New Chinese restaurant has Fresnans waiting 2 hours for dumplings. Thank TikTok
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- TikTok video drove viral interest, creating weekend waits up to two hours.
- Dumpling U serves Shanghai-style soup dumplings made with chilled pork filling.
- Restaurant opened Jan. 10; weekdays and lunches now see shorter waits, no reservations.
There’s a 2-hour wait on weekends to get into a newly opened Chinese soup dumpling restaurant in northeast Fresno.
Even the owners of Dumpling U weren’t expecting that.
The restaurant, at Fresno Street and Alluvial Avenue in the former Helen’s Gourmet Chinese Food spot near Sal’s Mexican Restaurant, makes the traditional soup dumplings from Shanghai. It opened quietly Jan. 10, the owners figuring they’d gradually ramp things up.
But then a TikTokker, CloverSmiles, came in and did a 39-second video of the experience set to mellow music.
It went viral. More than 114,000 views of the steamed pork dumplings and cucumber salad bounced around the internet and people started flooding in, said James Xie, who co-owns the restaurant with business partner Calvin Wong.
“The lines were crazy,” Xie said. “We really didn’t expect this kind of support from the community, for sure.”
What are soup dumplings?
You can see the dumplings being made when you walk in the door. The filling is made from pork and various seasonings, simmered for a day down into a thick, Jello-like substance that’s chilled overnight into a solid. That is then wrapped by hand into dough, the dumplings placed into a basket and steamed for six minutes.
The steam turns the solid filling back into soup. So when you pick up the delicate dumpling with chopsticks, dip it in vinegar and ginger sauce and take a bite, the soup will spill into your mouth.
For those new to dumplings, there directions on how to eat them on the menu.
When the TikTok video hit on the first day, people were waiting up to two hours to get in on weekends, and 30 to 40 minutes for food.
The lines have already slowed. Weekdays and lunchtimes often have plenty of tables available. You can also call and ask how long the wait is.
The restaurant is the third from Xie, who also opened Dumpling Yo! in Sacramento and Stockton with different partners. Dumpling U gets its name from “you” because dumplings are for everyone, he says.
The Sacramento location won the No. 3 spot on Yelp.com’s Top 100 Chinese Restaurants of 2024. (Xie credits the beef rolls, which get rave reviews.)
They didn’t have lines like this at either of the other restaurant openings, and Xie keeps repeating how grateful he is for the Fresno response. He doesn’t even know who the Tiktokker who made the video is.
The video is what brought Vanessa Mendez of Clovis and a work friend in for lunch Monday.
“I love dumplings. I love soup dumplings. It’s kinda up my alley,” she said. “I thought everything was fantastic.”
The soup dumpling trend on TikTok
Soup dumplings are definitely a trend now, especially on TikTok. You can find videos of people drowning them in all kinds of sauces, eating them in raw onion cups and demonstrating how to eat them on Jennifer Hudson’s talk show.
And Dumpling U isn’t the only dumpling restaurant new to Fresno this month. Jingle Bao also opened in the former Boston Market on Bullard Avenue near Highway 41.
Dumpling shops are everywhere in Shanghai, where Xie grew up, and in Guangdong Province in China, where Wong lived for 10 years before moving back home to Sacramento, his birthplace.
“We grew up eating it on a daily basis as breakfast,” Xie said.
An order of eight classic pork soup dumplings costs $14.95.
There’s more on the menu, including those popular beef rolls and cucumber salad, and the chef’s favorite, the pan-friend pork bun. There are also noodles, rice dishes, vegetarian options and puffy bao buns with filling. It also serves saki, wine and beer.
For John Dao and his family, who were dining at Dumpling U earlier this week, it was something new to try. They moved here from the Bay Area three years ago, where they had access to all kinds of Asian restaurants.
“We’re excited every time there’s a new Asian restaurant around Clovis,” he said. “We actually haven’t found a dumpling place here. This is our first.”
Dumpling U is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, though it’s closed on Tuesdays. Dinner is from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and it’s open til 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The last orders are taken 15 minutes before closing each meal time.
It does not take reservations or do DoorDash.
Details: Dumpling U is at 7444 N. Fresno St. in Fresno. 559-432-4241.
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 11:30 AM.
