Happy Garden

We arrived at 4 pm and was surprised (perhaps naively so) that they were no longer serving dumplings. Huge bummer. They seemed reluctant but agreed to give us two servings of shrimp dumplings. The dumplings were wonderful and I really wish we could have tried more options. I also wish they didn’t strictly curb advertise dumplings only to not serve them. I think the dumpling hours at 9 am to 1 pm if I understood her correctly.

A good place for dim sum, made famous by Andrew Zimmern. Solid 3 ½ stars for me. I enjoy these hole-​in-​the-​walls. The restaurant is small, so there are no dim sum carts rolling up & down the aisles. You can go to the station or order off the menu.
I like the chicken feet and the taro dumplings. Comfort food here. Not exquisite, but good. Outdated décor, sticky menus, unrefined service, and a whole lotta charm. This is why you come to Maunakea Street.

I beg of you don’t go here, this place is bad. The food here is sitting so long the dim sum wrap is either over cooked and fell off, or it’s hard like rock. The menu shows that they scratched off old price and raised the price, should be the other way around. This place seems really dirty, should have walked out, but I bought something so as not to be rude. Bad mistake

Service was slow, variety limited. BEWARE of asking for something that is not on their menu!
We asked if they could do two orders of green beans (as they didn’t have it on the dim sum menu). They brought us a plate with the two servings combined. When bill time came, they charged us $ 20 for the plate of green beans!!! When we inquired, they said the only thing on the menu that had green beans was an entrée of green beans with pork at $ 10 each, so times two that was $ 20. Never mind there was no pork in our order, just sautéed beans. Complete rip-​off.
If you stick with what they offer, you’re good.

3.5 stars but I didn’t think it was quite 4 so rounding down. We stopped by for lunch on a Sunday, and it wasn’t that busy around noon. The restaurant is pretty small, but we were able to grab one of their large tables for our group of 6. They give you a list of items you can choose from, but you can also walk over to where they keep their steamers and plates of food (by the front door) and choose items from there. We tried:
–Custard Cream Bun ($ 2.60), Bean Curd Roll ($ 2.60), Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce ($ 2.60), Shrimp Dumpling ($ 3.00) [
: I didn’t have the custard cream bun, but the rest of the items were solid. It wasn’t the best dim sum I’ve had, but definitely wasn’t the worst.
–Mochi w/​Red Bean Filling (
): Yum– I enjoyed this since the mochi was nice and sticky and chewy. The red bean filling was also solid and not overly sweet.
–Shrimp Look Fun Roll ($ 5), Black Bean Sauce Chicken Feet ($ 2.60): Both were also solid, although again, not the best I’ve had.
Prices are super reasonable, so you get a lot of bang for your buck (which is getting more difficult to find in Hawaii). Service was better than expected, and the ladies were really attentive, but it could be because they weren’t that busy that day. Parking is the most difficult part about coming here since there is very little street parking, but there is a small paid lot nearby.

I would never eat here again! I went for Christmas lunch by myself. I told the waitress that I was dinning in, took about 15 mins before anyone took my order. When i put in my order, I was told I had to pay immediately. Seemed kind of odd that I had to pay immediately, so I brushed it off. Another couple came in 30 mins after me, the waitress took they order and didn’t require any payment afterwards. The couple paid once they finished their meal on their way out the door. I was very upset that I wasn’t treated the same because of my skin color! I try not to believe that racism don’t exist, especially in Hawaii where it’s a melting pot! Do not eat here! I will never recommend this place to anyone!

It was good, not great. Enjoyed tge dim sum. This is a locals place. Don’t let the area fool you. Its safe. Just be careful transients sleeping on the sidewalks.

In the heart of Chinatown is a small shop with BIG flavors. Everything is tasty and fresh. The hardest thing is trying to figure out what to eat. My favorite is the Deep Fried Pork Intestines!

CODY had dim sum for breakfast
7 am
shrimp, pork, ribs, shaomai, water chestnuts, peanuts, garlic, chives
all good
all tasty
me happy
in a garden

I’ll have to give this place a solid 3 stars. This place is on the smaller side and needs a facelift. It’s pretty much a hole in the wall kind of place, which isn’t a problem for me. Some hole in the wall places have the best food. I’m going to base my review on the food alone.
I’ve eaten Chinese food my whole life. The flavors of the food here is a little different. Everyone on our table agreed that it had an earthy taste to it. Some dishes were better than others. I was here for a 12 course dinner for $ 18 per person. That’s with the tax and tip, so it was really reasonable.
The first course was the sour and spicy soup. I took one sip and gave it to Terrance. I just didn’t like it. To be fair, I’ve never cared for that soup. The other people on my table seemed to enjoy it.
I didn’t try the pig intestine. It had a pungent smell and I just couldn’t stomach it.
The worst dishes of the night had to be the bean curd and eggplant. The bean curd tasted different than how the other restaurants make it. The whole thing was just soggy. The flavoring of the eggplant was also off. When I asked the server what kind of sauce that was, he couldn’t even tell me. His response was «a little sweet and a little sour.» No one on our table could figure it out.
Thumbs up for the rest of the dishes that I’m about to mention. The savory jin dui was really good. Jin dui is extremely hard to make. When frying, you have to press down on all sides so that it’ll expand. You can’t press down too hard though, because then it’ll break. You have to keep pressing until the dough becomes thin and crispy. I’ve watched my mom make this, so I can appreciate the complexity of it. I prefer the savory jin dui over the red bean or coconut. Usually, when making savory jin dui, people use pork or lup cheong. It was the first time I had it with pork and peanut.
The shrimp dumpling and chicken feet were good. The shrimp was fresh and the wrapper was translucent, which is always a good sign. The chicken feet were plump and had a nice flavor to it. The shumai was huge and moist. The capital pork chops had the perfect flavoring and was pan fried.
The noodle dishes were awesome. The crispy seafood noodles were to die for. The noodles were fried to a crisp, like eating chips. Then, they poured the gravy and seafood over it. Yummers! The beef chow fun was also executed perfectly. The beef was tender and the noodles not too dry.
The best dish of the night was the salt and pepper calamari and fish. It was fried in a tempura batter. The calamari was tender and the fish was juicy. I would go back just for this.

Visited here on my first UYE! Thanks to Paul introduced me to this family run home alike restaurant.
Service was very good, the owner certainly take really good care of us.
The portion was gigantic, no one table could finish what they order, everyone had a plate for their tomorrow breakfast.
Price? Very very inexpensive! Would recommend for those that needs budget controls.
As for the food itself, I’ll have to be honest, not as good as Kirin or Jade’s dynasty for the dim sums.
But for this price range and the amount of food that it offered? I had to give it a 5, because that’s what it deserves on its own price range arena.
Comparing fine restaurant’s food to it would be comparing Coach to Hermes.
Timex to Rolex.
Obama to Mayweather.
Hilary to Clinton.
Anyhow, you get my point.

Happened to walk past the shop and saw quite a bit of Asians inside for lunch. That was good sign.
Ha gau and siew mai were decent, and so is the steamed chives pork dumpling (little chives and little shrimps) — $ 3 each container. I wouldn’t go for the dessert-​salted egg layer bun which the lady server recommended. I should have asked for the price. They are ok, but $ 5 for two pcs is a little pricey. The server seemed anxious for me to place more orders even though I went alone. She should understand a female appetite is not huge.
I will go back because they are decent but won’t allow the server push me around to place more orders.

NEVER.EVER.COMING.BACK.
Our decision to try this place was the worst.
We walked in, I thought the place looked dirty and yes, it’s obviously dated. It’s kind of tight too. We came on a Sunday afternoon, nobody was there. I saw two employees/​owners that seem to operate the business who are seated and after a while saw them started pouring beer on their glasses. lol No greeting. No nothing. One guy was even walking around on barefoot. Then when we were looking at the dim sum pictures on the wall, a lady finally helped us out.
While we were looking at the pictures of dim sum on the wall, I saw a roach going around the register! DISGUSTING! Who knows how the kitchen is like. But we pushed that aside, we still decided to try it because it was featured on DDD after all. We thought maybe the food’s worth the drive.
We ended up choosing 4 kinds of dim sum. We just took it to go. We waited and waited. We almost walked out and leave even though we already paid for it. Wouldn’t you think dim sums are always ready? Isn’t that what dim sum means? BUT I GUESS NOT. They packed 2 orders on each container. First container we opened had siu mai and pork bun. We shared a bite on one piece of siu mai and one piece of the pork bun. Nope, we didn’t like them at all. Siu mai had an awful after taste and smell too! Second container we opened had freakin hair on it. That just topped it all. Two containers of food went straight to trash.
I don’t even know how they stay in business. Sorry for the patrons but I wouldn’t ever recommend this place to anybody.

Bookmarked this dim sum joint before I came here! I was pretty excited… And when we arrived, it was a real SMALL place! Tough for large groups… There are pros and cons to Happy Garden!
Pros: it’s real authentic dim sum… Everyone has there favorites and they have it all… The menu is on the table and you can order or they will bring selections to your table…
Service is friendly and efficient… Quick and simple…
Food comes out fresh and hot… And lots of people like this spot so it’s a populist joint!
They take credit card!
Cons: small area… Can’t bring large groups in… Max would be probably a party of 7… It was tough to fit 5 of us…
The place is not the cleanest… Found a hair on the plate… I didn’t trust the cups of ice water…
Sodas were not cold… U needed cups of ice to drink.
There are no carts on wheels to display food…
Would we come back? Maybe… There are some competition of dim sum in china town!

I am very surprised that I haven’t typed out a review for this dim sum place as I’ve been coming here since it opened many, many years ago. And this is one of the better dim sum restaurants in Chinatown! I put it in my second tier with Mei Sum and The Mandalay. The food is almost always well-​prepared and good quality. The servers are always friendly and very attentive, are a lot less aggressive, and are more patient with you.
This dim sum restaurant is one of those small hole-​in-​the-​wall places located in Chinatown (Maunakea St), similar to Canton House and Sunflower Café, so expect some tight seating. When you arrive at the storefront, you are able to see the stacks and stacks of hot, steamy dim sum right through the glass window including all the baked and fried dim sum beside it in the display case. If you were wondering where this «happy garden» is just look up when you enter. You will see the «happy» hanging «garden.» :)
On this instance, I met up with my grandparents for lunch. We ordered:
Pan Fried Pork Buns — You always wonder, when you order something from the display case, of how long it’s been sitting there, and whether or not it’s cold. Of course, you can always ask if you are uncertain. In this case, the bun was still crispy outside, and soft and warm inside. The filling was warm as well, and very tasty and well-​prepared.
Glutinous (Mochi) Rice in Lotus Leaf — Straight off the steamer table, this was piping hot! It had a good amount of filling, which was tasty, and most importantly, the rice was tasty as well.
Chicken Feet — My staple dim sum. I really enjoyed this as the chicken feet was super tender and easily came off the bone, and it was very, very tasty and delicious. It was so good that I even saved the sauce to dip other stuff in.
Steamed Black Pepper Pork (Large) Intestines — This was one of my favorite dim sum. The intestines were very, very tender, and they weren’t chewy at all. They were cleaned very well as there was just the slightest scent on a couple of pieces that tells you are eating intestines. The black pepper sauce was very tasty and went very well with the intestines.
Spareribs Look Funn Casserole — The look funn is braised in a hoisin-​based sauce (that typically goes with the Pan Fried Look Funn) with pork spareribs and onion and scallions. The look funn at this place is thin. Thinner than other dim sum places. The thinner sheet of look funn makes it more softer and better absorbing the sauce. The spareribs were tasty, super tender, and the meat literally fell off the bone. I really enjoyed both the look funn and spareribs, but I didn’t feel the sauce went well with this dish. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the sauce and thought it was tasty, but for this particular dish, you need something more fragrant and aromatic (such as black bean sauce) that makes use of the hot casserole pot.
Assorted Pork Giblet Congee — This was the highlight of the meal. You get a huge bowl of congee with a good amount of pork giblets that had pork liver, kidney, small intestines, stomach, and regular pork slices. There was also fresh lettuce, ginger, and scallions in it. The congee was a nice thick consistency, and it was flavorful. All the awesome pork goodness inside was very tender and tasty. No pieces were tough or chewy.
On previous visits, I always thought the pan-​fried chives cakes were very good. It is always pan-​fried extremely well to a nice crisp, and there’s a lot of tasty filling. The baked char siu and pineapple buns are both good and pretty large compared to other places. The egg tart is good and larger than most places too. I’ve been here for dinner too, and I remember the fried pork intestines, capital pork chops, salted fish and chicken fried rice, beef chow funn, and the beef stew casserole being all spot on.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed all the food. Everything was well-​prepared, well-​portioned, flavorful, and fresh, which is all you need to ask for. Happy Garden has a very wide selection of dim sum, and the great thing is that you can order it at ANY time during their business hours. The prices aren’t too bad and pretty much coincides with other dim sum places in Chinatown, but considering the entire menu and its portions and quality, this place one of the better deals.
I personally love the service here. The servers are always smiling and very friendly. They are very attentive and are quick to remove your empty dim sum baskets and empty plates, refill water and tea, and are always there to get whatever you need.
As I said in the earlier, Happy Garden is one of the better dim sum restaurants in Chinatown, possibly even Oahu. Heck, if Andrew Zimmern chose Happy Garden out of so many other dim sum restaurant in Hawaii for his Bizarre Foods television show, you know it’s gotta be good!

I came here for dim sum lunch with a friend/​co-​worker a couple of weeks ago and was pretty disappointed. I came for dinner (one of Paul C.‘s UYE’s) a few months ago and really liked it. So my conclusion is that I would come here for dinner (especially with Paul C!), but probably not for dim sum again.
When we first sat down, I asked to see what dim sum they had available and our waitress pointed to the bamboo baskets in the window. We both walked over, made a couple of choices, and sat back down. We found the food «not fresh». Of course, when we finished our dim sum choices, a fresh set of bamboo steamers came out of the kitchen but by then we were too full to partake in the «fresh» stuff.
We had char siu bao which was my favorite — the meat inside was an orange-​ishy color rather then red like I am used to, and it had a pleasant sweetness. The shrimp and pork shumai were tasty, and the shrimp and chives were good. But we had one that had peanuts in it that seemed old because the dumpling just fell apart when you tried to pick it up.
Sometimes, with places like this, you need to come with a regular — some who can steer you in the right direction for the good stuff. While I was disappointed in the dim sum lunch, I hope to have another opportunity to try lunch or dinner here.

If you want inexpensive dim sum at a hole-​in-​the-​wall place in Chinatown, then this is your place. If you want something fancier, then this is not the place for you.
You walk in, grab a table, and then make your way to the dim sum counter. The waitress will quickly shuffle through steamers containing whatever dim sum they have on hand. Dont take too long deciding what you want or incur the wrath of the busy Chinese waitress. Once youve decided, the waitress will bring the baskets to your table and its dim sum time!
I went on a Sunday for lunch and tried the wrapped mushrooms, chive half moon, pork and shrimp half moon, pork shumai, and sweet and sour pork. All were your standard dim sum fare… nothing fancy, but fast and cheap. They also have chicken feet, if youre into that as well.

I came here today for dim sum and I’m so glad that there wasn’t a wait! I usually go to Mei Sum and it’s always crowded in there and there’s always a wait. The waitresses here don’t seem as pushy as Mei Sum too. The dim sum here not bad as well! Must try their deep fried taro dim sum! Mmm so good! Great place to get dim sum with out having to wait in line!

A few years ago my aged, ill-​tempered, highly unlikeable Chinese uncle took my husband to this restaurant and shocked us all by buying him lunch. It never happened again. The end.
Just kidding. Since then my husband has been trying to convince me to forgo my usual Mei Sum and experience a new place. However, the smallness of the restaurant has always put me off as we typically have 3 or 4 children with us and I favor expansive places where people won’t be angered by the fact that my children eat mostly plain rice. (I could convince them to eat other things, but as other things cost significantly more than plain rice I am seldom inspired to do so.)
To solve this, we finally went to Happy Garden at 2:30 pm and it was completely empty. Which made the fact that they forgot my char siu bao TWICE a bit perplexing, but I did eventually receive it and it was incredibly disappointing. It was a teensy weensy teaspoon of charsiu filling encased in way too much bao, but it worked out as my 5 year old ate all of the bao scraps I had piled on my plate. So she had rice AND bread, a balanced meal if ever I saw one.
My husband claims their chicken feet are the best he’s had. Which I’ll just have to trust as I don’t like like chicken feet (Too many tiny, throat puncturing bones and too little anything else) and cannot make any sort of judgment.
As for the rest of the food, I thought it was quite good. I especially enjoyed their turnip cake and garlic ong choy though I should mention I did not like their shrimp look funn at all. It seemed like the noodle was made with an excessive amount of water? Or something? That made it into an overly gelatinous starchy mass of tastelessness for $ 6 a pop.
I’m not sure I would return as simultaneously eating char siu bao and shumai is my main reason for going to dimsum in the first place, but perhaps we will find ourselves there again.

I really wanted to love this place because there are so many great reviews by other Unilocaly friends. However, I’ll continue sticking to my other dim sum favorites in chinatown instead of coming here.
This is a very small restaurant with only 10 small tables. There were many Cantonese speaking customers and the dim sum selection was great. The food was comparable to other places in chinatown, as were the prices.
I thought the service was great! Waters and our tea pot were refilled consistently and empty baskets were taken away seconds after we had emptied them. My dad asked for vinegar and another waitress brought him some so quickly it was as if they can communicate telepathically. Realistically, she probably shouted something in Cantonese but I didn’t notice because the waitresses are constantly yelling back and forth at one another.
My biggest pet peeve is that the dishes had cracks in them. The tea pot spout was cracked and even my water cup had several long micro fractures. It’s really unsanitary to use plate ware and cups that have unfinished edges because it’s very hard to clean and bacteria can grow in the cracks. Gross.