Happy Donut

No, no, no, no, no…
This place should definitely not advertise their Vietnamese food. I’m a huge fan of Vietnamese food and maybe it was just my experience, but the phở was horrible. It tasted as if it was microwaved. The ladies were nice though.

Great, easy place to stop for donuts on the way into work. Of course, I had completely missed the fact that they were cash-​only (despite the multiple signs to this effect), and they were happy to continue to pack up the donuts for me and have them ready while I ran to the ATM.

Happy donut, I gave you two chances. The first time, the phở was salty. Silly me, after much longing for something soupy and thinking the second time at your fine establishment will change my mind, I ordered the same thing. Of course, after eating half of your phở, I immediately threw the rest away. By that time, my heart was racing and I thought I my life would end with blood sprouting from my lips due to the abnormal amount of salt in your soup. I watched in mild satisfaction as I watch as your vile concoction go through the garbage disposal. Your food is Salty AF.

Good food, good price, huge portions! I was looking for a cheap $ 5 meal, I got the Pork Spring Rolls which were 4 monster spring rolls! They were so big I split them into 2 meals, which means I paid about $ 4.30 per meal! They’re also tasty, the pork is marinated and has good spice, perfect with the peanut sauce they come with!

The chicken noodle soup (made spicy) is amazingly delicious and super addictive. I normally leave some broth after finishing up the noodles but it was so good I took every last drop to go! Leaving off one star off just because of ambiance-it’s kind of a basic spot-​but if you need a soup fix for super cheap, this is the place to go.

LOVE their giant pork spring rolls! If this were the only item here, I’d give it 5 stars. They give you 4 giant spring rolls for $ 8. (Cash only) I always call ahead to order because it takes them about 10 minutes to make. The peanut sauce makes all the difference.
I grab and go eat in the office because it’s not necessarily the fanciest dining establishment.
I’ve had their phở and it was okay… but I probably wouldn’t get that here again. I’ve never even thought about getting a donut. Stick with the spring rolls! I’ve heard that the shrimp spring rolls as tasty as well.

Cash only spot close to my office. It’s a very good option for some phở or some curry. They have a few tables, but everyone mostly picks up something to go for lunch. The owners are very nice and the service was very prompt. If you eat there the crowd is mostly individual people quietly slurping their lunch before they go back to work.
The phở: it was good tasting, something I would go back for… but the broth was lacking a bit of flavor. Also, the beef was cut a bit thicker and was ok. Just not the usual high quality phở I’m used to.
Overall yummy spot for the neighborhood.

Stopped by today for the first time to get some Donuts. No other customers were in there. I had a funny feeling; but, you don’t know until you try… Besides, how can you screw up a donut?
It’s a cold morning, that said, the donuts looked old. All the glazes were dull. I started pointing to the various donuts I wanted. When I asked about the Bars that usually have a filling, I was told their’s don’t. What?
The sign said a Dozen Donuts for $ 12.50. I was given a cash only non-​itemized receipt for $ 14.60. On top of the tax, I think they made me pay for the box!
In a donut shop it’s usually customary to get a free 13^th donut when you order a dozen. No such luck here.
Now for the taste results… The donuts were ice cold. As predicted they tasted like they could have been made the day before. Seriously!
I can’t speak for the non-​donut items on the menu; but, as a donut shop, it’s a huge disappointment.
As others have mentioned, it’s Cash Only.

Mom and pop Viet food & donut shop that falls right in the middle of my route to work.
I’m here so often that they greet me with «Iced coffee?»
The viet iced coffee (2.50) is my crack and fuels me throughout the week. You know it’s the good stuff when I look forward to my morning coffee the night prior.
[CASH ONLY]

Despite it’s appearance, name, and typicalness, Happy Donut offers a surprising array of lunchtime dishes. Of these, your penny-​pinchiest bet is to head straight for the bahn mi. The Vietnamese sandwich. The original southwest Asian fusion. Here, unlike some other joints, there’s a good amount of meat filling up the sandwich, along with a tasty assortment of the usual veggies. Bonus: the bread does not tear up your mouth to the great extent that others do. Woohoo!

Veggie noodle soup is so good — sliced cabbage, bean sprouts, tofu, rice noodles, piping hot broth. I could eat this every day. Delicious with a little brown sauce and siracha! Cash only, but less than $ 7!

I’ve enjoyed Ban Mi here a few times, but today I was craving Spring Rolls. I wait for about 5 min for my order of BBQ Pork Spring Rolls, seems kinda long but they are made fresh so, ok.
The total for one order was $ 8, I thought that’s kinda steep as this place is usually inexpensive.
My order comes out and its 4 HUGE spring rolls, they must have weighed 2lbs! The price is very reasonable once I saw my order. They were tasty and a good balance of lettuce/​noodles/​meat, the peanut sauce was also good, not too sweet.

The smell of this place lured me in after eating dinner across the street. Being called happy Donut, and smelling as good as they smelled, I think I had really high expectations for their donuts. I have to tell yall, they were just ok. They were huge donuts and pretty fair priced for being right in little Italy.
Service was great, but we had to leave the place and eat somewhere else because the place smelled of old fish.
If I lived in San Francisco, I would stop by here again for the happy part of happy donut (assuming that is their Vietnamese side), but for donuts, dunkin does it better.

Happy Donut made me sad after I took the first bite of my «BBQ» Pork phở today at lunch.
Cabbage in the soup: weird
BBQ Pork: not BBQ’d, fresh out the microwave toughness
Broth: a sicky, sweet, non comforting liquid
No jalepenos, a smidge of cilantro, no basil. I asked for chow fun noodles, and the chef lady said sure, but then gave me regular vermicelli noodles.
No bueno, I will not be back, I would rather eat at the apparently rat-​infested International Café on Kearny than spend another $ 7.50 on a bowl of disappointment.

I was feeling sick last week and a co-​worker suggested that we go to Happy Donut for their chicken noodle soup. I was a bit confused, as I wondered, «how could a donut place serve noodle soup?» Well… they do! And the best thing is – it’s cheap AND delicious!
It’s a pretty good portion for only $ 7 and it definitely hits the spot, especially when you’re feeling under the weather. Apparently, the portion is even larger when you dine in too. The soup broth has great flavor, and the noodles are the perfect consistency. The owner is really nice and he makes me feel like I’m visiting an old uncle.
Will be back again!

I hate giving any place a two star review, a mom and pop place much less, but I want to be fair. Food was just passable, prices were fine, but the establishment leaves much to be desired. Oh, yeah, and cash only. Boo.
Randomly passed by Happy Donut as my lunch mate and I were walking aimlessly in the FiDi between our two workplaces. I saw some sort of noodle soup being served and we popped in to give it a try.
I order the beef noodle soup with tendon and tripe. The beef appeared very rare, but thankfully the soup was hot enough to cook it at the table. The bean sprouts and basil leaves (and green onions, green onions?!) were already submerged in the soup, so if you don’t care for those, better tell them when you place the order. The soup was fine, not the most flavorful, but again, passable. The beef, tendon and tripe were ok quality and the noodles al dente (which I appreciate). Douse anything within reason with hoisin and sriracha sauce and it’s palatable. This was exactly that.
Will I go again? Probably not for phở. Maybe I’ll try their other soups. But it was filling and service was quick. Meh. I’ve definitely experienced better — two stars.

Good and cheap Vietnamese/​Chinese/​Thai food. It’s mostly a take out place but have a few tables for dine in.
Their Vietnamese sandwich is pretty good and cheaper than nearby spots. Their Thai noodles soup is basic but good.
I would return.

There was a time when happiness was a warm puppy. At least that’s what Charlie Brown thought of Snoopy. Then Bobby McFerrin told me don’t worry, be happy, and then Pharrell Williams in his oversized park ranger hat told us he was and that I should be, too…
Because I’m happy…
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy…
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy…
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy…
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
But I’m not sure anybody told the guy at Happy Donut to be happy. He always looks like he’s going to snap at me or maybe recreate the interrogation scene in «The Manchurian Candidate». I’ve never had a donut here much less a happy one though they appear to have a typical array. Why they feel a need to charge a nickel on top of a dollar for each is beyond me since fiddling with change in my front pocket is never a desirable activity for me at least in public. Anyway, I came for the rice plate. It’s probably more accurate to call it a rice tray since you really order it to go. You can hang out among the chipped formica but I’m not sure why you would want to.
What’s really surprising here is how robust the handwritten menu of pan-​Asian dishes is (photo:
). There’s ten different noodle soups and eleven hot plates with either noodles or rice. There’s tomyum, teriyaki, pad thai, Korean, fried rice… you name the Far Eastern diner grub and it looks like they spoon it out of their warming trays. I decided to have the $ 5.99 Curry Chicken over Rice and have to admit it wasn’t all that bad (photo:
). Sure, it was kinda soupy-​greasy, but the chicken chunks were generous and the sauce, while a bit paltry, had enough heat. You know what would have gone great with it? A smile. Yeah, you can do it. C’mon. Koochy-​koo. Hmmm, not gonna happen.
FOOD — 3 stars… decent Asian grub on the go if you want grub
AMBIANCE — 2 stars… say what?
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… don’t worry, be happy
TOTAL — 3 stars… but the price is right in a pinch and when you’re time-​challenged

Wanted to go to French Baguette for vietnamese but saw that they were closed so I ended up here.
I really didn’t know what I wanted as the lunch menu was all over the place. They have vietnamese sandwiches, rolls, noodle soups, pad thai, chinese food… Yeah I didn’t know what I wanted.
I ended up getting something similar to a vermicelli chicken bowl to go. I didn’t wait too long to get my order. When I dug in, it was ok. I had 2 things of fish sauce which I poured over the noodles to get flavor. Wish I had some plum sauce and sriracha though, think next time i’ll be sure to ask for that to kick up the flavors. The chicken bowl was not bad and it was a lot of food for like $ 8. The chicken did taste kind of weird to me. Maybe it was all dark meat and thats why? It didn’t look or taste fresh so that was off-​putting.
I would want to go back as I saw someone else in front of me order the spring rolls and those looked pretty decent. All in all this is an ok spot for lunch. If you are in a hurry though, this is a good solid option.

Totally forgot about this place! I used to come here with my former colleague at my last job.
Today, I was craving a light, slurpy noodle soup nearby (NOT in Chinatown) and all of a sudden remembered Happy Donut — the wonderful little donut shop that offers tasty Asian cuisine lunches to go.
I’d recommend taking food to go, as there are just 3 small tables. But, a lot of customers do tend to pick up food to-​go, so maybe it wouldn’t be a problem if you want to eat in.
What I got is my favorite here, the Korean Noodle Soup with Ground Pork and Fish Cakes, with glass noodles. The broth is delicio-​so and the fish cakes and ground pork add the perfect level of flavor for me. JUST what I craved. There’s some cilantro sprinkled on top as well. A big to-​go container of yummy soupy goodness for $ 7. Yup, that’s including tax (so awesome!).
I’ll be back.