Ducky’s and Dumplings

Edited… this place evidently closed without warning. Bummer. Service wasn’t great but the cheap dumplings and buns were awesome.
Love the pork and chicken dumplings with their amazing sauce. Pork buns are excellent too. Great cheap meal. Delivery often takes a while (longer than time quoted). So glad this place exists.

This review is a challenge to write. Rarely do I come across a eatery that excels equally in both the «very bad» and the «very good». I have eaten here 4 times with my friend Jae (Korean lawyer) and I still wonder what the full story is behind this place.
The dumplings here are good but you truly have to go through bizarro world to get to them. The host/​cook/​cashier/​mother has the people skills of Leona Hemsley. The first three visits we could barely get a sentence out of her. However, her resistance to the spoken word was perfectly offset by her two male workers who spent an inordinate amt of the time mumbling LOUDLY to themselves. A little «Self talk» is ok but «talking to self» is just creepy.
Someone must have killed the maid because the place is dingy… and btw, DON’T GO into the Restroom. Just Don’t Go, man. Let the CDC address it.
And the child is… well,…Special! She brings to the table (Literally!) her own brand of inexplicable twaddle. You can expect bad behavior out of her as surely as you can expect sauce w/​your dumplings.
But the dumplings are decent. We vowed 2 times never to return but the thought of the Chicken and Basil dumplings possessed our brains… and we found ourselves driving back. (Jae has no constitution)
But the fourth time there was totally different. Gone was the muttering and maundering of the the men. The young child greeted us with a big gushing smile and stayed in her seat during our entire visit… AND the host/​cook/​mother came over and started telling us all of the details of the Asian chef that was being featured on the flat screen that was flanking us. We couldn’t get her to calm up… but in the end, she delivered the hot tasty dumplings that we sought. They were as good as always… We paired them with the bubble tea and enjoyed the meal.
D&D: where the twilight zone meets Grove St… check it out. Its cheap, good and… erruumm Interesting

I love chinese dumplings. LOVE em. This place just pissed me off. Dumplings in your business’ name, and you eff it up? Sigh.
Veggie dumplings, fried. filling included cabbage. Just cabbage. Soft, greasy cabbage. Skins fell apart. It turned to flat noodle with greasy cabbage.
Pork and chive dumplings, fried. Salty filling. The heaviness of the filling was too heavy to remain in the skins. It turned into flat noodle with salty meatballs.
Shrimp dumplings, fried. One over-​cooked shrimp in each one, nothing to keep those skins together either. Again, with each poke, I wound up with flat noodle and firm shrimp.
I was hungry. I was anticipating at least a step up from the local takeout spot’s thick-​skinned dumplings. And i got this. I went to the park to eat it, so I attempted to sample and bring home for later. #sadTrombone
I’m gonna say it, cuz it had a lot to do with my eating experience as well, THE KID. I had come from the gym, and thought it would be good to eat there, put my gear down and chill. She was a lovely lil cutie of a girl with pinch-​able cheeks. That’s til i found out how rambunctious she is.
She wandered the place spraying the floor and doorway with her squeeze bottle of sweet orange drink, then attempted to spray my backpack with it. When her mom, the chef, saw her making a mess, she put down paper towels, which the kid used to ‘mop’ the floors, her mom yelling her name to stop her, unsuccessfuly.
When my food came, the kid climbed up on my table top and tried to snatch my takeout bag several times, then tried to blow on my dumplings from across the table, spit flying, staring at me until she assumed I would offer her some food. And that is why I packed up my food and ventured to the park with all my gym gear in tow.
Not. going. back.

I would have loved these dumplings if I was schwasted.
Perfect spot for cheap steamed or fried dumplings if you’re on a budget and have consummed copious amounts of alcohol. The veggie dumplings were not great in terms of filling but the chicken ones were good (I sneaked one of my hubby’s).
It took over half an hour to make a few boiled dumplings and a veggie fried rice. Understandable since this woman was all alone manning the restaurant except for the delivery dude. It’s way low budget so don’t look too closely. not the cleanest joint but again not a priority if I’m several sheets to the wind plus I can walk to my cab and be home in five minutes.

I’ve only gotten takeout, and I’ve really only eaten the veggie dumplings, but they are delicious and inexpensive. I LOVE the dipping sauce. This is a great alternative to pizza if you want to grab something inexpensive.
I ordered the chicken lo mein once and I ended up not eating it because the chicken on top was a big piece of dark meat, which I don’t like. So just a warning not to expect chicken breast in your lo mein, unless things have changed.
Order ahead of time, because sometimes they have to actually craft the dumplings you want if they don’t have any more. My wait times have varied between 5 and 30 minutes.

Wow was surprised to discover this place in the hood. We were looking to get some Chinese food to go. Decided to try this place after reading reviews on Unilocal.Though the place does not look promising when one ventures inside. It has a kind of open kitchen where one can easily see the food getting cooked while seating on the tables. It’s a small place with minimal seating. I would recommend ordering online or taking the food to go.
We had the chicken basil, pork dumplings with Shrimp lo mein and fried rice. Under 20 bucks we had so much to eat. The food was really nice specially the dumplings. Would definitely it again to try other things on the menu.

Sad. What happened to this place? Maybe they just lost focus, they were offering sushi at one point, now Caribbean specialties? Last few times they were out of veggie dumplings.
It does seem like the owner is often drunk, and yes there is a baby crawling all over kitchen. Neither would bother me if they just made good dumplings.

HMMMMM.
Hmmmmmmmm. I’m a little out to lunch on this place. First, let’s get this out of the way. This joint is CHEAP. CHEAP ASS DUMPLINGS should really be their name. I do think that it is the dumplings that one should stick with, as the dumplings were delicious. I also ordered the pork bun (2 in a order or maybe I ordered 2), the wonton soup, and my bf ordered the duck and pork lo-​mein (I think). Total price — $ 19.
The pork bun was decent; a nice doughy bun with a little bit of flavorful meat inside. The wonton soup wasn’t my favorite (sorry Daniel D). I think Food King may do a better wonton soup, or should I say a traditional wonton soup (traditional as in my upbringing in Hartford). This soup has a lot of noodle with 3 little, potentially slightly undercooked wontons. The broth was a little bland. My bf had one bite of the low-​mein put his fork down and asked if I wanted any and then proceeded to the garbage can to throw it away. He said it was super oily and not that good and not worth it. (We are trying to be healthy). Now normally, I would start harassing him about the cash money he just wasted but, I think it was $ 6. It was a generous portion as well. So, not that big of a deal.
This place will be on my list of dumpling joints or when I’ve spent too much money one month shopping, eating, drinking and need a quick and cheap fix.
** With delivery they do not include any condiments. Ask for hot mustard, soy sauce, etc…

Yes, this place is dirt cheap, but the saying «you get what you pay for» rings true here. The «veggie» dumplings consist of chives or leeks! The other ones lack flavor. The kimchi pancakes can be hit or miss — sometimes they are close to burnt, sometimes they hit the spot for something fried and spicy. Same goes for the sweet potato pancakes. I once tried the lo mein with peking duck. Noodles were too oily, and the duck lacked that sweet/​salty/​crispy taste that I love about Peking duck, but, whatev, it’s cheap.
I can overlook the mediocre quality precisely because of the dirt cheap prices — unheard of in this area. But, the presentation is starting become a turn-​off. As noted, many Unilocal customers have expressed concern about the lack of supervision over the toddler daughter who I have found to be minutes away from escaping into the street, bumping her head into a table, climbing onto a counter in the kitchen near knives and hot pots etc.
I’ve also seen Ducky napping in the sit-​down eating area while his wife and other women worked like busy bees in the kitchen; when enough customers file in, he reluctantly opened his eyes to take orders and help out — I just want to scream, «This is YOUR restaurant! You wouldn’t tolerate any of your employees napping in a customer’s line of sight! Get it together dude!»
One of my friends refuses to go there because one of the employees switched from cutting meat to the cash register without washing her hands and handed my friend change. This has since been deemed the «meat money» incident…

Short and simple:
Fried Pork & Chives dumpling — my fav
Fried Chicken & Basil — good
Kimchi Avocado — real good BUT this one can be hit or miss with the preparation, so be wary.
Noodles — a bit oily, but good.
The atmosphere, eh its OK… Actually, its a hole in the wall. The backyard is cute, but I haven’t eaten out there yet. Best bet, just order to pick up and eat at home…
Owners — Real nice.
Overall great food for super cheap, I’m a fan.

Dirt cheap but horrible food! We waited 40 mins one night while the baby (yes, baby) cried nonstop from heat and exhaustion. I have to admit that I felt uncomfortable with all the restaurants patrons staring disapprovingly at the way the baby was being treated. I fully understand how hard the parents must be working to create a better life for themselves as well as their daughter, but this does not justify keeping your baby there for the entire day inside a crib that is 3 feet from the kitchen fully equipped with boiling pots and pans.
We had many things, including glass noodles (which is really mei fun, not sure why they named it glass noodles that is supposed to be a Korean dish — vermicelli), various types of dumplings, noodles and wonton (which is just dumplings in soup, not wonton in soup). The dumplings themselves are made with VERY thick dough (as opposed to thinner the better), but I find that most restaurants do this as the flour is relatively cheaper in comparison to the meat and vegetables that makes up the filling.
REWINNDDD— UPDATE:
Maybe the owner actually reads Unilocal reviews because their dumpling dough is on longer thick! I now call ahead 20 mins to pick up in store or get delivery to avoid the mayhem in the store itself. Again, dirt cheap but with great tasting food!.. the baby is still there but happy to say, is safe from any imminent danger.

Dumplings. Awesome dumplings. Cheap dumplings. Need I say more?! Well the pork and chive dumplings are delish, made to order fried or steamed. They also have hong kong style lo mein just make sure to ask. And they have bubble tea!
The place is authentic, cheap, fast, and delicious. I’ll be sure to come back.

Jersey city doesn’t have a lot of Cantonese-​inspired restaurants. This place semi fills the void when I don’t feel like venturing out into Chinatown. This is a review only for the food and not for the service (as I think this place is more of a take-​out place)
With that being said, their dumplings are actually pretty good. For less than $ 3, you get 5 pieces. I ordered them steamed and it came out well-​the dough was thin enough, so that’s a plus.
Their chicken and basil dumplings were really good, with hints of basil and a generous portion of chicken dark meat. Their Shrimp and basil was «ok», I thought it was too much chives and too little shrimp; It might as well be a chive dumpling.
What I liked was that the dumplings were all prepared in-​house and you can watch them prepare it.
Also, for $ 5, you can get a generous portion of BBQ Pork over a bed of white rice. This is not Pork fried rice. The BBQ pork (cha siew) was cooked well and the sauces used to accompany it was sweet and salty.
Overall, good decent place for your dumplings fixings as well as any Cantonese-​inspired dishes.