If you are in the mood for chinese vegetarian food… DONOTCOMEHERE! I am not vegetarian, but when I feel like it I either go here or Happy Family on colima. Today was the last time I will ever step foot in Happy Veggie Garden. I’ll be sticking with Happy Family from now on. Why? Because Happy Family has better service, menu options, food quality, atmosphere and parking. Food: Bland and carelessly cooked. The fried items were soggy and the sauteed and stewed items were lacking flavor. Service: Rude and insensitive. The workers are all grumpy and unhappy. I also observed that they are extra rude to the non-chinese customers that sat near us. We ordered 3 dishes for 2 people… The first dish was incorrect and when we questioned the mistake they said we must be new here. They told us what the dish was called(which was not what we ordered) and told us it is like the same thing as what we ordered. The workers did not want to take responsibility for their mistake and my wife didn’t want to cause trouble so we just kept it. Big mistake… we should have received what we ordered and paid for. The second dish was supposed to be fried and crispy, but instead it was soggy pile of mush. The third dish was very bland and needed something like salt or sauce. Sadly, this place has went down hill in terms of food quality and service. I will never support them again. If you want better vegetarian food, then go to Happy Family Restaurant instead. TRUSTME.
Min l.
Classificação do local: 1 Los Angeles, CA
Food was not bad, but not writing this review for the food:) The service is horrendous here:(I don’t think I’ve ever written a 1 star review but here it is. Point 1: younger toddlers love looking at menus like grown-ups, so my two year old was looking at the menu. While he was looking at the menu, the owner snatched it away from his hands and then asked if we still needed it… Usually they should be asking first and then if we didn’t need it anymore then it can be taken. Point 2: ordered the steam bun and never came, asked the owner, the waitress, the bus boy and all said will find out for you. Fine:) but we waited until we were done with the food and still wasn’t here. Asked the owner if I could cancel the order, she said oh it’s coming you can’t cancel it. There was only us and another table in the 16 plus table restaurant Point 3: this happened on the other table. The other table ordered 6 iced water, and 4 was basically full. So I overheard the waitress telling the bus boy to put the water aside so THEYCANREUSETHEWATER. Yuck.
Bella S.
Classificação do local: 5 Hacienda Heights, CA
I’m very like the fire Burns… But i think all the veggies in here the taste so good too… ^^!
Kevin M.
Classificação do local: 3 Rowland Heights, CA
Processed food. I don’t really like it. I do like the dried tofu and the veggie platter with the fish thingy.
Heidi L.
Classificação do local: 4 Diamond Bar, CA
A Tribute to my mom and Mother’s day by reviewing her favorite restaurant! This place is strictly vegetarian but don’t worry their food is awesome, even to a meat-lover like me! It’s tucked inside 99 ranch so if you come outta here with a food coma like me everytime, there’s 99 ranch right there to walk off that food baby! Crispy veg chicken nugget: Love this!!! One of my favorite dishes and tastes almost like it’s made out of meat!!! MUSTGET. Hidden treasure: Greens surround black mushrooms and other stuff that I forget but also a great one! Veg seafood soup: This soup is decent. I like how they still get that flavor that’s almost like seafood though. Hand Roll: Cool spin on Japanese hand rolls except it’s filled with greens inside with mayo right on top! Yum! Spring rolls: Just like a regular fried spring roll except take out the meat! Fried bread: I’m not sure if that’s the name of this dish, but it is basically fried bread AND I LOVEIT! How can you not?! It’s also semi-sweet so awesome little dish to end your meal. Anyways, if you get anything with mushrooms in it, it’s gonna be good!!! I’ve been coming here with my mom for years and I can never get tired of this place. And who knew that a crazy meat-lover like me would have a favorite vegetarian place!?? I do have to say that over the years, the dishes have been getting smaller with smaller portions… that kinda sucks. Overall: A great meal that costs a pretty penny!
Faye A.
Classificação do local: 5 South San Francisco, CA
One of my favorite places to eat at whenever i go to LA. This place is so vegetarian that I’ve seen Buddhist monks that wear yellow robes eating here quite often. Conveniently located inside a Ranch 99 market, it has it’s own space. Nice ambience upon walking in. I highly recommend the orange chicken, delicious! The fried rice is unique too… I love when i can go to a spot and it’s 100% vegetarian. Wish they’d open something like this close to home.
Tiffany P.
Classificação do local: 5 San Francisco, CA
My favorite vegetarian restaurant in the area by far!(And I’m a big meat eater.) It’s definitely a very family friendly place and is located inside 99 Ranch Market, so very convenient for some grocery shopping afterwards. Happy Veggie Garden is just a bit nicer and cleaner than what you would expect of most casual Chinese restaurants. The lunch specials come with either white rice or porridge + a kind of fried roll(super tasty but I have no idea what it’s called in English…). My all time favorite is the kung pao«chicken»! I am obsessed. It’s basically fried button mushrooms in a sweet and spicy sauce. Some other dishes that my family orders regularly include the bamboo with soy meat, eggplant with tofu in a clay pot, and the pepper«salmon». The flavoring of all of them is great and has a lot of variety. Now that I live in SF, this is on my list of must-haves when I go down to visit my family!
Shelley C.
Classificação do local: 5 Nob Hill, San Francisco, CA
I’m thankful for this restaurant’s existence because my parents are strict vegans and somehow this place accommodates their request to cook their food in sterile pots that have not been contaminated by egg or milk. Thus, for the first 18 years of my life growing up in Walnut(before I turned un-vegetarian as witnessed in my other Unilocal posts), this was one of the only restaurants my parents ever took me, so I’ve tried almost everything on the menu. For a vegetarian, the food here really changes up the boredom of homecooked stirfry veggies or salads. What carried me through 18 years of vegetarianism without rebelling was the fake shrimp and creative veggies, imitation orange chicken(mushroom), veggie meatballs w/glass noodles, the mustard and edemame dish, the yam tip soup, turnip cake, golden rolls, etc. Oh and the lunch special price is quite a steal($ 6.95 or $ 7.95) if you go before 2 pm.
Jennifer L.
Classificação do local: 1 Bakersfield, CA
Food is good. But I came in 5 min before they start the business, they were yelling to let me leave.
Tiffany J.
Classificação do local: 5 Rowland Heights, CA
I LOVE this place! I’m not vegetarian but the the food is very satisfying! Even if you’re a huge meat eater, I guarantee this place will leave you satisfied! I came in here starving with my sister so we decided to do the«All you can eat» menu since we were going to order more than 3 dishes. The server was so nice and she kept offering both of us more even after we both were full. For $ 15.99 each person We ordered: 1. Kidney basil(2X) 2.shrimp veggie 3. House chicken(so good! It is made with mushrooms and taste like orange chicken!) 4. Hand roll(so good too!) 5. Bamboo shoots with soy meat 6. Fried bread roll(delicious!!)(2X) Highly recommend !!
Ashley R.
Classificação do local: 2 West Covina, CA
Food wasn’t that great. Extremely oily & fake. Defeats the purpose of eating vegetarian & healthy. Service was worst. Didn’t ask or bring drinks. Asked for recommendations and they blew off the question. Won’t be back.
Tommy C.
Classificação do local: 3 Ahuimanu, HI
Vegetarian variations of General Tso’s chicken(mushroom), Fish/cod(soy based), and Basil chicken nuggets(mushroom) were all good. A green soup made of sweet potato leaves was also very good. Stir fried noodle dishes were ok. There was a misunderstanding on one of the dishes ordered and the waitress put up a fight before correcting the order. $ 20 fee for serving a cake. Seemed like a hefty fee considering my cake was purchased next door at 99 Ranch for $ 19.99 and it came with disposable plates, knife and candle.
Xiouping C.
Classificação do local: 3 Venice, CA
They turned us down on Chinese New Years at 2 :10 pm :(maybe cuz I am only half Chinese just kidding but damn. They are taking siesta? Asian people don’t sleep just kidding haha so now I am at garden fresh less crowded here n organic. But I do hope to try this place someday. N I’ll update my review n be nice.
Cindy C.
Classificação do local: 5 La Habra, CA
I looove their 3 Flavor Chicken! I’ve been here twice and both times I ordered the same thing. I would like to try other things but I just crave their 3 Flavor Chicken! The food always comes out fast.
Stefanie A.
Classificação do local: 4 Diamond Bar, CA
I absolutely love how everything they offer is vegetarian! I can’t even believe some of the things they serve aren’t meat! My boyfriend got the deep fried pork chop and I got the sweet and sour chicken and we shared a pineapple fried rice. Everything was delicious! I have to say that was probably the best pineapple fried rice I’ve ever had! And I love how the sweet and sour chicken was substituted with mushrooms! It had a very subtle difference but intriguing taste and is definitely going to be one of the regular things I order when I go there. The pork chop was pretty good too but not something I would order twice. However I do like how they give you a HUGE portion of four servings for only $ 10! Besides the amazing food, the service was grade A. Everyone was so friendly and efficient, from the bus boy to the servers, my boyfriend and I felt very welcome there. One thing to note however is that even though all of the options are vegetarian, the food overall isn’t the healthiest because of all the sauces, oils, and seasonings they add for flavor. But I would definitely come back here when I’m in the mood to pig out on some tasty Chinese cuisine!
Mel. P.
Classificação do local: 4 Covina, CA
This is my vegetarian go-to place!!! Even though the food is slightly pricey, it is always delicious. There’s a wide variety of plates to choose from. The servers there are always extremely nice and helpful with what to order. Best time to go is during the lunch specials. Or if you’re feeling mighty hungry, they also have an ayce option for about $ 16. Besides, give your body a break, come eat some veggies. :)
Bryan W.
Classificação do local: 4 Berkeley, CA
When I was growing up, my parents loved going to Rowland Heights/626 area to buy groceries and grab asian food. Happy Veggie Garden was always a guaranteed stop for vegetarian food. Now, I always love coming here with friends to show them how great vegetarian food(asian style) can be. You cannot go wrong with anything you order on the menu. Since it’s vegetarian, it will probably(bluntly stated) taste like mushrooms. However the texture depends on whatever you order. For example, if you get the kung pao chicken(please save yourself the trouble and just order this), it will taste hella crunchy and deliciously yummy! I really encourage you to order the kidneys with basil. My o my do they taste GREAT. The service isn’t too shabby too. Asian establishments aren’t known for their service(mostly the food). When I left my debt card here, they were kind enough to hold onto it for me and be patient with me. Please check this gem out. Vegetarian or not, you’ll love it!
Michelle N.
Classificação do local: 4 Hacienda Heights, CA
Everything on the menu looks good and there are so many choices available, it’s hard to choose what to eat! My bf and I got four dishes: -«Scallop» with pea leaves: Braised or steamed tofu in a delicious sauce. –Fried tofu with salt and pepper: Comes with fried seaweed. This was the most generic dish we ordered. It’s just fried tofu, but still good at that. –Sizzling pepper udon: I was a bit disappointed it didn’t come on a sizzling plate like in the picture, but this was my favorite dish of the night. It is incredibly peppery and comes with a lot of bell peppers and some imitation shrimp meat. You’ll definitely get those pesky pepper flakes stuck in your teeth after eating this. –Fried«chicken»: Nice meaty texture. I don’t miss the taste of real meat at all. This was delicious as well. Everything was great. It’s vegetarian, so expect prices to be a little higher. They do have an all you can eat special menu during certain times of the day on weekdays and weekends. There’s a lot on the AYCE menu, but nothing that we wanted to try. Maybe we can check it out next time if we come back.
Judy C.
Classificação do local: 4 Houston, TX
Located inside the Ranch 99 market, this place has to be one of my favorite Chinese vegetarian restaurants, and trust me my friends, I’ve been to a few. Here’s my review: 1. Restaurant — clean with a slight scent of the vinegar that they use to clean. 2. Food — superb! Very flavorful and nicely spiced. We got their orange chicken and that was out of the this world. Their soup was bland, but we added some soy sauce and all was forgiven. 3. Service was spotty due to how busy they were, but that’s ok. All in all, a good experience.
Yenny D.
Classificação do local: 4 Culver City, CA
I lovelovelove vegetarian restaurants because I can/want to eat almost everything on the menu!(picky eater alert here haha) Happy Veggie Garden was recommended to me by a friend and I came here with 2 of my friends for lunch on a Saturday. FOOD: — veggie chicken in curry sauce — yum! Good texture and great flavor to the curry — eggplant with tofu hotpot — i LOVE eggplant and this was freaking damn delicious! Cooked perfectly tender with a great sauce YUM! I wish it would’ve been more eggplant and less tofu haha but that’s just me — crispy oyster mushroom — lordy this isn’t healthy at all! Basically oyster mushrooms sliced thinly and then fried lol. I thought it was a bit salty — the complimentary salad they give you — nothing special, but they put togarashi in the dressing! SERVICE: Can’t complain. No language barrier even though I speak chinese. Food came out quickly and tea was refilled fast. They never rushed us even when we sat there chatting afterwards. VENUE/PARKING: Restaurant is pretty large, plenty of seating. Located INSIDE the building with the 99 Ranch market, in the LEFT side if you’re facing the 99 Ranch entrance. Huge plaza, so plenty of parking — a ton of construction going on right now just fyi. Yum! Would come back if I’m in the area because the menu is huge! :)