Happy Japanese Restaurant & Sake Bar

good service, good food, good price. everything you want after a good day at work or a crap day at work this place lifts your spirit especially with a nice cold handle of asahi with your meal. S hinya the owner is very friendly as well as the rest of the staff they seem to be happy to be there and very helpful, unlike alot of other staff at other resterants. I’m a regular now and will continue to be. very HAPPY!

I always complain that there isn’t much to eat around the New Lynn area but this restaurant has been around for awhile (I know, how terrible of me) and I have never had the chance to try it out until now by pure chance, Major bonus points for this place being open on a Monday night when so many places in New Lynn choose to close on Monday.
The restaurant offers happy hour for tap beer and sake (yey!) but we decide to go with the grape Chu Hi which is deliciousness unto itself if you have never tried it before. When they brought our drinks over, we were delightfully surprised that they served us in a large beer pint glass… please be aware that this IS an alcoholic drink even if it may not taste like alcohol at all.
The menu offers a range of selection from your traditional sushi and sashimi, bento boxes, ramans, and set meals to Japanese style/​inspired burgers, such as ‘teriyaki tofu avocado burger’. I’m not sure if I will ever get around to ordering that burger but it does sound intriguing and the picture looks quite appetising.
We chose some typical A La Carte dishes to share: Beef tataki, Karrage chicken, okonomiyaki, tako wasabi, mustard mayo chicken and a salmon and tuna sushi. On hind sight we realised that this might be too much food for 2 ppl but it was delicious and we finished everything… yep.
I would definitely come back again but will probably bring more friends and try out their yakitori menu. Who knows, this could be our new Tanuki’s Cave out in the West

I have been here twice. The food is average but I think it’s slightly on the expensive side. What I do recommend is the Tako Wasabi — basically chopped up bits of fresh raw octopus in a wasabi based sauce. Instant sinus clearer!

We first noticed this restaurant several years ago in its old location on Great North Rd in Kelston and always said that we should give it a go. Finally we did, but now it is in a new location on Great North Road in New Lynn, just at the end when leaving New Lynn toward Kelston. From entering I could say I had given it the big thumbs up. We were greeted cheerfully by both staff there, with the male staff member talking to my wife in Japanese at first!!! She is Chinese and I think about the very first time mistaken for being Japanese… but not a problem as no offense taken. We were seated in another room next to the one you enter into and straight away offered some warm refresher towels. Impressive… have never come across this before in any restaurant in NZ !! Much appreciated. We were left to browse through the menu and when needed they were quick to come and take the order. We chose the crab filled crouqettes, cheese camembert fried, chicken teriyaki and a pork dish (which as usual I forgot to note the name of!!). To drink I had a Japanese soft drink called Ramune, which to me tasted a bit like lemonade. There was a little trick to opening the lid which the waitress was very helpful in showing us. The camembert and croquettes came out first and I noticed the wait staff kept an eye on us and when we were finished them they promptly brought out the chicken etc, not like some places where I have found they bring other dish out while you are still on the first etc. Empty plates were cleared quickly and several times we were asked if everything was okay. End result of the tasting… all good. Yet another place hard to fault. Overall, the menu has quite a good selection, the restaurant has good ambience and is clean and tidy, the service is top notch and the food good.. As I stated the service is top notch but also as I find in all Japanese restaurants, bar one I have been to, the staff are super friendly and very welcoming. Well deserving a 5 star from myself.