Juicy Dumpling brings hand-wrapped soup dumplings to University City’s Boardwalk, in the old Crafty Crab space

Juicy Dumpling, a handmade dumpling restaurant owned by FaHong Zhang, opened on September 2 at 8933 J.M. Keynes Drive, Suite 1, in The Boardwalk at University Place, the Charlotte Observer’s Tanasia Kenney reported on September 14. The restaurant took over the space that last held Crafty Crab Seafood, on the lakefront shopping center beside UNC Charlotte in University City.

Axios Charlotte followed with a first look on September 25, publishing prices from the Juicy Dumpling menu.

The basics

The restaurant’s website and the two local reports cover what a first visit needs:

• The address is 8933 J.M. Keynes Drive, Suite 1, Charlotte, at The Boardwalk at University Place.
• The phone number is 980-819-9999, according to the restaurant’s website.
• Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
• Diners can eat in, take out or order online through the restaurant’s website.

What they make

A large window lets diners watch the staff roll dough and wrap each dumpling, the Observer reported, and the restaurant’s website calls it an open dumpling kitchen. Flour is mixed, rested and rolled on site, and fillings are chopped and seasoned the same day they are served, according to the Observer, which reported that the kitchen uses pork shoulder for the balance of fat and shrimp for texture. The restaurant’s own site says the dumplings are made by hand every morning and never come from a freezer, and that the fillings are whipped with stock so a steamed bun releases soup on the first bite. The dishes the website puts up front are the steamed pork buns, the steamed dumplings and the beef roll pancake.

Axios published three prices from the menu, which give a sense of the range:

• Chicken xiao long bao, the soup dumplings, are $12.99.
• Rainbow pan-fried dumplings are $14.99.
• Spicy brisket beef noodles are $16.99.

The rest of the menu runs through steamed dumplings in pork and scallion, shrimp and chive, beef and onion and a vegan filling, according to the website, plus pan-fried thumb buns, a beef roll pancake, bao, scallion pancakes and spring rolls. The noodle side includes Sichuan dan dan noodles, braised beef noodles and a vegetarian spicy noodle, and the Observer listed sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried green beans, fried rice and chow mein. Axios’s Alexis Clinton also tried the beef and onion dumplings for the outlet’s first look.

Getting there

The Boardwalk wraps around a small lake off J.M. Keynes Drive, and the center’s website bills it as a stop you can reach by light rail. A few practical notes for a first trip:

• The Lynx Blue Line’s JW Clay Blvd/UNC Charlotte station, on North Tryon Street at J.W. Clay Boulevard, is the nearest stop to the lake. It is one stop before the line ends at the UNC Charlotte campus.
• The station has an 800-space parking garage beside it and sits near Jerry Richardson Stadium, where UNC Charlotte plays football.
• A Saturday farmers market sets up at the center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., May through October, according to the center’s website.
• Trains have served the station since March 2018, when the Blue Line extension from Uptown to UNC Charlotte opened. Hoodline noted that hundreds of apartments have gone up along the corridor since then.

The center around the restaurant

The restaurant opened at a shopping center in the middle of a renovation. The Boardwalk, formerly The Shoppes at University Place, is the lakefront retail and office center next to UNC Charlotte, and Red Hill Ventures announced a $5 million reinvestment in February, according to University City Partners, the area’s business district organization.

Keith Stanley, president and chief executive of University City Partners, said at the time that the lakefront is critical to the group’s vision for the area. The organization programs the lake through the year, and the group’s UCity Lights event drew more than 19,000 people in 2025, according to the organization.

Todd Collins, chief executive of Red Hill Ventures, called the property “a diamond in the rough” in the February announcement and said the investment, along with community support, would let the company modernize the lakefront and bring more activity to the water. The company is financing the work in partnership with Bank of America, according to University City Partners.

Near campus, open late

The restaurant sits near UNC Charlotte, which enrolled a record 32,207 students in fall 2025, including 26,213 undergraduates, the university reported. The restaurant stays open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, two hours later than the rest of the week. The three dishes Axios priced run from $12.99 to $16.99, and the Axios reviewer noted the prices make it easy to order several dishes for the table.

Xiao long bao, the first dish on the Axios price list, hold hot broth inside a thin, pleated wrapper, and the viewing window shows the staff folding them by hand. The restaurant’s website lists only the University City location.

What comes next at the Boardwalk

The University City Partners announcement described the renovation as phased and did not give a finish date. The plan covers:

• New building facades and upgraded office interiors.
• Better landscaping and lighting around the lake.
• Improved connections along the boardwalk itself.
• More infrastructure for outdoor events.
• Targeted upgrades for tenants.

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