The Happy Cow

This restaurant is currently closed due some financial issues the owner is experiencing. May reopen down the road.

As other reviewers have said, don’t be put off by the roadside dive appearance outside. The place is clean, the service is excellent and the food is really good in a diner sort of way. The cowntry breakfast is great. The French toast is good. We’ll definitely be back

Love this little hole in the wall. Very good food and sweet staff. Awesome cheap breakfast spot! Will be back!

Don’t turnaway when you pull up into the parking lot. Don’t judge the outside, it’s what’s inside that counts.
The breakfast was very tasty. I’m very picky when it comes to biscuits and gravy. You could tell their’s were homemade.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with The Happy Cow but there’s nothing exceptional about it either. There are just better places in town for the same thing. Feel like they should focus more on their theme in the food — the burgers and milkshakes are a start!

This is fabulous little dive. Don’t let the need to be painted exterior scare you away. However, be prepared to meet some interesting characters who love to talk. The food is Cheap made any way you ask for it. I asked for the home style potatoes to be cooked in bacon and a homemade strawberry milkshake with real strawberries. Yum!

A must stop if you’re in the St. Louis area. This quaint restaurant has great old fashioned comfort food. Service was great. Greeted with a warm friendly smile. I had the «Cow“ntry Special and it was excellent. I recommend coming here.

My shopping partner and I stopped stopped in here for a burger this week. I have driven by The Happy Cow thousands of times so it was time to stop. The restaurant had 8 tables of diners. I would guess that we were the only «unknowns». The waitress spoke to each person by name. I was waiting for «Norm» to come through the door. I would guess the average age of the customers was in the late 70s. The waitress was very attentive and very pleasant. Our deluxe burgers were good and the price of $ 5.00 was very fair. I would much rather give this place the business than a chain restaurant. We will go again.

Not impressed with this place at all. Wasn’t very busy when we visited the Happy Cow but our service was less than average. Found the place a little on the run down side. Nothing really special about what we ordered. Cows all over restaurant looked a bit dirty and kinda overwhelming.

Perfect example of a hole in the wall! I love it. So much cow, and their burgers are incredible. They are not huge or anything, but the beef is some of the best quality I have had on the St. Louis metro IL side area. Seriously a must. They cook onions IN their burgers!

Great diner food. My friend and I meet once a week for breakfast at various places, but Happy Cow has become a preference, mainly because the staff is so personable compared to chains like Bob Evans or Cracker Barrel. The place is clean, adorably kitschy, and the waitresses know their regulars and keep the coffee coming hot! Affordable prices and daily specials, a favorite place to bring friends and family from out-​of-​town. :)

The real diner deal. Locals and all. Had the happy cow burger special… happy cow burger with chopped onions in the burger, topped by american cheese, sided by thinly sliced onions, dill chips and lettuce… excellent, should have ordered a double… crinkle cut fries, crispy… excellent. And a friendly staff and fellow diners.

Wonderful little diner with great food. I love the Cowntry Special Breakfast and honestly have never had a bad dish here. The staff is friendly and most family and they will treat you like family too. Be sure to ask for the raisin pie and even if you are too full– take it home!

Cute restaurant with a fun atmosphere.
The food is typical greasy small restaurant food. But good if that’s what you’re in the mood for. Don’t go here and expect Ihop, this is closer to Waffle House.

small town diner with kitschy cow theme. it ain’t ever gonna be a linen napkin kind of place. for what it is… it is perfect. a small slice of america, a real alternative to the franchise blandness of the nearby stripmall eateries.
it isn’t fast food. it is small town. the waitstaff is necessitated to multi-​task. seat yourself. they’ll get to you as soon as they can. can you really expect aunt bea to stop talking to clara in midsentence?
real food by real people.

Great breakfast. It is very small but draws tons of locals. Ignore your first impressions from the outside as it may look like a «dive» but the food is definitely «diner». Old fashioned diner and all the food appears to be homemade. Portion size is generous and price extremely reasonable. The staff is always friendly and attentive to keeping your cup full. The décor if full of «cow» everything.

This place is a hole. A lovely, loveable hole that is FULL of cow paraphernalia. I mean, there are cows EVerywhere in this place and its tacky as hell. I love it. The food is cheap. I mean ridiculously cheap, and pretty damn good. They have an amazing pie selection too. I recommend their peach pie or the banana cream pie. Or a milkshake. And they have the most amazing chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy you will ever find. More good news? This place is now non-​smoking! Thank goodness, too, because its so tiny that there was virtually no such thing as a smoking section: if one person smoked, the whole place smoked.
The food here is plain, old fashioned comfort food. It’s no frills, but it is so good. The servings sizes aren’t ridiculous, either. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, country fried steak, really good burgers, green beans and lots of pie!
It’s cash or check only, but you probably won’t need more than $ 15 for two people. They are closed on Monday and only open until 3 on Sundays. Also, please watch your language, The Happy Cow is chock full of senior citizens. At 27 and 26, my husband and I were the youngest in there by about 20 years.