The Happy Hound

My friend and I just went here for dinner, and we both really enjoyed our food. We both got burgers, and everything about it tasted delicious. The fries were also delicious, but one small order is plenty for two people.
We arrived there at 9pm and no other customers were there, so we didn’t have the overcrowded experience that I’ve read others had. The employees were also very friendly. It was obvious that some pre-​closing stuff was going on, but they were very chatty with us and each other (in a good way).
The only thing was the entire dining room wasn’t clean. There was a big tomato slice on the floor under my seat that I kept stepping on by mistake, but it wasn’t really that bothersome– just something I noticed.
Definitely worth checking out. The burger portions are also rather large, so you’ll definitely be full afterward.

The food is very good… four star burgers. I’d go more often if it wasn’t so stressful going there. There’s never enough tables. The service is OK… the cashier is usually even more stressed out than the dinners. We ate our last meal there sitting on a bench next to two others on the same bench. There were six people around us eating standing up with their food on the hood of their cars. I guess everyone puts up with it since the burgers and fries are good. So, my advice… go during off-​hours.

Medium fries is big enough for 4 adults. Tapatio on the table, yay! Happy burger was a good size, special sauce on the burger was pretty good, and their chili was fresh. Kraut sucked though, glad I asked for it on the side. Seats a little over 20. I’d come back!

I was told this was one of the best independent fast food places, especially for late night scarfing of burgers and fries and shakes.
So, I checked it out.
It’s A-​OK, but not exceptional, and I would rate Slider’s Burger on San Carlos Ave in the Burbank area of San Jose higher.

Let me add to the suggested add-​ons. .. Grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and jalapeños on your burger — tremendous! You should try these, for sure

This place is just a step above Wienerschnitzel… it seem like it is busy in on a Saturday afternoon socwe teied it out. However we wete dissappoinred– the food really was lacking and the service is pretty awful. It seemed like no one really knew what they were doing behind the counter even there 5 of them! The food wasn’t really impressive so it wasn’t really worth the extra effort of driving out to get a hot dog. We probably wouldn’t come back here again even though we were really hoping to be impressed so its hard to find a good all-​american spot!

This is my «go to» hamburg spot. Always juicy, fresh, quick and satisfying, the Happy Burger is my ideal. Whenever I am forced to eat at another burger place, this is what it is judged against. Buy local, eat fresh.
Don’t bother trying to find parking on the lot. Grab a spot on the main drag and breath deep.

Superb. Seriously high quality burgers and fries — every time I visit it’s like eating a big slice of Americana and I love it. The food is fresh, the staff are courteous and helpful, the restaurant is clean, and most of all everything is delicious.
What particularly stood out for me though were the milkshakes. They were to *die* for. A man I believe to be Owner named Derek made me an Oreo cookie shake and I can’t even find the words to describe how great it was. It was chunky, with real chunks or Oreos, it was ice cold and it tasted fresh as can be. Derek, I love you.

Location: Los Gatos, California
Parking: Tiny parking lot and street parking
Favorite food item: cheeseburger
Best time to go: Early evening
Value: Not bad
Happy Hound is our go to spot for burgers and fries. We normally order one cheeseburger, one kraut dog and fries. They have a small dining room which we never dine at because its often times too warm inside. Juicy burgers, kraut dogs and fries make this a perfect summertime meal to go! Good customer service as well.

Great burgers, good options for hot dogs, too. However, I was a little disappointed in the chili cheese fries and my son absolutely despised his grilled cheese, which was more like a hamburger bun with barely melted shredded cheese on it.
Because of the fries and grilled cheese, I would have given three stars, but the burgers are that good, I gave one more star.

My wife and I were on our way to a holiday stay off of Monterey Bay. I knew that we needed to find a place for lunch before climbing up the mountain on 17. The Unilocal app brought up favorable reviews for The Happy Hound (which isn’t far from 17) so we decided to give it a try. Yet again, Unilocalers came through for us!
The Happy Hound is a good, old fashioned hamburger-​hot dog restaurant — but with the added twist of offering VERY good food, an eclectic menu (even for burgers, dogs, etc…) and a great view of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
I was hungry and decided to buy both a cheeseburger and dog. My wife decided upon a chili cheese fries. Wow. These were really good. The burger tastes like what a good diner burger SHOULD taste like. The dog was fantastic — and reminded me of the best hot dogs that I’ve eaten in New York or Chicago. There is even a takeout window to order or pick up food without actually having to take up space in the small restaurant.
The only thing that we found lacking was the parking. There are only a handful of spaces, so we had to wait for a while for someone to leave. I am so glad that we stopped! I think that the next time we drive to Santa Cruz, Monterey or a trip up Bear Mountain, we are going to stop by and grab a bite to eat at The Happy Hound!

I was looking around the area and decided to try The Happy Hound. It kind of reminded me of Weinerschnitzel because of how the restaurant was set up and their menu had similar items.
The parking lot was small so you might not find parking when you go here but there are parking in the streets. There was indoor and outdoor seating and I decided to sit outside as the weather was nice and there was enough shading.
I ordered the Mexi-​Dog as it intrigued me with a side of jalapenos. I also ordered some fries and a drink. I waited about 10 minutes until they called me to get my order. I was surprised at first of how big the Mexi-​Dog was so I highly suggest getting this if you’re hungry. It’s like a burrito but with a hot dog inside. I’m not a fan of burrito just because I hate that it’s messy and you get food stuck all over in your mouth but this is the first time I saw something like this and decided to try it.
I took my first bite and I thought it was amazing! You know when you bite down a hamburger or a sandwich or even a hot dog, you just get the bun and no meat? With this, there was meat in every bite! The french fries were awesome too! Fresh and crunchy!
Overall I had a great experience. Would I come back here? YAAAS! Would I recommend this to a friend? YAAAS! Would love to try more of their entrees!

Noelle’s Unilocal Notebook 2015
Happy Hound was a place that I went to with my family when I was growing up. Haven’t been to Happy Hound in ages so a couple months ago I came with my childhood best friend. We were able to find a parking spot, waited our turn in line and placed our order.
We sat on the bench outside and waited for our food. It took extraordinarily long– nearly 30 minutes. You could tell many of the other customers were unhappy with the unusual wait time. We decided to go inside to pick up our order. There were a ton of flies buzzing around inside Happy Hound. The onion rings tasted of old burned oil as if they haven’t changed their fry oil for a long time. The burgers were greasy and tasted like spoiled meat. We took our order to go. Had I ate the inedible burger at Happy Hound I would have politely requested my money be refused for the bad tasting burger. Customer service was friendly. Food was subpar at best. Wouldn’t come back here again for a burger.
Noelle’s Notes
Skip it
Burgers were bad

Was looking for a place which has a good chili and I found it here. One of the few chilis with beans that I like. Very yummy. I will be coming back.

I have been going here for 35 years. Parking is horrible. Try to come at 11am for a early lunch, or 2pm for a late lunch. It gets crazy from 12pm to 2pm. The place is very small, 4 tables, plus 10 counter stools. There prices go up every 6 months, crazy. Almost $ 5 for a cheese hound and $ 10 for a burger with cheese. They do charge $ 1, just for cheese. I like that there is free refills on soda’s. Sometimes when I place a order and say light sauce, they put too much on (heavy). When I say medium rare, they cook rare. The cook always changes, there is a new person flipping burgers, the issue is they need to be trained better. I can say that if they make a mistake, they always redo the burger which is nice. I don’t go here as much as I used to because they are always raising there prices, which I feel is too often.

I consider myself a connoisseur when it comes to turkey burgers :). I do not eat beef and I’m constantly looking for my Holy Grail turkey burger. I was hoping when I did a Unilocal search for turkey burgers in Los Gatos that I would have found my HG burger here, but alas no, the hunt continues. My spouse and I did not enjoy the turkey burger here. It was very salty and had a really strange spongy texture to it. We could not even finish it because it was not good. Sorry folks.
However, kudo’s to the employees at this restaurant for their great customer service skills. I asked the order taker if she would split the chocolate shake into 2 cups and then add malt powder to one of them. She said «No problem». I love that and thats what makes this an A-​Ok experience, even though the turkey burger sucked. The fries were thin and crispy and thats always a plus in my book too!

Ok burgers and ok chicken sandwich. Takes card.
Major star deductions for bad service. Lunch hour service sucked, especially because I thought my calling my order in, I would be able to just pay and get the heck out. Nope — service lady was rude and intentionally made me wait longer when I asked about take out payment.

I love their set up. It’s just sunny all over. Cheery!
Looking at their menu I decided on the Happy burger. With no onions. They gave me onions anyways! It was a thick cut onion! Geez! I decided to ignore the mistake and started working on my burger.
Wet! Wet! Wet! Slippery when wet comes to mind! This burger was trying to run away from me and my poor soaked buns!
I controlled the run away patty by grabbing it with my fingers and forcing it to stay put and eat it without it’s long time partner the bun. Unfortunately this patty fell flat on it’s bottom taste wise. Bland as a soaked cardboard!
The fries were perfect! Crunchy and salty! Just the way I want to decorate my arteries. With salt!
Come for the unique thick cut onions and fries. Ignore the burger. Small parking for you as a consolation price available.
Service was fast but ignoring/​forgetting my only request of no onions is too fast for their own good.
A solid three stars.

Meh, it was okay.
I was surprised when I got there that it wasn’t a pub, because of the name and all. You order your food up at the cash register and choose a table to sit. There are about 4 – 5 tables inside and more outside. I was surprised again when the cashier told me the burgers are better than the hot dogs. I bet the hounds weren’t too happy to hear that!
My cheeseburger looked pretty excellent, but looks can be deceiving. It tasted pretty good, but it was so wet and greasy that all the ingredients kept sliding around and couldn’t stay still enough between the buns. After every bite, a ton of juice dripped out. What a mess! Not to mention the THICK section of onion they put in our burgers. Must have been at least ½ an inch thick!
Now, my biggest problem is with the milkshake. I expected strawberry banana creamy goodness, but I was surprised yet a third time. It tasted like sour milky water. I’ve never had a worse milkshake.
Not sure how this place garnered an average 4 star rating, but I just don’t agree.
TIP: Names can be deceiving! And always expect to be surprised.

Suitable for a quick stop, to grab some hot dogs, burgers and fries.
However, this placed is just «A-​OK» in my book. A small, corner store across the LG Police Department that’s great for a quick stop in to curb your hunger and small outdoor counter if you want to eat in the car I suppose. Gave me a Pink’s Hotdogs kind of feel, without the never ending line.
Ordered the Kraut Dog with Small fries. Kraut Dog definitely looked massive, covered with the well drained and tangy sauerkraut. Good portion dog, with mustard, juicy hotdog and soft hot dog bun. The fries are made to order, you can literally hear them deep frying while you wait and were decent, but not my the best fries I’ve ever had.
The cons are the small parking lot, it is a bit pricey for what they’re selling and if you’re sitting inside to dine you can guarantee that you will leave smelling like fryer oil or flat top grill. Also there was about 7 – 10 flies just buzzing around and hanging out all over the windows when I was dining here, ew.