So it might be grounds for separation if my spouse found out I'm rating Dumpling Lab 3 stars, but I was just not as enamoured with the offerings as he. We visited twice during a weekend getaway to Calgary, and bought some take-home dumplings, but I would sooner try another place than return here. The flavour combinations sound really good, but I found in reality the mix was too muted to be enjoyable. Couldn't taste much kimchi or any mushrooms in the beef-kimchi-shiitake dumplings, and the jalapeño flavour was noticeably absent in the pork-lotus root-jalapeño dumplings. The XLB was big but I found the filling a bit fatty with the ground pork, and the XLB dumpling itself was a bit chewy.
Not that it was bad, but I was a little disappointed in the flavours. Given the chef is Japanese, my spouse asked about gyoza - the pan fried pork-shiitake-cabbage dumplings are pretty much gyoza, and these were quite flavourful. I also tried the tan-tan, which was OK, a bit too sweet for my taste with the Japanese curry sauce. The ramen alternative was much better - the noodles in both dishes were perfect.
There were a few hiccups with the bill too. The server forgot to take off the charge for a carpaccio special I ordered only to find out it was not available (yet no one bothered to remove the special taped on the menu, all 6 of them that advertised it). Then he forgot to add the charge for the take-home dumplings. No paper bill is presented, it's all on an iPad, so be sure to check what you've been charged for.
Great price for dumplings, interesting flavour combos, but the overall experience was average.