Happy Cafe Restaurant

I’m so sad to see that Happy Café is no longer in business. It was truly a hidden gem in San Mateo. I loved coming here for brunch. They had the best dumplings and green onion pancake. In its place is a forgettable Chinese place posing as a Vietnamese restaurant.

So sad — stopped by on 5÷10÷15 and CLOSED for remodeling. No posted date for reopening

Cuttlefish fish was good but the Chinese burger is tiny for the price. Waited awhile for the steam dumpling and the meat is rough with some juicy. Our soup noodle contain tiny piece of meat which us rough and limited flavor. There are too many other similar resturants and not worth to come back to this one.
Taste more like home cook but not worth to pay for it…

This is literally the definition of hole in a wall. With all the neon signs and colorful advertising along the street, you would really have to stop in the midst of your step to notice this place. Modest place with modest space, but very comfy, home-​cooked food. We ordered the spicy cucumber as appetizer, it was only average, but the spicy sauce underneath was very good. We also got the XLB, and the skin was thin and the soup was plentiful. The soy milk was excellent, and on point with the consistency. Will come back again for more dishes !

I’m sitting in the restaurant as I write this, because I have plenty of time waiting for service and food. I came here given the above average rating of 3.5 with enough reviews. I’m here to give it a 2.5 rating.
I wanted to leave shortly after being seated. It’s a tiny mom and pop shop-​a characteristic I’m fond of. The problem was their menu system is confusing. The menu displayed on the window and wasn’t the menu handed to us. It was a weekend menu and a slip of paper to order. The paper didn’t reflect all of their menu items, or it was named differently-​confusion. I asked for the one they have on the window and was told that the Szechuan Noodle is the same as the Dry Noodle with Cucumber and Pork with Spicy Sauce-​who knew. Being one of seven tables occupied and with two servers, service was slow and inattentive. They’re not service professionals, but they were at risk of me walking out simply because it took 5min to get seated while they cleaned the table, another 5min to be confused by the menu, another 3−5min to get their attention to order and finally 20 before the first dish came out. I already had a bad feeling right after placing the order-​like do I want to go through with this?
It’s cash only, so I walked to Wells Fargo, stopped at Draeger’s and came back just as my «Szechuan» Noodle arrived. Disappointing. I don’t expect flair, but it was home simple-​cold noodles, slivers of cold pork loin and slivers of cold cucumber. Oh, and Chiu Chou Chili Oil to mix with to make it Szechuan (?). Then, there was a Chicken Noodle that doesn’t need any commentary, the Bacon Fried Rice and finally their Xiao Long Bao. The Bacon Fried rice barely had any bacon with the bits so small that they’re barely visible. Tasted okay, but you can definitely make it better at home and without the risotto consistency. Their only saving grace was the Xiao Long Bao. It wasn’t pretty, but at least it was good and properly made in a bamboo steamer. Do note it took around 22min for it to arrive after the first dish appeared. It’s a tiny kitchen.
I wish them the best and it looks like they have regulars here, however I don’t think they have a place in this area given the very competitive choices here. I simply won’t be coming back and was disappointed that the hole in the wall restaurant didn’t serve anything noteworthy.

A very authentic little Shanghaiese restaurant that reminds me of my days in China. Friendly, simple, tasty food. If you’re home sick, this is the place to go.

Food is decent but a rip off!!! Just attached a photo of the «baked cake» that is about 3×3 inches max and it is $ 1.75? Quality of food is decent, but at these small portions I won’t be coming back. Service is also decent so it is really a pity.

Delicious and Good service. The pork chop is to die for, perfectly crispy and lean. Our best dish.
Rice cakes and Shanghai noodles are light and not too salty. Dumplings are good along with squid over onions.
Been coming for years and love this place!
Family owned and super cleaned!

The place has been there for decades. It’s not your fancy Chinese restaurant but it’s home-​cooked style everyday food. Something your mother or grandma would make. My Fav, Porkchop and rice. And if you dare, the chilled kidney small dish is a MUST!

I love this little hole-​in-​the-​wall «Shanghainese» Mom & Pops eatery. They are located in downtown San Mateo, right of 3^rd Ave and B St. I have been coming here for years, and service has always been fantastic. It is one of the few places that you will see loyal customer coming back, time and time again.
This place gets packed on Saturdays’ and Sunday morning. Best time to arrive is 10am before the 12noon crowd since they have limited seating, however; the wait is so worth it.
Happy Café is one of the few places in San Mateo that really kicks ass when it comes to Shanghainese dim sum. The Shanghainese is famous for their dumplings and one reason is the wrapping needs to be fresh and light, not doughy! The fillings inside also has to be hot, but not watery, but juicy and bursting with flavors. I highly recommend ordering any of their dumplings, they are just delicious. Their Chinese Onion pancakes is also another must order, very light and crispy. If you are dining in, definitely order their Hot Soy Milk along with their hot, freshly cooked Chinese doughnuts (I believe this is only available during weekend dim sum).
Happy Café also has an extensive menu particularly if you can read Chinese. Their specials are posted on their walls and written in Chinese. So it pays to bring your Chinese friend who can translate because you will be pleasantly surprised!
Until then, Cheers! ~ :p

Had an early haircut appointment and my boyfriend and I was looking for some food afterwards. Since most places w usually go to were still closed, we just decided to give this place a try. Bottom line, food was not very good, especially the steamed buns are greasy and flavorless, the same can be said for all the other dishes we had too, including seaweed, boiled chicken and noodle soup. The worst part was that we didn’t know it was cash only, so my boyfriend had to run to the nearest ATM to get money … come on what the heck?
Definitely won’t be back…

Literally a hole-​in-​a-​wall as it’s a very small location and not good for large groups. Since it’s located in downtown San Mateo, there’s only street metered parking or parking garages nearby. No outdoor seating.
Special Menu 10÷2÷2014 (item names as written on menu)
Cucumber w/​Spicy Sauce: $ 3.75
Seaweed w/​Vinegar Sauce: $ 3.75
Cold Tofu: $ 3.75
Dry Beancurd, Baby Fish, Chili: $ 3.95
Braised Slice Bran: $ 4.50
Boiled Chicken w/​Sauce: $ 4.99
Pig Ear w/​Soy Sauce: $ 4.99
Beef Tendons w/​Spicy Sauce: $ 4.99
Pig Kidney w/​Onion Dressing: $ 4.99
Cuttlefish w/​Spicy Dressing: $ 4.99
Small Steam Buns: ($ 4.99) 6 pcs of Shanghai Dumplings
Shanghai Egg Rolls: ($ 3.75) 4 pcs
Deep Fried Pork Chop: ($ 5.50) 2 pcs
Chinese Doughnut: $ 1.59
Onion Pancake: $ 2.95
Chinese Hamburger: ($ 2.95) Beef. 1 pc
Baked Cake: $ 1.50
Salted Rice Ball: $ 1.99
Salted Soy Bean Milk: $ 1.99
Sweet Rice Ball: $ 1.99
Sweet Soy Bean Milk: $ 1.59
Pork Wonton w/​Spicy Sauce: $ 3.95
Pork Wonton w/​Veggie Soup: $ 4.95
Vegetable Pork Wonton: $ 5.50
Shrimp Wonton Soup: $ 6.50
Pork Chop w/​Rice: $ 6.95
Pork Chop w/​Noodle Soup: $ 6.50
Mustard Green, Pork Noodle: $ 5.95
Szechwan Vegetable Noodle: $ 5.95
Dry Szechwan Noodle: $ 5.95
Shanghai Noodle: $ 6.50
Stir-​fried Rice Cake: $ 6.95
Red Bean Cake: ($ 4.25) 4 pcs
Sweet Sesame Cake: ($ 3.50) 4 pcs
Radish Cake: ($ 2.95) 2 pcs
Our order:
Sweet Soy Bean Milk
Onion Pancake
Beef Tendons w/​Spicy Sauce
Chinese Hamburger
Small Steam Buns
Shanghai Noodle
Had to run errands around the area so we opted to try this place out for lunch. Very unsure of the items on the list since the names were off. For example, «small steam buns» is actually Shanghai Dumplings (aka XLB). We saw pictures of pork steam buns but didn’t see them listed to order and didn’t want to risk ordering the wrong item.
The Sweet Soy Bean Milk didn’t have the sugar added as it was being heated as all the sugar was at the bottom of the bowl (the milk was lukewarm). Didn’t taste that it was made in-​house =/​They also ran out of the Chinese Doughnut which I love dunking into my soy milk. =(The Beef Tendons w/​Spicy Sauce is a cold dish that tasted like it was previously frozen. The Onion Pancake was burnt and the Chinese Hamburger was extremely dry: the meat inside nearly jerky-​like. The Shanghai Noodles had no flavor (except that of oil). The only semi-​ok item was the XLB, even though the skin was a bit on the thick side.
We were seated at a very tiny table. Thank goodness the ladies were very prompt in clearing out table of empty dishes, otherwise all the food wouldn’t have fit. Food was below average but still edible. Wouldn’t want to come back though.
Cash only

I wouldn’t be surprised if most people didn’t know about this place. It’s literally a small hole in the wall, and of you were driving along B street, you’ll definitely miss it.
Regardless of its little size, I use to come here all the time with a friend. The ladies who work here are so friendly! Service is amazing here! You get seated right as a table opens. It doesn’t take them long to clean it right after a party leaves. They also give you some complimentary tea.
My favorites would have to be the seaweed salad, onion pancakes and of course, their steam buns! I order these items all the time!
Since I’ve moved further away, I’m not able to come here as often. I highly recommend trying their steam buns with some of their special vinegar sauce!

Small little chinese restaurant that packs a punch!
The place is clearly a family store – opens early at the same time everyday, closes early at 9pm, when the streets is Filled with people. Caters to the «non-​late-​night» crowd. The inside is also traditionally decorated, with hand-​written notes of dishes offered on the walls.
In terms of the food, it is definitely good. The small juicy pork buns had quite a bit of juices in them, and were pretty big in size. The best of all was the «white cut chicken», which was served in a small pool of soy-​like sauce. Combine this with the thinly cut slices of chicken, served chilled, with a bit of skin and fat to mix with the soy-​like sauce, and you have an amazingly savory dish!
Will definitely come back again.

Ok some people may think I’m delusional for giving 5 star but if u take into consideration that you can get good shanghai food very quickly before going to the movies I would say solid 4 star however i ordered beer and it was fresh and very cold something that even the upscale places struggle with I can taste when beer has been warm then chilled it affects the taste but not @ happy caffe my beer was as good as it gets so many thanks for that I’ll be back.

No matter what happens, I will always be a fan of Happy Café so I’m slightly biased. But I will be honest. It’s not as good as I remembered.
I’ve actually been coming here for years. Haven’t been here in a long time though. Now that I drive and I have to find parking, I can honestly say parking SUCKS! Or maybe it was just Friday night. So go early and find parking a couple blocks away or don’t drive. Otherwise, parking will end up taking longer than the amount of time you’re in the restaurant…
Skip the noodles and entrees. Appetizers all the way! The Boiled Chicken with House Dressing is THE best!!! Their XLBs are STILL the best in the SF peninsula!!! But portions seem smaller than I remember (or maybe I just grew up).

Unfortunately, happy café isn’t what it used to be, but I come here for the spicy wontons alone.
The portions if the spicy wontons are very small, so I order about 3 on average. I’ve never had wontons quite like this, the flavor is addicting and it has the perfect amount of spicyness. At most places, the spicy wonton comes with peanut oil, but I’m glad Happy Café doesn’t include it in their hot sauce, it’s great on its own. I’ve found that their wontons are one of their dishes that has remained consistent over the years.
The onion pancakes also used to be my favorite, but now I’ve found that they just aren’t as good as they used to be. They used to be very thin and crispy, and even though they were oily, they were delicious. Now I feel as though they are much thicker and drier, and don’t have the same savory onion flavor as before.
So all in all, I only come here if I have a craving for the spicy wontons. The portions are very small here, however, so you may have to make multiple orders of a certain dish to fill you up.

A solid little hole-​in-​the-​wall that you’ll most definitely miss if you don’t keep an eye peeled.
The dishes are all quite simple, but well made, and well priced! A big fan of their tofu and sliced cucumbers. Their xiao long bao are quite good, come to you steaming hot, and are a great treat on a cold day.
Their mustard greens with noodles and soup is painfully lacking in flavor, however, so be prepared to add big spoonfuls of chili oil to give it any taste.
Not necessarily a place I’d drive too far to get to, but if you’re in the area, with a hankering for XLB, then you’re in luck.

I’ve missed this place. It was our to-​go-​to comfort food joint when we lived here and my aunt told me they had closed. Boy was I happy to see that they weren’t closed. The food is always tasty but I noticed how much the portions have shrunk in size.
We ordered the XLB — these were just okay.
We also got the dried beancurd and pork stir fry off the lunch menu. It comes with a soy braised egg and some veggies. Delish!
The salted mustard greens with pork also off the lunch menu was also pretty good, just comfort food for me.
The fried pork chop with vegetable rice is always my favorite and this is still very good!
One of the items off the white board was stir fried lotus root with wood ear fungus (mushroom) and this was everyone’s favorite! So good!
So happy to have eaten here again after so many years!

Yum, my favorite go to place in the downtown San Mateo area! At first glance it’s a pretty hole in the wall place, but if you give it a chance you might be surprised. Everything that I’ve had here is really authentic tasting and delicious.
The only thing I have to complain about is the portion sizes vs the price tag. I usually have to make sure that I’m not starving when I decide to come for lunch because all the dishes are small portions.
My usual dishes I order are the xiao long bao, stir fry rice cakes, chicken (YUM), and pig ears. The xiao long bao aren’t super well made, but the flavor of the soup inside is pretty tasty. The chicken is always really tender and juicy, the rice cake always has good flavor to it, and the pig ears have a nice savory flavor to it as well.
At least worth your while to try!