A year of ‘coming soon’: One More Bite Dumpling House says a draftsman’s fake paperwork stalled its Palm Desert and Palm Springs openings

For about a year, two storefronts one on South Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs, the other in the Jensen's shopping center on Highway 111 in Palm Desert have promised a One More Bite Dumpling House that never opened. Now the owners say they know when the steamers will finally turn on, and they're explaining what went wrong.

Palm Desert could open by the end of October, and Palm Springs about two months later, Luyi Deng, the wife of one of the owners, told News Channel 3 on Wednesday. Deng runs the company's social media.

"Tell them that we are coming," Deng said, when asked what she wanted people who drive by the empty storefronts to know.

What happened

Deng said the company signed leases for both desert locations in July or August 2025 and, that October, hired a draftsman to prepare and submit the building plans and permit applications.

"She was supposed to be responsible for preparing and submitting all our plans," Deng said. "But she didn't do that, and she didn't tell us the truth. She just told us that everything had been submitted."

Deng said the draftsman sent the owners a fake screenshot purporting to show the city had received their application. The owners didn't learn the truth until early this year, when they went to city hall in person and found nothing had been filed, Deng said. She said the draftsman admitted it.

City records support the timeline. Palm Desert's permit for the space at 73547 Highway 111 was created May 1, 2026, and issued Aug. 18. Palm Springs' tenant-improvement permit for 105 S. Palm Canyon Drive — the former Antigua space, valued at $125,000 — wasn't filed until July 14. It has been in "corrections requested" status since. A separate fence permit was denied the next day.

The company has been paying rent on both spaces since April, Deng said.

The owners are not naming the draftsman. Deng said the woman has agreed to repay the company's losses including rent and staff training costs once the restaurants open, and because she is listed on every application, replacing her would take even longer.

"At this point we cannot change it," Deng said. "She's the person on all the applications."

Where things stand

In Palm Desert, the fire department asked for fire alarm drawings, which the company has submitted, Deng said. The restaurant is now waiting on another fire inspection, then a county health inspection.

In Palm Springs, the holdup is the patio. Deng said the city flagged drawings that didn't match and asked for corrections. The building, the 1951 Oasis Commercial Building, is a Class 1 historic site.

Deng said city staff in both cities have been "wonderful," and that Palm Springs City Hall invited the owners to a meeting to walk them through the process and promised to speed things up.

A valley hungry for dumplings

One More Bite has five locations open: Loma Linda, Wildomar, San Marcos, Chino and Yucaipa. Deng's husband is from Shanghai; she is from Guangdong. Their specialty is xiao long bao, the handcrafted Shanghainese soup dumpling.

"When we opened our second location in Wildomar, the first few weeks it was packed every day," Deng said.

Yucaipa opened in about five months, Deng said, because the company took over an existing restaurant and didn't have to submit plans from scratch. The two desert locations have been the longest and hardest approvals the company has faced.

Deng said she regrets putting up signs and posting videos so early. "Some people are kind of frustrated, because they've been waiting and they keep asking what is the date, and we couldn't tell them," she said. "I totally understand."

On Tuesday, the company posted what it called "an honest update, from our hearts" on Instagram, explaining the delay. Hundreds of likes and comments followed, most of them supportive.

"I didn't expect that much response and support and love, and that really moved me to tears," Deng said. "They think it's part of the community. That made me very honored."

"I just want to thank all the community that keeps showing up for us and standing with us and waiting so patiently," she said. "I hope we will not disappoint them. We are pushing every single day."

Until then, the valley will have to wait for just one more bite.