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Easily the most-hyped opening of the season, Bing Bing Dim Sum is just heading into its first official weekend in business, but there's already some feedback rolling in for the curious who have yet to drop by. The restaurant currently enjoys a four-star rating on Yelp — though given the excitement around the opening, it's surprising that that grade is based on just two reviews. Here, we've rounded up some impressions from all around to take the project's early pulse.
The Pretty Good Food, Needs More Hooks News: Yelper Steve E. filed his four-star take on night one, offering the feedback that "all the dishes were pretty good" and that he felt confident "a number of quirks" would be ironed out as the newcomer rolls along. (Highest marks went to the steamed fish and the potato dumplings, though this person may disagree.) His only real complaint is that there were no coat hooks or other good options for stashing your outer layers.
The Twitter Beef News: Things got briefly tetchy mid-week as the restaurant responded to some Twitter critiques, first about their authenticity, then about their name.
@LouisChangPHL @phillyinsider appreciate the kind words. Next time keep it to yourself.
— Bing Bing Dim Sum (@bingbingdimsum) February 17, 2015
@AmusingMyBouche @mikeyil someone always has something to say about everything. If you don't like the name..don't come eat.
— Bing Bing Dim Sum (@bingbingdimsum) February 18, 2015
The latter confrontation resulted in a brief waterfall of impassioned tweets both pro and con (and reportedly some blocking), but petered out fairly quickly.
The Honest Proprietor News: Discussing the ongoing process of mastering consistently great soup dumplings in an early interview with the South Philly Review, chef-owner Ben Puchowitz gave this mini-review of his own version:
I am a huge soup dumpling fan, so I wouldn’t say they’re with the best soup dumplings in the world. I would say they’re about an 8.5 out of 10 and maybe about three months in, they’ll be closer to 10.
(In the weeks before opening, the owners expressed some doubt as to whether soup dumplings would even make it onto the opening menu, thinking there was almost no room for error on such a classic — so it's lucky for all of us that they got up to 85% confidence in time.)
The Back-Handed Four-Star News: For a four-star review not much longer than sixty words and book-ended with "great first night" and "recommended for sure," Yelper Steve P. works in a number of gripes for good measure, from awkward space to no reservations or take-out (take out is reportedly on its way in the coming weeks, for the record), and oddly lukewarm praise like "very welcome addition even with the imminent parking problems."
The Kid-Friendly News: Bing Bing's family-friendly vibe has already been picked up on, as noted by the Daily News's Lauren McCutcheon:
Walked by @bingbingdimsum at 5:15 p.m. yesterday. One third of diners were dumplings themselves. Yay for family dining on @EPassyunkAve!
— Lauren McCutcheon (@LaMcCutch) February 19, 2015
The #BathroomSelfie News: Unsurprisingly, the arrestingly colorful and eye-covered bathroom may already be establishing itself as a popular selfie spot on Instagram. (See below; here.) The mural wall covered in dumpling cartoon characters is also getting a ton of IG play, as guests seem quick to relate to the personified food.
UPDATED 2/23: This two-star Yelp review from Mortimer S. (who was unimpressed by the decor and unhappy with the prices) rolled in over the weekend, but we could not resist sharing what has already become one of our favorite Yelp lines of all time:
"Crispy little fishes" were also $7. Are these made of fish?? The menu doesn't say.
