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Vienna’s newest restaurant is serving handmade Chinese dumplings from a familiar Maple Avenue storefront.

Panda Dumpling began its soft opening on Jan. 1, 2025, at 155B Maple Avenue West. The restaurant occupies the former Bubble Mochi space between Cruz N Shine Car Wash and Marjan Carryout and Catering.

Owner Bing Sui said the full menu was still being finalized as of Jan. 6. The current selection centers on handmade pot stickers, available steamed or fried with beef, pork and chives, or pork and napa cabbage. Diners can also order pan-fried pork gyoza and pork soup dumplings, or xiao long bao.

Beyond dumplings, the menu blends Chinese and Japanese dishes, including General Tso’s chicken, scallion pancakes and takoyaki, the fried octopus balls popular in Japanese cuisine. Heartier choices include beef noodle soup, gyudon with thinly sliced beef and onion over rice, and unadon featuring grilled eel over rice.

Drink options include milk teas, fruit teas and yogurt smoothies.

Panda Dumpling is Sui’s first restaurant venture. She said the dishes are prepared by hand from her original recipes using high-quality ingredients, with the goal of introducing more customers to handcrafted Chinese food.

Although the restaurant has little online presence so far, its early Google and Yelp reviews have been uniformly positive. One Google reviewer praised the juicy dumplings and buns, said the fried dishes were not overly greasy, and noted that the panda-themed decorations were a hit with the reviewer’s children.

The opening adds another option to Vienna’s growing Asian dining scene. Taiwanese cafe Vivi Bubble Tea and all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant Sushi Oishii both arrived in town in 2024.

Panda Dumpling also brings new life to a storefront left vacant after Bubble Mochi closed in September 2024. Another nearby mochi doughnut shop, Donutchew, had shut down on Aug. 22.