Happy Days Seafood Restaurant

This is usually a relatively good place in Kaimuki to get dim sum. However, recently service has been slow and I’m not sure if it’s because they’re understaffed or they only move the cart to the areas closer to the kitchen. I mean, if after 15 minutes and only one cart has come by and we’ve only ordered two items, that’s not really a pleasant eating experience.
The food is good, average for dim sum.
The atmosphere is what you would expect from a typical Chinese restaurant, so basically all the staff members lightheartedly yelling at each other.

I went here the last week with two of my friends. The food was delicious and the service was good. They also served us delicious tea!
The restaurant is very spacious with lots of seating. There is paid parking in the back, too.
I’m giving this place only 3 stars because I heard something running around in the ceiling, which sorta made me uneasy…

The food is alright, but the service is… well, you can’t really even call it service. There is no organization. You’d think that with the amount of workers they have it’d be a smoother show. I asked one of the workers a question, got ignored. Asked another, she smirked and walked away… What kind of service is this? If you want mediocre chinese food, but can deal with horrible service and can wait long periods of time, this is the place for you.

The Chinese food here is decent but I’ve had better. We came for dinner and ordered off the dinner for 10 menu. We got the Scallop Soup, Chinese Chicken Salad, Peking Duck, Crispy Skin Chicken, Salt & Pepper Shrimp, Ginger Onion Fish Fillet, Capital Style Spareribs, and Steamed Rice.
First off, Chinese Chicken Salad is not authentic to me if it doesn’t contain jellyfish and pickled vegetables. I would be happy just having one or the other. This one didn’t have the jellyfish or the pickled vegetables. There were shredded carrots but it wasn’t pickled. The Peking Duck wasn’t Peking Duck. It was Roast Duck. The shrimp chips that came with the Crispy Chicken were stale.
The Salt & Pepper Shrimp was my favorite. It was huge, nicely seasoned, and the shell didn’t stick to the shrimp. The Capital Spareribs had a nice balance between the sweet and sour flavors. I also loved the dessert. If you didn’t know, taro tapioca is the best.

Finally found egg fu yung that is very close to what I am used to in the rest of the country. Comes with delicious brown gravy, and is so different from the other Chinese restaurants that serve a bright yellow egg omelet with some sliced green onions, no gravy, and call it egg fu yung. It is delicious. I will be back for more, probably weekly.

Kaimuki is the new place to be for «foodies» which makes finding parking a pain nowadays *sigh*
I’ve been coming to Happy Days for as long as I can remember. The dim sum carts are my favorite. Look Fun, fried taro puff, taro patties, fried shrimp, har gow, and chicken feet are delicious! The minute chicken cake noodle is awesome with red vinegar on the side. Don’t ask me why that works, that’s how my Japanese grandma ate it all my life haha.

Worst place ever. We had a party of 20 on Mother’s Day. Our party was separated into two tables with two different servers. One of our table took so lob to bring the order out. 6pm we all arrived out last dish got served about 830pm. Ask for the bill to pay for both tables. Lady didn’t even ask how was dinner and charged me an service charge of $ 84 tip. Service wasn’t even worth giving that much. We use to go here a lot now inDon’t want to ever go here again.

Happy Days is located in Kaimuki near Big City Diner. During breakfast and lunch time, they are known to serve dim sum in the carts but I have not been there during those hours.
The restaurant itself is pretty clean and bright. Parking is paid public parking in the municipal lot or metered parking on the street. It’s difficult to find parking in the area because they share it with other restaurants and businesses in the same complex.
I made reservations for a party of 14. When we walked in, they gave us tables in the private dining room which was great! The servers were very nice and attentive.
We ordered a bunch of plates from the regular menu, instead of the party menu. Everything we ordered was delicious. Our favorites were the Chinese Chicken Salad, Honey Walnut Shrimp, Salt and Pepper Pork Chop, and Peking Duck. We ordered a total of 7 dishes plus rice and to my surprise, everything was only $ 100 (not including tip).
Next time, I have to come back for the dim sum since many people rave about it!!!

We come here every time we visit with this one uncle who loves this place. Food is good, service is quick and it seems to never end.

Great dim sum!!!
This is one of our favorite lunch places! They have the best baked manapua in town — they’re honey glazed! Can’t beat ‘em! Not too doughy.
They also have private rooms for private parties or meetings.

Food is brought instantly: stale and cold. Completely disgusted with the quality and service of this place. I tried each dish (ordered small plates– shrimp, scallop, char Siu, fried shrimp.) the shrimp plates I could eat, but it was cold. The others I couldn’t get past the first bite. Tasteless, cold, rubber consistency, and a fishy smell. Also their menu prices are not clearly stated, you cannot see individual prices. The servers do not speak English. Makes is hard to get answers when you ask questions about the prices.
I’d skip this and head to EARL Sandwiches: a little hole in the wall joint with superb hot sandwiches!

Dim sum and then some!
My local friends love this place and swear by it. So we did exactly what food loving friends would do. Came here for brunch with them! That too on Saturday mornings!!! This place was a mad house! So busy, so full, so popping! Absolute craziness!
They have the usual and then some. shumai, chive and pork dumplings, cake noodles, fried wontons, chowmein, steamed tripes, a ton of fried stuffs as well as steamed stuff. And chicken feet even if that’s what you desire! Food was a ok for me. The service both times was painfully slow. For a quick meal like dim sum where everything is already prepared took over an hour and half. Only because we had to wait to get the different cart: one cart with the same items kept circling us. I mean come on, a girl only eat so many shumais! I need other stuffs too!!! It was a little too chaotic for me! Wahhh!
We also waited a while while for tea/​untensils etc. I get it. This is the hottest thing in Kaimuki on weekends morning next to a hot chick in Alaska! But I don’t really see whyyyyyyyy oh why anyone would put up with throw food in your face kind of service first thing in a morning. Brunch is my favorite meal. I rather starve than have to put up with bad service! The service take this place way way down to a 2 star! No jokes! But sine the cake noodles were ok and the company I had was great, I’ll add a star. And twice is all you need for this place. Come here if you must but avoid weekends and avoid dim sum. It is painfully slow and we left hungry after an hour and half! I’ll come back if I’m in the area but otherwise: there are better places for brunch with must faster service! And more food choices!

I’ve read a lot of reviews about this place and it seems like a lot of people are saying that their service is bad. I haven’t had that experience. I love coming to Happy Day.
We came here last night just because my husband had a craving for Chinese food. So of course, since we live in town now, we decided to go to Happy Day.
The best things there are the steamed fish with ginger and the house noodle. Every other Chinese restaurant that I go to and order those things, it’s just not the same. That fish just melts in your mouth. It’s so good. And that house noodle comes out crispy but when you mix it up with the sauce it’s so delicious.
If you haven’t tried Happy Day, you should give it a try. You can also try lunch there, they have lots of selection for dim sum.

Oh Happy Days! When Chinatown is out of parking, Happy Days Seafood Restaurant is an automatic plan B. I don’t think Happy Days is known for their seafood. In fact, I only saw a few fish swimming in the fish tank. Local patrons come to Happy Days for the dim sum. The best dim sum I like to order is the char siu manapua bun with sugar syrup on top and the egg custard bao. Sadly, there are limited quantities of egg custard bao and not everyone gets to try it. Best advice, arrive early to Happy Days and order the egg custard bao immediately.

I’ve been going to Happy Days for as long as I was a student at UH Manoa. Now that I’m no longer a student, I come here whenever I get my hair done, since the salon I go to (HMB) is next door. It’s easy to find off of Waialae if you’re heading towards Kahala. In the same shopping complex as Big City Diner. There’s ample parking, but the parking lot gets really full during lunch and dinner time (at peak hours expect to circle around several times). Parking isn’t free, but the rates are really reasonable. As far as I know, none of the businesses seem to validate for parking.
I’ve dined in for dim sum on two occasions, once in a large group and once by myself (major cravings). I mainly come here to takeout dimsum, and I love that you can take out dim sum as last as 5 or 6 PM. My favorites are the shu mai, shrimp and scallop, and deep fried shrimp with mayo. Their cold ginger chicken is also amazing and tender. If you love rice soup (or jook), the pork and preserved/​century egg rice soup is amazing! Try it. My dad specifically requests me to bring it home. Dim sum takeout is 10−15% off from opening to 11:30 AM as well. :)

«Sunday, Monday, Happy Days.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days.
Thursday, Friday, Happy Days.»
Recently, Happy Days Chinese restaurant has been our family’s go-​to place for dim sum that is located in Kaimuki rather than in Chinatown. This restaurant has been operating for years and has even won a National Award for its Chinese cuisine based upon flavor, presentation and value along with multi-​annual local people’s choice awards. Also, because of its convenient location to some of our relatives, we’ve chosen Happy Days to celebrate some birthdays, retirement parties and even post-​funeral gatherings.
The festive Chinese décor and furnishings are starting to look a bit dingy or worn and could surely use some updating or cleaning. The restaurant has a large seating capacity that includes a couple of private dining areas. During our dines for celebratory events, service and food have been very timely and steady. Water and tea service tends to be a bit slow, however, the kitchen really can crank out the food quickly. Service can be a bit intimidating to non-​Chinese speaking folks and tends to be somewhat chaotic and loud… no, no I’m not going to refer to it like taking part in a fire drill.
Most of the dishes have still retained their Hong Kong authenticity but some dishes have been «localized». For lunch, they do offer quite an extensive menu of dim sum, side dishes and noodle or rice dishes. Their dinner menu does not include dim sum but has many well-​prepared and flavorful Chinese soups, entrées, vegetables and desserts.
However, I have to minus a star because of «pushy service»! While dining in a small group or even as a couple, we get «pressured» to order from the cart service even if there isn’t a selection that I want and after politely telling the server «no, thanks» in Chinese and English. Yes, the dim sum and food here is tasty but I don’t like being prodded.
#475

Our FAVE dim sum spot! I grew up with old school hustling, bustling Chinese wait help yelling in Chinese & being abrupt & to the point. It’s not acceptable by some people’s standards but my kids & I are good with that. It’s comforting nostalgia for me!
Har Gau (regular, spinach & chives), Kok Chai, Siu Mai, Char Siu Bau, Siu Ap (Roast duck) & Gee Cheong Fun (which we didn’t get this time b/​c the cart never came by our table) are our prime picks.
The décor is old school in the sense it’s very ornate & «busy», lots of gold, red & chandeliers. Love the Arrowana tanks too.
If you’re focused on high class or first class service, this is not the place for you. If you’re focused on old style Chinese atmosphere & service & DELICIOUS authentic food, this is THE place to be.

Happy Days has some of the best dim sum on the island in my opinion, and at a great price too. When we went, there was a huge party taking up about half of the dining area, but we still got our dim sum quickly. We ordered about 6 – 7 different dim sum to share with 4 people and it was more than enough! Don’t let the tiny portions in those little bamboo containers fool you; you will feel full and satisfied just like your wallet after a meal here. For the 4 of us, it came out to roughly $ 10 a person. Happy Days is a must try! Don’t let the gaudy chandeliers and décor fool you– their food is simple and delicious.

Happy Day indeed! Today I took my friend here to satisfy some dim sum cravings and it was not disappointed! I always rely on Happy Days for good and fresh dim sum.
One thing that particular sticks out to me is their use of juicy, yummy shrimp in their dim sum dishes. Other dim sum places will give you just a bit of shrimp but not here! The shrimp dumplings are always so plump and juicy! I also enjoy that the fried look funn is served with hoisin sauce, so tasty!
Location has ample parking either in the metered stalls on Waialae or in the «secured» parking lot in the back. In my opinion, the parking here is more safe and ample than in Chinatown anyways! That’s always a plus in convenience factor for me.
Tip: they offer 15% off if you pay in cash for the TAKE OUT dim sum before 11:30AM or 10% off in credit card charge OVER $ 10.00!

I love getting take out dim sum from Happy Days! I know. blasphemy getting Dim Sum to go, since the point of Dim Sum is that it’s fresh and meant to be eaten right away. But I believe if you order takeout before 11am you get a discount, so that’s always a plus! And sometimes I’m tired, hung over, or my boyfriend won’t let me go out to eat in my pajamas. so take out is a very necessary option. Their food is really good quality. If you do want to do take out, I suggest calling ahead, as they’re pretty busy during lunch, even weekdays.
What I really liked about this place is that when I ordered some items for takeout, the lady working would mention if the food contained peanuts. For example, when I asked for half moon dumplings, she said «it has peanuts, is that okay?». Either they had an incident with allergies before, or they are just really cautious when you order certain things, but I really like that they are aware and make sure you know what’s in things. just in case something like peanuts gives you a major allergy attack. Safety is a definite plus here!