As previously reported, Brooklyn Dumpling Shop features a contact-free, automat-type arrangement serving more than 30 varieties of dumplings and spring rolls around the clock.
There's also a selection of beer and wine.
Here's a look at what to expect via Eater:
While the ordering and pick up may all be contact-free, there are actual humans behind the scenes making the dumplings, varieties that include pastrami, bacon cheeseburger, lamb gyro, Philly cheesesteak and more. Find the menu at the Shop's website.
Customers can either place orders on their phone by visiting the restaurant website or by using a digital panel inside the dumpling shop, where diners can simply hover their fingers above the screen to place the order ...
Orders will be accompanied by locker numbers indicating where customers can grab their food. Red lockers indicate hot food like the dumplings and spring rolls, while the blue ones are for drinks and dessert dumplings. Customers then scan their phone on a screen located along the automat wall to access a locker once their order is ready.Founder Stratis Morfogen recently gave EVG contributor Stacie Joy a preview...
There are several tables inside for dining as well as sidewalk and curbside seating.
And while this flagship location is just opening, Morfogen already has several franchising deals in place.
go back to brooklyn!
ReplyDeleteSounds way too complicated. Pass.
ReplyDeleteThose menu prices are wild. Even before the pandemic, did the market support prices that high? Drunken Dumplings 13$ soup dumpling did not fare well. Much luck to them. The crowds of roving bridge & tunnel kids with stimmy money to burn are quickly vanishing.
ReplyDeleteDo you support the fight for 15? Paid sick leave? Paid family leave? Health care? Those actually cost money. Its insanely expensive to operate a business in NYC. If you support those initiatives as policies you should support them financially. Do people not connect the financial dots?
DeleteI have been counting the days until this place opens!!! Looks awesome and a totally new type of place for our neighborhood
ReplyDeleteKind of like a modern automat.
ReplyDeleteNot keen on the phone idea, besides,
that limits the people who do not have
or are able to use a cellphone,
they will feel excluded.
Not everyone wants to pay by phone either.
I've been looking forward to trying this place. Don't knock it til you try it!
ReplyDeleteThis is absurd.
ReplyDeleteInclusion is overrated. I'll give it a try and I agree with @1153am. If you support those worker benefits, the cost gets passed down to the consumer. That's our economy.
ReplyDeleteOperating in NYC or NYS for that matter is insanely expensive given the status of the Empire State. It's like real estate which depends on location. Highly coveted regions and states like NYS and California will command higher prices to do business and higher taxes than let's say Montana or Arkansas.
ReplyDeleteSo spot on @11:53am. It has to cut both ways. Same idea with automation tools and things like accepting credit only, which are also regularly derided here.
ReplyDeleteWalked past at around 3pm and there was already a line around the corner into St. Marks.
ReplyDeleteWalked by 1:30 Friday no line outside at all, a few customers inside and a few tables filled on the first ave outdoor dining, none on St Marks or along the sidewalk either side
DeleteWalked past at around 3pm and there was already a line around the corner into St. Marks.
ReplyDelete@11:53am: I guess you don't know that people still live here who are on fixed incomes. Not everyone is young and able to afford these prices.
ReplyDeleteFurther, any place that only takes smartphone payment has to be crazy, b/c plenty of people will NOT pay that way. Maybe this shop can afford to give up the $$$ that those potential customers would have paid them.
I can't imagine who wants dumplings 24/7, but maybe that's just me.
We'll see how well this place does, I guess.
A concern on my part is the packaging that the dumplings are served in. They don't look recyclable ("soft" plastics can't be recycled) and very wasteful. Maybe the shop can consider using a different packaging material that won't end up in the streets or landfills.
ReplyDelete11:53 here. I get your point but you dont get mine. People support policies that make things more expensive and then complain about the prices. Do people ever think about how this all works? Apparently not. How do you think the city funds all their programs and services? How do small businesses provide living wages and insurance and sick leave and paid leave? By waving a magic wand? Nothing is free. It all has to be paid for. Sorry for the harsh dose of economic reality. I guess you think someone else pays for this?
ReplyDeleteRemember when the post was about dumplings? good times. good times
ReplyDelete@9:40pm: No, it's clear YOU truly didn't get my point at ALL, and that you have no interest in getting my point.
ReplyDeleteYounger people are the ones who think someone else will always pay to clean up after them. For example: Those who are "concerned" about the packaging this place is using should vote their conscience and NOT patronize such a place, b/c the environmental damage caused by that packaging will be a cost to ALL of us. But nah, people just want their trendy food right now, and they want to brag about their trendy food on IG - economics & environment be damned!
The first automat was brought to NYC in 1912 so this is a throwback to classic fast food!
ReplyDeleteThe automat was apparently invented in Berlin, and I know it's still popular in the Netherlands with their chain FEBO.
Best of luck to their success in the neighborhood. Dumplings are good at any hour.
Dumplings being one of my favorite foods, I was *dying* to love this place. Yes, I waited in the line -- which was achingly slow. But, you know, I wanted it to be worth the wait. I tried 4 different kinds of dumplings, and a drink, and have to say I didn't enjoy a single one...
ReplyDeleteThe soup dumplings were not soupy enough and had a funny taste. Of the other three, two didn't have much flavor and just came off as mystery meat looking nothing like the pretty photos. The one that tasted okay still wasn't anything to call home about. The sauces were too small in quantity and lacked flavor. And across the board, they were dryyy. (Agreed re: the packaging, too.)
Knowing me, I'll try one again in a month, probably foolishing thinking they'll get the kinks out. But my opinion is that this is a lot of hype and marketing effort without enough attention paid to the actual product. Before long, that will matter, so I hope they work on it. My $0.02. (Err, $36.)
I went yesterday and I agree. Soup dumplings were cold and doughy. I ate some meat dumplings that weren't bad, but the veggie ones were tasteless. Very curious to see if this trend takes off or if people will realize this is a silly fad.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - Mimi Cheng's is only a couple of blocks away and is worth the $!
So the first one is in Manhattan yet it's called Brooklyn? Corny.
ReplyDeleteSo this place hadn’t even opened yet and is selling franchises? Yep, all about a “cool@ concept and the $$$- not the product, service,, community. Thank you, I’ll get my Chinese dumplings from any number of local dumpling shops and my pastrami from Katz’s (sorry 2nd Ave Deli is long gone.). The EV is a circus..food as entertainment.
ReplyDeleteGrubHub reviewer not impressed with the food
ReplyDeleteglad to see other ppl see through how lame and tasteless this place is... replacing a useful decades old business with some obscenely over-branded hypey bullshit ... had a chat with the owner a couple weeks ago and let him know how someone who's lived here his entire life feels about seeing such a craven, hashtag-bait version of a restaurant open in our neighborhood... guy has a full bleed window sign with the logos of all the media companies he paid to give the place coverage - CNN, forbes, whatever... put this shit in connecticut where it belongs, fine but leave us alone... i encourage anyone who feels the same to confront him about it, honestly feels great to get it off your chest and he has absolutely no justification whatsoever besides calling me "closed-minded"... yeah that must be it
ReplyDeleteI waited for the hype to die down and went to try this place. Like the commenter above said, they were just ok.
ReplyDeleteTo start, despite being an automat, there is a staff of live humans and they were all really friendly and helpful. They were actually the best part of the experience, so I hope the business does well for their benefit.
The ordering process felt strange at first, but once you do it, you'll remember for the next time. When I went, they were out of most menu items, which I attribute to them being new and very popular. There were a couple of people ahead of me in line, but I only had to wait a few minutes for my food. I ordered three varieties - pork, pastrami and cheeseburger. The pastrami was probably the best of the bunch, but they were all ok. They each came with different sauces, and it would have been nice to be able to choose the sauce or get more of it.
As another commenter said, the amount of plastic packaging is alarming and that alone is a reason I would not return. In this day and age, there is no reason why the dumplings could not have been put all together in a paper box, with sauce bottles you could fill on your own instead of individual packets. The dumplings themselves were not really memorable, and three is definitely not enough if you're hungry for a meal. It gets pricey, though, if you add sides, so if you're out with friends and want a quick snack and have the money, go for it. Otherwise, I recommend any dumpling shop in Chinatown that would be tastier and cheaper.
I have been counting the days until this place opens!!! Looks awesome and a totally new type of place for our neighborhood
ReplyDelete