China Star (Vernon, NJ)

I just recently returned from a trip to Montreal, followed by a swing down to Florida, and I know what everyone is thinking "Uh why is this review not international or the very least a Florida Chinese place?" Well, I was way to busy enjoying the snow and then the sun, to even think about any reviews. However, when I was down in Florida, I met some awesome Hawkeyes, who had no clue what a dumpling was, let alone a blog devoted to ranking them existed. After some talk describing these little bites of heaven, once I returned back to NJ, I had to get some.

I have never been to China Star, and it's located pretty close to where I work, so I had to give them ago. The sauce was finally back to my standards after a few lackluster Chinese places. This sauce is one of the better sauces in the area, and believe me I've had almost all of them. But, thats where the positives end. Unfortunately, these dumplings just lacked all flavor which was a major disappointment. I was really looking forward to a nice bite, they looked great, sauce was good, but the dumpling didn't shine. There are much better places in northern NJ. 

Middle of the road dumpling

3 out of 5

Eric 

I'd like to shoutout our new Iowa friends from Fort Myers, this blog is dedicated to you. 

Hopefully, Iowa has some good dumplings. I'm coming for them. 

If there's two things, I know about the midwest is that 1) they have a shit ton of corn and 2) if no one has even heard of a dumpling it could potentially be a dumpling Nirvana out there. Stay tuned to find out.