were reasonably priced, giving us access to both traditional and modern options.

My friends and I wound up choosing the Pork Xiao Long Baos ($9.95), Chicken Wontons in Chili Sauce ($7.30), Sweet & Sour Cucumbers ($7.30) and Vegetarian Spicy (Ma La) Noodles ($7.90).

One of my personal favorites was the Pork Xiao Long Bao, also known as soup dumplings. It is a dish that I am accustomed to ordering at dim sum restaurants and I get excited to try it whenever I can. Along with the doughiness of the dumpling skin and the perfectly cooked pork, the soup brought it all together. However, one critique I would give is that I wish the soup was hotter since it seemed gave me very little time before the soup turned lukewarm.

Dough Zone is known for its Chicken Wontons in Spicy Sauce as it includes the perfect blend of sweet and spicy. (The Catalyst / Photo Courtesy of Isabella Lo)

Though I wasn’t completely satisfied with the Xiao Long Baos, I was extremely impressed by the Chicken Wontons in Chili Sauce. This easily entered my top 5 favorite foods of all time and I would, without a doubt, give it a 10/10. As someone with a medium spice tolerance, the sauce was the perfect level of sweet and spicy. It effectively complemented the juiciness of the chicken while the wonton skin wasn’t too gooey or thin. I was even tempted to order another order.

Senior Ally Egen, a loyal customer of Dough Zone, highlights what she loves most about the local spot.

“If you’re thinking about, like, what you get for the price, right? I think that Dough Zone is pretty good because it’s a lot cheaper,” shared Egen. “The people who work there are nice, and the ambiance is cute. … My favorite dish is the glass noodles.”

Overall, I really enjoyed my time eating at Dough Zone and would highly recommend it to anyone in the mood for reasonably priced Chinese comfort food. Though I wish the soup dumplings came a little bit hotter, the quality of the ingredients really impressed me and I plan to take more of my friends with me in the near future.

About the Contributor

Andie Wong, Editor in Chief

Andie Wong is a senior at NDB and serves as the Editor in Chief for The Catalyst. She was the News Editor in junior year and became an active member of the Journalism club in her sophomore year. This year, she is especially looking forward to deepening her passion for writing, interviewing students around campus and, most importantly, amplifying our community’s voices. Apart from The Catalyst, Andie is the president of Key Club and enjoys running on the NDB Cross Country and Track teams. She also loves crocheting, playing the piano and going out for brunch with family and friends.