Dandan

Reviews 8

NU

null w

I regret to write such a poor review in the wake of Chinese New Year but the experience that I had with DanDan made for a rather disappointing night. I have spent hundreds - if not thousands of hours - eating Chinese food. Since the occasion called for a bit of Chinese food, I decided to give DanDan a try.. My rationale was that the reviews and higher prices must suggest that the food is quite good. Unfortunately, my prediction was incorrect. I order the shrimp shumai (14), sour sausage (12), mapo tofu (12), and sea scallops (22). Individual reviews are as follows: Shrimp Shumai - none of the characteristic flavors of a shrimp shumai yet in the characteristic shape of shrimp shumai. My contention with this was that the quality of the shrimp was extremely poor, grainy, and did not taste fresh whatsoever. Of course, I realize that Milwaukee shrimp is often frozen but its clear that there was little care taken in defrosting whatever they actually used. If these are fresh made then that would be the problem, else they seemed to me to taste frozen. Ive actually had better shumai from the frozen section at my local oriental mart. Sour Sausage - wow, what a disappointment. The flavors were okay. I was looking for something a bit different, but at 12 dollars you would think that the dish would have a bit more to it. My brother actually came to the table and asked me how Id eaten it all so fast. I hadnt. What we received in our take-out box amounted to 5 or 6 half-inch pieces of sausage. Im sure theyre aware of the fact that theres nothing in this dish because they decided to beef it up with pieces of fried sticky rice. Mapo Tofu - now this was an extreme disappointment for me. Mapo tofu has been a constant in my eating experience since I was very young and I was happy to see it on the menu. What I received was a horrible mess. The tofu had a strange, alkaline flavor to it and the dish was utterly without flavor. This was, at least, a substantial dish in terms of volume but lacked in all other areas. Sea Scallops - The dish was quite bland. There was no real flavor to it. My only great contention with it might be the fact that what you are paying for here is three measly scallops. This is another dish that my brother thought Id already eaten half of as he made his way to the table. Very unfortunate. To be honest, for an experience this bad I would typically drop to one star. The extra star is because people are at least trying to do something different with Chinese food in Milwaukee, but the fact of the matter is that there are some serious quality control issues here. None of the food that I received would have passed inspection if I was controlling that kitchen, on Chinese New Year of all days. I hope that the owners take this review to heart and rework how they manage their kitchen, order food, portion food, and control what comes out. If that happens Ill give these guys another try but as it stands Im going to be taking my business elsewhere.

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DA

Daniel Fogel

Dan Dan is a wonderful restaurant. From the enthusiastic greeting as we walked in the door to the amazing wait staff, the mood was set. The physical space of the place is contemporary and inviting. On a trip to the restroom, I spied a private party room where large groups can gather and instantly tried to think of an occasion to book. The menu is straightforward with a few great choices in each category. Unlike similar Asian fusion restaurants, the menu doesnt stretch to multiple pages ensuring confusion and wonder if you got the right dish. We had both the duck chow fun (highly recommended) and the happy chicken (crunchy, spicy and just amazing). The noodles on the chow fun were the perfect thickness and cooked to perfection. I look forward to going back and trying many more things, especially the pancakes.

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CH

Chris Elkendier

I was a little worried at first as Dandan didnt have stellar reviews to start. I dug a little deeper and it was mostly people claiming it wasnt authentic. I never saw anything where they claimed they were authentic so I went in with a blank slate. I have eaten there twice now, once for dinner and once for lunch. They were both great! I got the sour sausage as it was recommended and I thought it would be gross, it was amazing! Also the Dandan noodles were great and the Walnut Shrimp. I recommend it to anyone looking to have an Chinese type cuisine. Think somewhere in the realm of P.F. Changs without the overbearing menu and feel of a chain restaurant.

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JA

Jason G

This was a one and done for me. I can say that I tried it. The menu lacked description. Didnt really want to ask the server about all the dishes I was thinking about ordering. I think they have good intentions with the dishes but just didnt really excite me. Reasonably priced food here but I dont think I will return. I ordered the lobster Tom kha soup, when I got it there was shrimp in a lobster broth when I was hoping for chunks of lobster. The crab Rangoon had good flavor but the sauce was not homemade

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B

B Young

We ate here with another couple and all four of our meals were some of the worst food we have ever eaten. Egg foo young like dish smothered with super sweet Korean BBQ sauce was the least offensive dish yet still terrible. We had the sour sausage appetizer which tastes as bad as it sounds. One of our groups dish had more hot peppers than actual edible food on the plate. I cant imagine how to supposedly famous chefs can come up with such a horrible menu!! Bar service and drinks were very good.

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TH

Theresa Marie

I would recommend checking this place out! Went here for dinner with one of my friends while I was in town visiting. Well designed space with nice party spaces in the back. Excellent customer service. I dont know how to classify the food...asian fusion maybe. We liked the smashed cucumber salad and the pad Thai. Pork dumplings were ok. Some of the food was too greasy for my taste. Also, the metal water glasses are too small, cold, and sharp. I like the effort of trying not to waste water though.

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ST

Stuart Booth

Very interesting experience for my first dandan order. I got the walnut and shrimp wok and the $14.00 crab rangoon. God was that a mistake. The crab rangoon are 5 thin, thumb sized sticks with barely anything inside. The shrimp were good, but again only a couple and almost no walnuts on a ton of white rice. Id much rather spend 10 dollars at panda express (and get more food) than close to $40 at dandan. Id lower that crab rangoon cost by 10 dollars. Really disappointing.

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ZO

Zouyan Lu

A fun atmosphere and decor, but the seasoning of dishes were all over the place. The dipping sauce for the pot stickers was very good, and the skins quite crispy. However the filling was bland and there was far too much filling in each pot sticker. Smashed cucumbers were refreshing. I would have preferred more chilies. Mapo pork was good. But the Cumin Lamb had too much seasoning, made it hard to eat without mixing with rice. It also had way more noodles than lamb.

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