Three Happiness Restaurant

I remember my Aunt taking me here and I went back some time ago place is pretty awesome and food was great when it was going. Good food and good service, was nice and easy to get to from the parking we got.
Last time I went they I was a bit concerned about what was going on and turned around to see a hot plate had fallen and a small little fire erupted from the floor because of what was on the plate. Everyone watched in awe and excitement especially as it took a bit to get it out by the staff. From that point things proceed as normal like there was no fire in the restaurant.

OK. I posted for the wong 3 happness. the one across the street. Here is the review for THIS one:
After years of downhill quality, my last visit (Dec 2013) was the best ever. I have been coming here for more than 20 years and always stop in when I go grocery shopping for the good stuff I cannot find in Indiana. Well, this visit was great and I can’t wait for a Sunday with clear weather to slog up there. The price has gone up with the quality and one needs about $ 25/​person. but its worth it.
Now here are some tips if you are a Dim Sum Commando:
1) Get there early (10:30 latest) for best selection and service. and for the best cuts of BBQ Pork if you go grocery shopping afterwards.
2) Get a table close to the kitchen door, forgo the ambiance for the better selection and quicker service/​hotter plates.
3) Group of 8 – 10 is optimum for lazy susan table (be early for good table)
Group of two offers comfortable room at the table/​more selection.
Group of 6+ is crowded and little elbow room at regular table.

Quick update– As of February they were closed for remodeling, I have not been since, so call ahead just in case.
The entrance is a little tricky for some people. I normally go in through the doors located on Wentworth, take the stairs going up, and you’ll be at the entrance to the restaurant. If you do park in the lot across the street, they will validate your parking to receive free/​discounted parking.
Love this place, one of my go-​to Dim Sum houses in Chinatown. Perfect for brunch and big groups.
Good variety and quality dim sum available. Anytime friends from out of town visit or if I have not eaten in days and need to get my fill of good food, I like to come here and try the plethora of plate options.

I have seen the light! I’ve finally tried Dim Sum at some other restaurants and now understand that Three Happiness Restaurant is not nearly as wonderful as I once thought.
I still love it but now I notice the grimy floors and the greasiness of the food. I never noticed those things before but now I know that floors can be clean (in China Town) and food can be fresh and light.
Beyond those things, I’ve never had to wait for a table at Three Happiness. I’m delighted by the parade of food-​laden carts. I also like that they validate parking for the lot directly across the street.

** I would like to start by noting the sign on this building says ‘Three Happiness Original Restaurant’ where the one across says ‘Three Happiness Restaurant’ These names are switched around on Unilocal — at least from a tourist point of view**
I’m from Seattle and was in Seattle on vacation. I was in Chinatown shopping for hot pot supplies to introduce my host and his friends to the wonders of hot pot. With that being said — I got recommendations from a Seattle implant and the Unilocal Chicago Talk on grocery stores to hit — but not restaurants. So I went into this restaurant blindly with only the mediocre reviews on Unilocal.I later found out that this was not the right restaurant! as per my first paragraph.
My first mistake was deciding to eat dim sum when it was completely dead. The food on the cart were sitting there so long they had to heat it up before giving it to us. Many places in Seattle will make what you want fresh if it’s really slow — so I was a bit floored when they took it off the cart to reheat. As you may guess — the food was not great at all! I don’t think I would even want to come back during a busy period.
After we were done eating we waited for the check. No one even looked in my direction to make eye contact! Two men, who I assume were the owners, were eating lunch and noticed we were sitting there for a long time finally got up and said something to the staff. At that time everyone came over to help, including them! He was very nice — but it’s disappointing that he had to step away from his meal to get his staff to do their job. I was a bit blown away at the check — it was pretty high for the quality of food & service we received.

Went to here for late dinner on a Tuesday night only to find my boyfriend and I were the only people in the restaurant. I should have left then.
The dim sum took awhile to come out compared to other places. Some of the food seemed cold by then. It seemed like everything was greasy and I could not finish the spring roll. For the first time ever, I did not take the leftovers home.
The place seems dated and the carpet extremely worn out. This is not a top choice for dim sum and I guarantee that I will not be back unless the place is revamped.

The majority of the food was terrible with the exception of the potstickers and chicken spring rolls. I would not recommend this restaurant to my worst enemy. My husband ate a few bites then threw up in the bathroom, he did not enjoy the encore.

:-)
We enjoyed a family outing to Chicago’s Chinatown for Dim Sum — a different sort of breakfast.
We are creatures of habit and so always go to Three happiness on Wentworth — it is nice going to what is familiar. They have changed a lot over the 33+ years that we have been going. Once upon a time it was only standing room only, but sadly not anymore, but perhaps people eat later.
We arrived just after they opened. You walk upstairs to the main dining room. Back in the day the first floor was also open and usually packed. We were seated immediately and saw the same man who used to manage the restaurant. I am sure he did not recognize us — we have gotten older too and have gone from six children to just one in the nest. I still remember how he just to fold the tops of the bags — with such flair — all so it would not pop open. I fold my bags like him as well — he is a good teacher.
As one walks up the stairs it doesn’t seem too inviting, however the view outside the window that faces south is great — you see all of Chinatown with the giant gate thing right in front of you; and if you didn’t know to go upstairs you may not even know that there’s a restaurant, but everything appears clean and tidy. All of the tables are uniform with white tablecloths, covered with parchment paper, (our tablecloth was soiled a bit with soy sauce stains) and are nicely set.
The older manager/​turned wait staff, (seemingly to pass the time of day), greeted us and sent water and tea over to our table. Then a woman pushing a cart came down the aisle loaded with goodies — this is «dim sum». It’s like having a food vendor coming directly to your table. She shows you her merchandise, you select what you want, she serves, then marks off on a card for future tallying, then the next «vendor» comes by with even more goodies — all different. There are at least eight different carts rotating throughout the restaurant and throughout the day the menu changes.
I cannot tell you what we had by name, other than there were shrimp, beef and pork hors d’œuvre like goodies. Some came in soft white rice noodles, others like spring rolls and others in dumpling casings. There was also sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf — doesn’t that sound delightful? We always come away full for seemingly eating so little.
It’s always a nice reasonably-​priced splurge if you’re in need of a special treat — afterwards you could always walk around Chinatown and visit any one of the many bakeries for something more to take-​home; and of course, there’s the souvenir shops that have bargains galore — some of the shop keepers may like haggling. But a great way to spend an early morning in by 9 home by 11 with eating and shopping done.

Wanna give ZERO STARS! STAY AWAY
Came here 2 weeks ago.
The cleanliness is the only thing that matters. Asked for a spoon, waitress walks over while wiping it with a napkin, there was brown stuff left in the napkin and she still put it on the table.
WE saw a HUGE RAT walking around near the kitchen door. No lie.
I wanna throw up just thinking about this night.
Enough said.

Absolute garbage! Showed up at 5:45 PM and they told us no more dim sum cause the cooks were tired. That should have been our first sign.
Order our meals and it took 45 minutes for our soup and egg rolls to show up cold! Our meals arrived 2 minutes later cold as ice and the rice wasn’t even warm! We complained and they said they would comp our drinks and give us a discount. Well they handed us the bill with not a single comp or discount and all of a sudden claims they couldn’t speak English.
Stay away from these scammers and poor food.

Dim Sum… oh yeah. I’ve only ever had it in Hong Kong and Singapore, so I did not really have high expectations for this restaurant («American-​style» dim sum. I imagined horrible things).
I came here after finding that Ming Hin stopped serving dim sum at 4 pm (… why?), and was delighted to find some of my favorite plates available. Although you will not be able to enjoy an authentic dim sum experience because they make you order off of a picture menu rather than flagging down food carts, I had a great time. The BBQ pork funn roll was not available, but I did enjoy some delicious turnip cake and fried taro root balls… mmm. Just like I remember from Asia!
Other dishes were just okay (the siew mai in particular), but all of my disapproving thoughts were totally eliminated when we got the bill. $ 19 for five plates??? Amazing. We noticed that they charged us $ 0.80 for tea but brought to our table without asking, but we were too tickled by the great price of our meal to care.
With this review, I can’t promise the best dim sum in Chicago, but the food is cheap and it does the job when you need to relieve a dim sum craving! And it’s super close to the red line station!

Whew. This was some of the WORST «Chinese» food that we’ve had in a long time.
The pork cutlet was burned on the outside, and greasy and cold on the inside. Chicken feet were swimming in a bowl of grease. Egg rolls were fried and completely filled with grease. Really unappetizing.
There were a few decent items: sesame balls with red bean paste were OK. Shrimp dumplings were good, the pork dumplings were OK too. The potstickers were pretty good.
We looked around a little bit and it seemed that others in the place knew to order from the picture menu rather than chance the food on the carts. Maybe that food is better.
There are a lot of other options in Chinatown. We’ll pick anywhere else the next time we go.

I went here on Sunday to celebrate Chinese New Year. Some friends were in town and had gone here previously and recommended it.
The DimSum here was served on carts which made it easier to see and understand what the items were compared to seeing them on a menu. Everything we had was delicious, I especially liked the Three Happiness Dumpling and the Fried Shrimp Roll.
But, again, we liked every plate we tried some of the other ones we had were BBQ Pork Bun, Shrimp shiu mai, shrimp dumplings, shrimp toast, and potstickers.
All in all it was very good… will I go back? Possibly, but I also like going to new places when I come back to Chinatown. There are so many options, why stick with just one? Who knows… maybe the next one will really blow me away?!

The dim sum, on the whole, is okay, and the restaurant is clean (even the bathrooms). I thought the bill was a little high, compared to the many other dim sum places in Chinatown, and the service was slow. I was also surprised that certain items, such as custard tarts, were unavailable early in the day.
But one disturbing fact will keep me from patronizing, or recommending, New Three Happiness in the future: they serve shark fin dumplings.
Now, maybe it’s possible to find a supplier who uses the WHOLE shark and then sells fins to certain restaurants. But there’s been so much increased public awareness of the shark fin industry that it’s surprising NTH even offers this. Most people who have only a passing knowledge of eco-​issues know that shark fins are usually cut from live sharks which are then dumped back into the sea, where they die slowly and painfully. It’s depleting the number of shark species which are vulnerable, and it’s just mean.
What could be worse? Puppy dumplings?
Maybe, but only if the puppies were alive when they were cooked.
There are lots of other dim sum places within walking distance of NTH. Try one of those. They won’t leave such a bad taste, figuratively.

Had lunch here today with some out-​of-​towners who wanted to experience Chinatown. We had your standard Americanized Chinese fare like Mongolian Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, potstickers and egg rolls. The food was fine and the service okay too.
What really struck me though was the carpet in the place. It was filthy, like it had not been vacuumed in a couple of days. There was dried food under the tables and it was just really gross. And as I got to looking at it, I noticed well-​worn paths all around the room. Time for some new carpeting and some routine housekeeping!
The other thing that bugged me about this place was the service staff eating from take-​out containers in the prep area right in front of us. It was like, let me put down my egg roll so that I can serve your order now. This one server must have been really hungry because she was just chowing down to beat the band.
I really don’t like to give negative reviews, but this place just had bad karma for me even though the service was okay and the food well within expectations. It’s just that given my experience with the lack of cleanliness and the staff eating in front of customers, I would definitely make another choice among the many restaurants in Chinatown for the next visit.

LOVE 3 Happiness! I’ve been going to this location since I was little and although I’ve tried dim sum at other locations, I keep coming back to 3 Happiness.
It’s a pretty good location (especially close to the L and parking lot) and I feel like the prices are pretty good. You could always get cheaper dim sum somewhere else (especially compared to their weekend prices) but I feel like they have such a big selection of dim sum, it’s hard for me to go to cheaper places that don’t have as many to choose from.
The only reason I didn’t give them 5 stars is because the service always tends to be sub-​par. I didn’t take off anymore than 1 star because, well, chinatown isn’t exactly known for their great customer service!

This restaurant has three items which will completely change your life, and your relationship with food. If you get anything else, be prepared to be disappointed.
1. Salt and Pepper Shrimp — no shell. Served on a bed of hot, tasty onions and with real jalapenos that have been sauteed. it’s INSANE. I’m talking, the kind of food you crave if you don’t have it for more than a month. Foodgasm.
2. I don’t even know the name of one dish. It’s just, basically, a whole skinned chicken that has been roasted with salt and lemon and butter. So good.
3. The coconut jello after-​meal treat guys. YUM.
Anyway, I’m not surprised most of you found it a little lackluster. You really just have to try those three dishes, and they will blow your mind. Otherwise, meh.

I am purely appalled by the tasteless food and quality here.
My review is based on lunch Dim Sum that just tasted bland.
The funny thing is that we brought with us a Chines co-​worker to show him Chinatown. Based on his comments I can say that he was not impressed either and what I gathered is that the food served in this restaurant is the food of the poor, pieced together and not what he would eat in China on everyday basis, He said the tea served was cheap.
I hated the pork Dim Sum it smelled bad and was meaty and greasy. Just thinking about this porky roll makes me nauseated.
I just hated the Dim Sum all together and most especially the doughy texture of the food. I love my Chinese American food staples like General Tso’s Chicken. Dim Sum not for me.
The whole experience was weird, including the Bingo-​like ordering sheet. Next time, no thanks I pass.
I won’t even go into the interior appearance of the restaurants but think pink 70s

I can’t help it. I’m not a fan of Chinese food. Maybe I’ve just had the wrong kind of Chinese food — I don’t know.
Regardless, my favorite thing about this restaurant are the delicious blended fruity cocktails. Perfection.
I had to eat the rice noodles with pork. Blah. So greasy it just sat in my stomach like a gold bar or something. I can’t eat it again. My other friend had the crispy duck and loved it, and my husband had the shrimp in oyster sauce and loved it.
I won’t be back to eat, but I will be back for drinks.

My culinary adventure continues. Met my friend and her husband here on Saturday for an early lunch. This is her favorite dim-​sum and I was eager to join in, never having had dim-​sum.
I’ve learned I’m not a fan of glutinous food. But that aside, the sticky rice in lotus leaf was very good, as where the pot-​stickers. The salt & pepper squid was excellent.
The ambiance of the restaurant was something else, entirely. The cranky women pushing the carts were hilarious. And then the wait staff was yelling back and forth at each other across the restaurant. Highly entertaining. My friend says she usually ends up in a screaming match with the cart women by the end of the meal, as she tries to get the items she came for. Her husband isn’t really into dim-​sum, but is such a sweetheart, he just patiently chews on an eggroll while she gets her fill. Then they go get him a char-​dog.
Juston M made an excellent observation that I’d forgotten about until I read his review. Yes, they do have white garbage bags draping the tables.