Happy Noodles

3 stars for this place
I didn’t expect much but this place was decent, staff polite, place nice a clean, food was ok, they specialize in noodles, mostly all spicy noodles, my friend stated it was not spicy enough.
I have a certain tolerance for spicy food meaning I can eat a jalapeño whole no issue, now a thai chili slight teary eyed but manageable, habenero whole yeah imma pass on that one. The soups here were not spicy to me,
I got to sample 2 soups Dan dan noodle & the spicy beef noodle both good if your looking to warm up or fight a throat cold
the spicy beef noodle was not spicy, the noodles are handmade im told, there was slightly pasty after taste but once i got to the middle of the bowl it seems the heat cooked the rest of the noodles all the way thru, the beef was thin sliced, very thin sliced like deli cuts
the dan dan noodles for me was bland, sadly I don’t know how else to describe this dish
soup/​noodles *** imma have to pass for a next time
price $
service **** helpful staff
ambiance **** clean

Hello Happy Noodles Fans,
Just wanted give an update to the whereabouts of the previous head chef at Happy Noodles.
You can find him at Fey Restaurant in Menlo Park.
Thank you all for your support while we were Happy Noodles!

They decided to close their doors, which was planned before the Michelin bib gourmand mention. I’m so sad.
Their Guilin noodle soup is one of the best I’ve had, not just in this country.

I can’t believe their last day is tomorrow after they just made the bib gourmand list! The lady who took my order said the place was being converted into yet another Asian dessert place :(anyway, it was my birthday, and being Chinese, I needed to find some long life noodles, so I figured what better place than one named Happy Noodles?
I had a couple dishes in mind before I came. ants going up a tree (ma yi shang shu) and the spicy wontons, but sadly, as they were preparing to clear out the kitchen and close business forever, they were out of ingredients for these! We ended up with a couple of other dishes recommended by our server.
1. Cold noodles (liang mien): quite flavorful, good kick, but very oily. It was already mixed, unlike the usual noodles topped with various shredded toppings
2. Cucumber: very garlicky, crisp, good as a light accompaniment
3. Marinated vermicelli (liang fen): it looks like it’ll be bland, as it’s just vermicelli noodles and sauce, but it actually holds a good amount of flavor
4. Dan dan noodles: I think every table had this. I got it with rice noodles instead of ramen noodles. Sauce was peanut and soy, and I liked the snow pea shoots that went with it. It was a bit non conventional but good
5. Cumin goat: fragrant, not too gamey, but also very oily
Most of their dishes were spicy and very oily, which wasn’t so great for my heartburn. Their dishes all have strong flavors, though, which I love. It’s sad that they’re being forced to shut down just right after they got some recognition!

4 stars for the food, 1 star for the service.
Food:
Yum, it’s authentic. It’s spicy, sweet, savory, and everything delicious! The Dan Dan mein was very good. But I really liked the Old Lady Noodles… it was just thinly sliced pork mixed with cabbage and fermented tofu slices. We also ordered a side of pig ears. It was delivered with way more cilantro and bean sprouts than I imagined. The pig ears were spicy enough that I felt my lips on fire, but I disliked having to dig through a pile of stuff to get to the pieces.
Service:
We came right at opening and literally the owners came just 5 minutes before that. My friend and I sat down and just talked… no tea… no menus for at least 10 minutes. We finally asked for menus, at which point 2 were flopped on the table. We then asked for tea but were told that the water wasn’t hot yet… really? When it was delivered, it was just a sad tea bag floating around in mildly warm water… it took at least 5 minutes to seep before we got any color.
Upon ordering, the waitress ended our order after the first dish. Yes, we are two girls… but no, we aren’t about to share 1 entrée and 1 bowl of rice… I «ordered» my dish next. the Old Lady Noodles was delivered first and I was picking around at my friend’s dish while waiting…15 minutes later, I asked about my Dan Dan Mein at which point I was told that I had never ordered it… the waitress had literally stopped writing after the first dish. AUGH.
After some profuse apologies, I ended up with my Dan Dan Mein which I had to scarf down because my friend had already gotten her fill for dinner. When we asked for the check, there was 2 other dishes that we didn’t order on there… turns out to be the orders of another table with 2 girls. COME ON. It was adjusted immediately, but honestly, I wasn’t impressed.
Real restauranteurs ought to know that they should be prepping at least an hour prior to opening.

I’ve never had this region’s beef noodle soup before but I was HANKERING for some beef noodle soup one day and stumbled upon this place through Unilocal.
This place definitely feels mom and pop, with maybe 9 tables in there? And the lady running between the kitchen and front.
I really had no idea what to order but from the pictures, chose Gui Lin spicy beef noodle and it was quite delicious. I can’t comment on whether it’s authentic or not, but the soup was flavorful and you can adjust how spicy you get it. I got medium and it worked for a spice-​o-​phobe like me. The portions were large and they gave a good amount of meat. The seeds? or fried herbs? added a nice texture to each bite.
I’d definitely come back here as I’ve never seen these noodles elsewhere and I really enjoyed it here.

I just came here for lunch today. I ordered the #7 Vegetarian Rice Noodles and it was $ 8.95 for a bowl of noodles. I thought that was a little on the high side especially since a bowl of phở is like 6 dollars! We had ten people in our party and were able to get a table but it was a little tight.
Service was okay. Nothing spectacular. Both of our tea pots were empty for a good 10 minutes before someone came to fill them up.
The Vegetarian noodles were good. It came with a fried egg, tomatoes, and greens (and some other stuff that I don’t know but was good). The noodles were really good and they aren’t very thick so you don’t have to feel like you’re eating a ton of carbs!
The Dan Dan Mein was really good. It was pretty spicy but they separate the spicy stuff inside so you can take it out before you mix it in! (I would recommend doing that!)
It was pretty crowded in here for lunch so I’m guessing a lot of people like it. Also, if you pay with cash you get a 5% cash discount! Whoohoo!

Happy Noodles is now one of my favorite noodle places in San Mateo. And there’s kind of a lot of them so that’s no small statement. Their cold spicy noodles are legitimately smack you in the face spicy and the bridge crossing noodles have a delicate flavor that’s surprisingly hard to pin down. I’d like to try a lot more of their spicy stuff.

Happy Noodles? More like Happy Customers!
We love this place! My coworkers and I try to come to Happy Noodle at least once a week.
Our favorites are:
— Bean Curd and Lotus Root (not on the menu, but so amazing — they make it custom for us)
— Spicy hot fish (fish is so good, the spice is just right — not as spicy as it sounds)
— Cold noodles (not spicy at all, which cuts the other dishes nicely)
Highly recommend this place. The food is oh so tasty and it’s extremely well-​priced and the staff is really sweet. It’s also just such a wonderful reminder of what *real* Chinese food tastes like.

Happy Noodle is located right next to the parking structure next to the Theaters in Downtown San Mateo. On Sunday we went to try the spicy cuisine. I ordered off of the pics from Unilocal:
Spicy Wontons ³⁄₅ stars just wontons with hot chilli sauce same as on the
condiment tray wontons were cooked nicely.
Beef Noodle soup ²⁄₅ bland, slivers of beef, had a couple of peanuts added?
Ko Shuei Chicken ⁴⁄₅ best dish of the meal spicy peanut sauce
Dan Dan noodle ³⁄₅ I think it was the same sauce from the Chicken,
noodles were dry and chewy.
Service was spotty, only 1 waitress and two people in the kitchen. Low Overhead !

Today was just not our day for ramen. Tried to go to Ramen Dojo, Santa Ramen and Ramen Parlor and ALL 3 were closed! Stumbled across this place instead because we saw it had ⁴⁄₅ stars on Unilocal and wanted to get our noodle fix. It’s a cute little mom and pop noodle place that was surprisingly good.
Gui Yang spicy chicken rice noodle soup: very flavorful and spicy! Almost like a mix between tom yum and champong. The rice noodles were vermicelli? or something very similar to it and there were some bak choy and cucumbers in it.
Dan Dan Raman noodles: this was a wheat noodle, thick and flat, topped with a ton of minced garlic and some greens, light thick broth that was smokey and extremely flavorful and spicy! Definitely delicious.
Spicy wontons: topped with hot oil and definitely had major kick to it. I liked spicy foods but had to rub off some of the chiles to eat it.
Would definitely come back here for the 2 noodle dishes because I haven’t really tried anything similar to it in San Jose.

This place specializes in Szechuan dishes. Majority of the items on their menu has a «ma la» (numbing) flavor. I’m not particularly a fan of «ma la» as it just leaves your tongue feeling numb and ruining your taste buds.
We ordered:
Spicy Cucumbers (
) — It wasn’t spicy, it just left a numbing feeling in my mouth.
Twice Cooked Pork (
) — The dish was flavorful, but I found it interesting that they used bacon.
Chuan Bei Liang Fun (glass noodles) (
) — «ma la» flavor was solid.
Dan Dan Mein (
) — I wasn’t a fan of this dish. Dan Dan Mein usually has a peanut flavor, but it was lacking here. Actually, I thought it tasted a bit weird.
Preserved Vegetable Fried Rice (
) — They seemed to have missed the preserved vegetables as there was only ham, peas, carrots, eggs, and rice.
The restaurant is small so be prepared to wait if you come during peak hours. The service was lacking as they were slow and seemed a bit flustered. However, I do intend to come back and try their other noodle dishes. Hopefully, the service will be better the second time around.

Hands down, my favorite sichuan restaurant in the bay area. So good that I am a little cautious of sharing about it too much or else they will have a long line: P
The restaurant sits 6 – 7 groups max, which means that there is a line during the dinner rush to get a table. But the line is not too bad, typically just 3 – 4 groups in line. Mostly because there is only 1 server so it takes awhile to clean the tables and seat the next group.
If this is your first time, I recommend the dan dan noodles and house special noodle soup (clear, non-​spicy soup). They are the restaurant’s signature noodle dishes, and make me belly very, very happy. On top of that, I recommend the spicy wontons (hong you chao shou) and the wujiang fish and tofu. All of these dishes are numblingly spicy. My family is accustomed to eating sichuan and spicy cuisine, so I can tolerate their extra spicy very well. However, if this is your first time, I recommend going with less spicy or normal. Be warned that their level of spicy is authentic and not for the faint of heart. I suggest ordering something on the lighter side, like a vegetable, on top of these dishes. You will appreciate it after all the spices.
Overall, an awesome staple chinese restaurant for me. A MUST and gem for those who like authentic chinese sichuan cuisine.

Happy Noodles indeed. The food here was delicious and the owner was very kind. By the end of my meal here, everybody in the restaurant was watching America’s Got Talent together and talking about what was going on. Definitely the friendliest restaurant experience I’ve had in a long time. Only possible in a small restaurant with a friendly owner and a single TV that everybody can see.
Now onto the food. It’s a Sichuan restaurant, meaning that if you want the best they have to offer, you have to order spicy. Unfortunately, I’m weaksauce when it comes to spicy so I had to order the house special noodle soup which was not spicy, but not particularly delicious either. It may be because I’m a ramen lover and thus appreciate strongly flavored broth, but I found the soup to be somewhat weak, the meat lacking in flavor, and the noodles lacking in substance. The appetizers were delicious though. I don’t remember the first one we ordered but our second appetizer dish was Pig Ear. It was somewhat spicy but I tolerated it for its delicious flavor. My roommate is of Sichuan descent and he said the Pig Ear was some of the best he’s had in a long time.

Very clean, cozy place (can seat around 20 – 30 people). Located in downtown San Mateo on the main street.
I came here during off-​peak hours (around 2 – 3 pm) with my vegetarian mom. We ordered the Veggie Fried Rice (Chow Fan) and Eggplant. The total bill came to around $ 20 including tip.
I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh and delicious the food was (they made it right on the spot, fresh for us — the cook even showed us an egg to ask if we were ok with egg). I’ve eaten at a lot of Chinese restaurants, but this really stood out for being fresh. The fried rice was not oily at all. Everything was piping hot, straight from the stove. The portions were generous and we had lots of leftovers.
I’m planning to come back to try some of their spicy meat dishes.

A regional Chinese resto that fairly small with a trim menu to match.
South-​west so the cuisine is partly Sichaun/​Szechuan but surprisingly the food wasn’t that spicy or particularly bold. They obviously specialize in noodles, so it’s your choice of rice noodles or hand made flour noodles.
Menu (
)
DAN DAN NOODLES | $ 9 went with the hand made flour noodles.
Springy noodles topped with a sesame paste and veggies.
After mixing everything up it wasn’t quite as good as Yi Yuan’s (in Millbrae) but it tasted very authentic. It’s home style Chinese cooking. (
)
SPICY BEEF NOODLE SOUP (GUI LIN) | $ 9
Similar to the «crossing the bridge» noodles from HD Yunnan noodle (in Millbrae). The beef strips in the soup tasted like pastrami??? Interesting!!! The soup was pretty good, I’m not sure if I’d come back but I’d get this again. It’d be pretty good if you wanted something in between ramen and phở. (
)
Casual bargain bite lunch that really hit the spot for a cold day. Everything was under ($ 10). Not sure if I’d come back but it’s one of those «at least you tried it» kinda places.

Not bad! Clean store, chewy noodles and prompt service! I’ll come back and try other items.

I would like to go back and try other yummy choices on the menu.
The restaurant smells very spicy and authentic when we just came in, workers have good recommendations, cucumber salad with spicy oil is delicious, noodles are tasty and chewy but at the end, they got kind of soft and not so chewy anymore. I guess you want to eat it a bit faster.
Compared to The Noodle Shop or QQ Noodle, this place is a little bit of pricey, (cucumber is at almost $ 6). But hey, it’s San Mateo downtown, understandable. And for the yummy taste, it is worth it.

Man, downtown San Mateo is on a roll! This place recently opened up, and its noodle soup dishes are awesome! I got a spicy beef noodle soup, and it was perfect for the semi-​cold December evening.
I’ll definitely be coming back for more.

«HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!»
Those who have strolled through SF Chinatown in the late 1990s and early 2000s will probably remember an old Chinese American grandpa, always wore a hat, who used to love getting up on a stool, holding up protest signs on the corner of Grant and Washington and shouting random things, but his trademark was «happy happy happy!». It was usually anti Taiwanese and pro communist China rhetoric that he spewed, calling former corrupt TW president Chen Shui Bian a traitor and a «dog». I have a feeling he retired one way or another, or the anti Commie’s finally got to him like the thugs in our government and those who put them in power.
Rest assured this grandpa has nothing to do with the noodle shop name, and as Mainland Chinese as this place is, it’s actually pretty decent once you get over the flavor hump that’s quite unusual at least to me.
The Chinese name has nothing to do with Happy or Noodles… but rather Shi Nan Feng, loosely translated as Southwestern Winds or in this case, Southwest Flavors/​Taste. The main theme is Sichuan, as items such as Dan Dan Mi Xien and chili wontons, are typical mainstays. But the shorthand character signage in Chinese, indicates that they play around with flavors of Yunnan, Kunming (capital city of Yunnan province), as well as Guilin of all places. Now Yunnan is famous for their Crossing Bridge Noodles, of which you can get pretty decent interpretations of them in Millbrae, but it’s a first for San Mateo. Beyond that is pretty much anyone’s guess since this is not a common kind of regional Chinese.
Hung yo tsau shou — «red oil stir fried hands»…no hands were harmed or maimed or served in this process… this is the signature Sichuan style chili oil/​spicy wontons. One word… phenomenal. I’ve had half assed versions before, where even a place like A&Js in Cupertino would just take mediocre won tons, slather oil on it, and call it a day. Here they take care to wrap them and the pork filling is well seasoned and tastes great. The chili oil they use is good quality and does not overpower or overwhelm the won ton flavor. The skins are a tad bit thicker… like dumpling/​jiaozi skins and a bit too firm… but otherwise it’s pretty solid. This is an appetizer, a little high priced but at least it’s not M. Y Hakka$an stratospheric hipstery. I would return to get this again and try a few other things.
There are other various Sichuanese dishes and entrees on the menu.
All the noodle soups except for the Yunnan Crossing Bridge Noodles (it’s not even labeled as such in English), are spicy. You have two options for noodles… mi xien which is a rice noodle that has the firmness of udon, but denser, and their shou gahn mian, or hand made noodle, that is like a fettucine but thicker and a tad doughier (and quite decent).
The beef noodles was the most logical choice, opted for the hand made noodle.
At over $ 8 a bowl, it’s reaching ramen priced territory, and a good sized portion with a nice natural chicken stock (chicken and bones), noodles (of course), diced string beans, and very interesting pastrami-​esque colored salted/​cured beef slices (Yi Yuan in Millbrae does this approach with their beef noodles), peanuts (to give it that rustic regional flavor), plus a very salted chili oil sauce that had strong Sichuan peppercorn (huaqiao/​huajiao) accent that I’m personally not a fan of.
The hand made noodle was pretty good… I’m thinking this broad noodle would also work great brothless with… a meatsauce. Or like those Xi’an style herbal lamb noodle soups (like in Flushing NY).
Overall this bowl worked, and was reasonably enjoyable as an escape from the torrential downpour last week. A fair warning that this kind of flavor profile and combination is not for everyone, but is interesting and unusual nonetheless. The other way to go would possibly be to request less sauce or sauce on the side… this bowl could seriously work without it, but if you need to kick it up a notch, their house/​table chili sauce is quite sexcellent once you dunk some in and eat the noodle with (which I found better than the seasoned chili oil with peppercorns).
Crossing Bridge Noodles — very good, but not served the traditional way where noodles and broth come first then condiments added on top tableside by waitstaff. Decent and refreshing otherwise. The chicken is excellent, cured/​salted or smoked, but very nice.
Ma Yi Shang Shu — «ants climbing trees». No ants inside, just stir fried bean thread noodles with minced pork, chili oil. Über spicy, watch out.
Yes they have dan dan mian but probably a bit unusual to use rice noodle or fettucine-​esque hand made noodle with it… but perhaps that would be more interesting and cheaper that the lackluster Italian joints around that charge $ 20 for a plate of papperdelle with an even more interesting ragu. except you’re getting the regional Chinese version with spices and might leave with a bit of a sweat or tongue tickle.