Top Shanghainese Restaurant in West Covina
Thumbling
228 S Citrus St, West Covina, CA 91791, United States
I want to preface by saying I went once for takeout. The experience wasnt great, but even if it had been, I dont think I would return.TLDR: The food is meh. For better dumplings, go to Tian You Feng Dumpling House on Azusa by Tokyo Central in West Covinas South Hills Plaza.Details of how my experience went and ways I think it could be improved:I have one experience there. I ordered ahead, found it to be normal prices for dumplings, liked that it was close to by. My husband went in to pay, and it didnt go through. I went inside and tried my card and it didnt go through. It wasnt until someone else tried to pay with card that they realized their machine wasnt working.They then said cash only. One younger guy working there tried his best to give us some customer service. But, sorry to say, no one had problem solving skills. I understand it sucked for them to try and figure all this out but we were there for 15 minutes trying all credit cards. It wasnt our card, as they suggested. They realized everyones cards were declining. Our food got cold. We werent offered any discount and I didnt ask. I had $15 dollars and asked what I could take. They didnt like that idea. I finally suggested PayPal or venmo. They hesitated to accept that. At this point, we were hungry and had our hearts set on dumplings.Finally, I PayPald the lady and left disappointed with how long all that took and how there was no customer service during it. It was like it my problem to fix. Other people seemed annoyed, too. We were all just calm and, to me, the vibe was that we all seemed to feel bad for the staff, but knew its a new restaurant and nothings perfect. **Someone like an owner or operator shouldve been around to help their staff.** They were just trying to figure this out on their own and it was a total bummer to see they had no support. We just wanted our food. The person who seemed to be in charge didnt go out on the floor to announce the card service was malfunctioning. A young man working there took the initiative to graciously let customers know and that they were working on it. Anyway, ...We got home another 10 minutes later. I assume our food was ready at max for 5 minutes before we got there, so now my food has been sitting out for 25 minutes, lets say.We tasted the food hoping it would have been worth the trouble. It was not.The good:The crafting of the dumplings was beautiful. Same with the buns.The taste:However, no flavors bursting. No flavor, at all, really. I added their sauce - a simple soy based sauce. It didnt help. They had some spicy sauces that were good.We were left bummed out bc we had good hopes for this place but it definitely did not deliver. Thumbling just kinda sucks. I wont go again simply bc the food was lackluster. Not good, not bad, just nothing to go out of my way for.Where you gotta go instead:Better dumplings can be found at Tian You Feng Dumpling House on Azusa and Francisquito in South Hills Plaza. Tian You Feng Dumpling House is so much better tasting, with nicer customer experience, and Dumpling House will just rock your world!I recommend Tian You Feng Dumpling House just one mile west for more flavor and spices, with more diverse sauces, too.I hope management reads this and finds ways to improve bc this restaurant has promise with a few improvements. The community wants a yummy dumpling place, and I hope Thumbling gets there.