Happy Cafe

So when we came in this place the décor was really nice, but that is where all the positive qualities of this place stops. We ordered some shredded chicken with ramen and it was OK. The soup was loaded with MSG. The waitress was not very happy which is the name of this café. She was also very quiet and likes to ignore guest. I then needed to go to the restroom and the restroom was very small and not handicap accessible, in fact this restaurant is not handicap accessible at all. The restroom was dirty, small. Then my Lemon Tea came and there was no sugar. I added many grams of sugar and it still didn’t taste sweet. The food was also expensive.
Pros:
décor
modern
Cons:
Food
Restroom
Weird menu items
A very unhappy waitress

I found myself stuck in Chinatown on Christmas Day and stumbled inside Happy Café for lunch. It’s a clean, cute restaurant tucked in between all of the other grocery and jewelry stores you’ll find in Chinatown.
I got a basic beef fried rice and my sister had the grilled lemongrass beef. Her dish was so good! Lots of rice with thin slices of flavored beef. My fried rice was as good as fried rice can ever be, so no complaints.
Cheap, convenient, and great service. If I find myself in Chinatown again, I’ll be sure to pop by Happy Café again!

Really great chicken noodle soup. They also have «happy hour» priced menu (7:30−10:30 am and 3 to 5 pm). Nice people working here, too. Delicious preserved lemon soda and HK milk tea!

Came here last night and was really satisfied. The egg rolls are a must try-​not your typical egg roll, super crunchy! The food came out really fast and everything was yummy (beef curry, fish ball noodle soup, porkchops over rice, seasoned vegetables– all decent) Will definitely come back again. The prices are pretty low too.

Best milk tea outside of Hong Kong. Chicken noodle soup is good too. Bun Rieu is alright. Service is awesome

Fairly new place. My mom likes it a lot and she’s from Hong Kong. We got the shredded chicken noodle and the hot and spicy rib eye noodle.
Quick service, pretty simple menu, maybe only 50 items unlike the many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown with 500+ dishes over the course of their 10 page menu.
The noodle soups came out really hot and I like my food extremely hot, so that’s good.
The chicken was really tender and my mother said she could taste the freshness. I particularly enjoyed the mellow chicken-​y flavor of the broth. The ginger scallion sauce that accompanied the chicken was also good.
The hot and spicy beef noodle was ok. I wish it was beefier or spicier, but for my mother palette, it was perfectly flavorsome.
All in all, expect some good home cooking noodle soups that taste like your grandma in a good way ;)

I can’t believe they don’t let you order the happy hour menu items at regular price. The menu is super limited, I requested for an item that was on the happy hour menu at normal price however they don’t do that which is very unfortunate as I was looking forward to trying it out. It was also odd that the water that we got was only ¹⁄₃ of the way full on my cup.
The noodles are good and come out nice and hot, it does have an acceptable taste.
–2 stars for limited selection
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EDIT: They tried to rip me off, $ 6.99×2 + $ 4 is around $ 19.60 including tax, but my bill was $ 20.80. Not cool, will not come back, too shady.

First time trying this place out and we should have been warned by the lack of customers in the store. Not impressed at all. We ordered the half of a chicken with a bowl of Ho Fun on the side and we regretted it once the food came. The chicken was under cooked, some pieces were still raw, and had oil clumps still on the chicken, which means the chicken was frozen. The soup itself had a rancid smell. We barely ate the noodles and the chicken and got the bill. I would definitely not come back to eat here.

They got a lot of bad reviews under previous ownership, which surprised me because I actually liked this place when I came here. They were a typical HK café at the time and they had some really good and affordable items.
I think they changed ownership around last winter, and with it they changed their menu. They offer a lot of noodle soup items now, as well as some HK tea time items that are really cheap.
I really like their beef tendon ho fun. The bowls they give you are pretty generous. This is also one of the few places that does salty 7-​Up that I am aware of. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a 7-​Up with a preserved lemon in it and it is freakin awesome.

I only come here once in a while when they were still Hong Kong style café, they were good, but can’t make me come often…
But a friend told me they have change ownership couple months ago, and told me their phở ga (chicken noodle) is good, so I gave it a try and see if it can compare with the other one I love.
For the first time, Ive tried their bun rieu, I can never go back, LOL… I mean it’s really really good, I have not had a bun rieu this good in age! The soup base is super tasty!!! I also like their chicken noodle and beef stew, but honestly the chicken noodle is not as good as the one on 7 Ave, but happy café is not bad too, also they are more clean, so at least I can have a comfortable lunch with my family, and now I come here at least once a week, cus my whole family love them!

This is my second time visiting this place. Frist time was just mediocre, egg rolls was tasteless, chicken noodles were bland. Now, it was great! We had the Spicy beef noodles and crab paste noodles (hun rieu), some apps. This is probably the highlight of my busy busy day. Cheers!

Friendly and clean restaurant. They speak prefect English! We’ve had the grilled pork chops, chicken noodle soup, and beef noodle soup. It’s always delicious.

Supposedly they are known for their chicken noodle soup with fresh shredded chicken white and dark meat the way I like it with intestines:) yum. It came out pippin hot with a side of chopped scallion & ginger paste to mix into the soup. Ahhh so good. & not bad prices. Chinatown needs more yummy spots like this:)
Btw. Cash only.

Small portions. Big prices. $ 8 for what in essence is chicken phở sans bean sprouts et al. Friendly staff though, though i don’t get full from service.

Happy café recently changed ownership and reopened a few days ago. They have the best bun rieu in Oakland! The broth is very tasty and includes shrimp paste with crab meatballs, tofu, and tomatoes. We also ordered the beef noodle soup which is very similar to Vietnamese phở. We order the rib eye with meatballs and the rib eye is really good. The restaurant doesn’t offer tendon and tripe (which I usually remove anyways).
For all of their noodle dishes, you can choose the type of noodles you want — egg noodle, flat noodles or vermicelli. They are very generous with the amount of noodles in each bowl, too generous actually. The portion of meats is good too. The phở dish did not come with any accompanying vegetables (no bean sprouts, basil or limes).

Had lunch there today with my uncle and his friends. The food was pretty good. Had salmon fried rice which was great. Also we had a spicy curry noodles plate. The curry was pretty spicy so I didn’t really enjoy it a lot but it was okay. The best was the the rice. It was a bit burnt so it was crunchy and the salmon was cooked just right. The only problem was that since I don’t speak Cantonese, and the waiters don’t speak English my uncle had to order for all of us. That is a bit of a problem for me in particular so even if I want to go back there for lunch I can’t because of the language barrier. But if you do speak Cantonese I recommend this place because it’s pretty good.

You got to ask what the specials are… they are all written in Chinese. Strange, there were many things listed on the placard near the front door, but when asked what the specials were, the waitress only said one thing.
The menus are on loose laminated pieces of paper on a stand on the tables… note they all look a like, but are different menus… so you got to look at each one.
Service — there was only 1 person working the front of the house. So service could be slow, a bit rude and rushed if you do not know what you want to order.
If you do not get there early enough, you will be forced to share the 1 big table.
There is no Air Conditioning so it will get hot and stuffy… the café is narrow less then 10′ wide in the main dining area.
We ordered 2 pretty traditional dishes:
Salted fish and diced chicken fried rice ($ 6.50)
Pretty good overall… the salted fish was of good quality and soft. The fish was properly softened and finely crumbled. You are guaranteed a piece of fish in every bite.
Beef chow fun, dry-​styled ($ 6.95)
Good flavor, lots of onion… but nothing really to write home about.
I did not check out the bathroom. but I could not readily identify where it was located… perhaps up the steps, but I was not sure. The weather was hot and the last thing I wanted to do was go upstairs in a non ventilated building.
The noise level was loud, but that is what you can expect in a narrow resturant in Chinatown.

I’m glad I finally got to try this place. I’m a sucker for cute restaurant logos and the smiling cup is what caught my eye.
This place is a simple Hong Kong style café. It can be a bit intimidating because of all the specials written in Chinese, but the people working there are more than happy to help explain what they have. There are also menus in English on the table. I don’t think it reflects everything they have, so be sure to ask what else they have.
I got the fish congee that came with noodles, all for $ 3.95. My husband got the chicken steak with black pepper sauce that came with rice, corn and a drink. Total check? $ 11:50!!! How reasonable is that?
They also had other western breakfast options and a whole menu of noodle options. We definitely want to make it back to try their other items. We are from So Cal and are constantly looking for a Garden Café substitute… Not close yet, but we are getting there with this place. :). Give it a try!

first of all, to those who gave this place under 3 stars, idk what you were thinking. those ppl are probably abc’s, asians who have never been raised in hong kong, or just ppl who don’t know never really eaten at a REAL hong kong style café.
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General review:
the closest to hong kong style café I’VE EVER FOUND IN THE BAY AREA!!! :D
im so glad i found this place! everything is amazing, tasty, full of hong kong style. their hong kong style milk tea is the most hong kong style in the bay area
my favorite would be the ham-&-egg-toast-sandwhich, as i remember growing up in hong kong that was my number one food in hong kong and it still is now. you can never get tired of that. ever. and it goes great with any drink they serve.
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food quality:
obviously those who say there’s msg, well of course there’s msg, but in only the foods that obviously need msg. if you order «mien», the default «mien» in hong kong style café language is «doll noodle» aka. instant noodle, so if you’ve ever made instant noodle, it’s flavored with the sauce packet. if you specify the type of noodle you want, you won’t have msg in your noodle soup… duh.
the food IS NOT oily or greasy, it’s light and just right. and if you want no oil in your fried food, that’s virtually impossible because food cannot fry without oil or else it sticks to the pan, and the stuff that’s removable would be probably burnt.
the food is pretty delish in my opinon. full of hk flavor!
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Eat According to Time/Chef’s Cooking:
on a side note, if you want to get their chef’s cooking, come here a bit earlier, like before 3 or 4pm, so he can cook you some dried beef chow fun! it has the best taste and it is NOT GREASY! light but tasty, SUPER HK STYLE, super good! :D
also try the «haam choi pork stomach rice». it’s got onions, mushrooms, green pepper, sweet red pepper, pork stomach (but it ACTUALLY TASTES GOOD! im not a fan of eating pork organs or stuff like that, but this dish was goood enough to make me eat it! and it IS DELICIOUS!!!)
for a nice breakfast, come over before 11am and get a nice breakfast! everything on their breakfast menu is super hong kong style! I usually have trouble deciding between «A», «B», and «C» becuase all of them sound so tasty! just go and taste for yourselves!
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Eat According to the Weather:
on cold days, get a «beef stomach noodle soup». their beef stomach is the best, not soggy, not crunchy, it’s tender, and bouncy :) it’s also got veggies in there too, and the noodles aren’t stick! theyre bouncy noodles that when you chew it, it is smooth. pair this with some hot hk milk tea and you’re good to go.
good enough to satisfy a stomach, small enough for a snack! another good choice
on hot days, iced hk milk tea or iced lemon tea is THE BEST. egg and ham toast sandwhich tastes so delicious matched with those, too! and they offer «afternoon tea time» which is 2:30−6pm, where you can get whatever is on that menu, ranging from egg-&-ham-toast-sandwich to (what i consider authentic) fried fish ball! Costs under $ 4 per order.
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Service and Wait Time:
their service is superb too! very fast, efficient, and your food arrives about 5 – 10 minutes max right after you order it. you can’t beat that. if you come regularly and they know what you want, you can just say hello to the owner, tell the counter what you like and it will be made in like what 3 mintues or 2 minutes.
I visit this place almost every weekend with my mom and dad, i grew up in hong kong, they grew up all their lives in hong kong, we’re all cantonese, we all know how hong kong food is supposed to taste like. and this place is the most hong kong style we’ve found in the bay. over here, we can freely speak just plain cantonese and feel right at home. Chinglish (english mix with canto) is also acceptable here, too! :)
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Atmosphere:
Aaahh…one of those things that truly determine a hong kong style restaurant. if it aint noisy and fulla uncles talkin shit, it aint hong kong style. this place has the atmosphere. its got kids eating with their family, uncles just talkin bout nothin, families eating together, teens and any ppl just chillin here and eatin with their friends! it feels really warm and conversational, regulars come here, owners are friendly and open to suggestions. Come here with friends or family and enjoy.
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PRICE:
last but not least, THE PRICE IS UNBEATABLE!!! a family of 3 or 4 can have a whole meal of rice plates, «the daily set», and one or 2 small snacks and have a bill of under $ 20. COME HERE AND ENJOY REAL HONG KONG STYLE FOOD!!! you will not be disappointed.

this place is a hit or miss. the first time I ate here I ordered the minced beef with raw egg over rice. I just love how the dish is steaming hot with a raw egg on top in the middle. it was definitely tasty. my friend ordered the beef chow fun and recommended that I try it. he said it has the «wok hay» similar to hong kong cooking. I have to admit it was pretty damn good. I’ll just have to order it next time.
now here’s where the minus 2 stars comes in. I came here again and tried to order the beef chow fun. they ran out of ho fun. it was only 12pm. how the heck do you run out so early??? ok, so I decided to order the curry chicken over rice. the curry sauce was good but the chicken meat was dry and chewy. I sure hope it was chicken meat cuz it was covered with the dark curry sauce and I couldn’t tell what it was.
I’ll still come back since I remembered how delicious the beef chow fun was. maybe next time I’ll tell them I’ll go across the street to buy the ho fun so that they can make me that dish