Happy Cow Diner

The soup was delicious and Mr Baguette grilled beef sandwich is the best.

This place is now an overpriced Mr. Baguette taking advantage as being the only phở/​banh mi option in DTLA — Bunker Hill area. Still tastes good and everything but $ 8 for a banh mi sandwich? WTH?

The phở is awful here. The broth tastes like it’s been watered down with hose water and the meat is tough and chewy like it’s been broiled. If you’ve EVER had phở, even if you attempted to make it yourself for the first time, it was probably better than the bowl served here. Harsh, I know, but I’ve eaten here several times (I KNOW, WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME) and each time I prayed and prayed they’d prove me wrong. Nope, nope, nope. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
And yes, like other people have mentioned, the new banh mi sandwiches are overpriced for what you get. They don’t even give you the pickled daikon which is like, absurd.

This place is now a Mr. Baguette but they kept some of their old menu items and the owner and kitchen crew are the same. They used to serve burgers, fries, udon and phở. After changing the name they removed the burgers and fries from the menu (keeping the udon and phở) and added a selection of Vietnamese sandwiches.
These are not your typical Vietnamese sandwiches though. It seems like the ingredients have been modified in comparison to other Vietnamese style sandwiches to be more appealing to the masses. Not sure why they did this since I always thought the unique ingredients in Vietnamese sandwiches is what makes them taste good.
Compared to other Mr Baguettes I would say that the bread here is just as good but quality of the other ingredients is a little lower and they give you smaller portion sizes. The menu is also much smaller than other Mr Baguettes and the prices are much higher. It’s $ 5 for an 8-​inch and $ 7 for a 12-​inch. If you’re hungry you need at least 2 sandwiches to fill you up.
Overall the sandwiches, although expensive, tasted ok. With such limited options for lunch in downtown I would like to go back but since my coworker and I both got food poisoning from the sandwiches I don’t think I’ll be returning.

Decided to brave it and tried the phở. There is no other place within walking distance that has phở, so what the heck.
Verdict: The phở was a little bland and the meat wasn’t of the best quality. Tendon (which I enjoy for some reason) was really inconsistent and had a lot of fat. Meh.
This is a weird set up. They have burgers and fries, phở, ramen, udon. One POSITIVE thing is that it has sign out that Mr baguette is coming. I overheard the owner explaining that they can only do classic bahn mi (no cold cuts) because of subway. That means grilled pork, chicken, etc. OK by me because that is what I like on my bahn mi. Will check out again in a week, and perhaps revise my review.
Still, it will be an even weirder setup then.

I don’t know how this place stays in business. I had a chicken sandwich and the chicken breast was dry, chewy and salty. At least my soda tasted fine. My friend was equally unimpressed with his meal.

I am not sure why this place is classified as a steakhouse… but onto my review…
I should have known better about a place that sells phở and burgers. The two just don’t seem like a likely pairing and for good reason.
The first time I came here I tried the burger, there is nothing special about the burger whatsoever, and to make matters worse, I was super excited about the garlic fries, but in reality it was just an order of fries with a side of garlic sauce (more like garlic in oil).
The second time I cam here I decided to try the phở, the soup base was not that great, the meat was of poor quality and the service was just terrible.
The design of the restaurant is also really weird, you have to wonder around the empty Bonaventure to find it and it feels like a creepy place a guy would take his ugly mistress to for lunch.

I feel ill. Been working downtown for years and finally decided that a place that serves phở and hamburgers was worth a shot. Got the phở and it was horrrrrible. Undercooked noodles, lukewarm broth and discolored meat.
To top it all off, it’s expensive (for phở) and the place is creepily empty (should have known better).
Don’t go here. Go anywhere else.

Not sure why i keep coming here, their phở is seriously the worst phở i have ever eaten, it’s like where phở comes to die. Well it’s two blocks from my work and when it’s cold and windy nothing beats a bowl of phở, even bad phở. It’s sad but i look forward to the oyster sauce and hot sauce more then the phở here… its on the 5^th floor of the Bonaventure if u want to check out horrible phở that is crazy over priced… hmm come think of it why do i come to this place.

This is the only place in downtown where you can get phở. the phở here isnt exactly good by any means, the beef is whack, the noodles are whack, the soup base is whack… and it’s overpriced for being whack. but it’s OK… because it’s the ONLY place to get phở! I’ve never tried any of the other food items and the restaurant itself reminds me of an airport terminal. but if you’re craving phở, even if it’s whack… why not?

Even though I usually take food to work, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to find different/​new places to try for affordable weekday lunches in DTLA. I knew this place existed from going on the many aimless walks I often take between 1pm and 2pm. I saw Mendocino Farms at 5^th & Flower had a line out the door and after my brain said «I don’t think so» it immediately remembered Happy Cow Diner had phở.
Unfortunately, it’s not good phở. Of course, anyone who’s seen this place and read the name would have said «Uh, no cuss, Sherlock.» Well, it is what is it. Pretty flavorless and uninspired which is expected because they’re not trying to run a connoisseur’s business. Also, I ordered it with only slices of steak but two small peices of tripe still managed to sneak in and almost successfully disguise themselves among the white noodles and bean sprouts. Oh yea, the noodles. Over-​cooked. Nothing else to say. And the experience itself is a watered down phở experience. You don’t get a plate full of fresh bean sprouts and herbs. It’s all in there (and the basil is attached to the stems; I personally like to put the leaves alone in the soup). All you get is a plastic disposable sauce container of hoisin and another with a slice of lime and four slices of jalapeño. The whole thing was just completely boring and ridiculous. I’m giving a two star rating instead of one because I can’t say that I hated it and it seemed like a clean place.
I probably wouldn’t go back unless I’m in DTLA, dying for a bowl of phở, and too lazy to walk to Blossom… like today, I guess.

Maybe it’s because they have to pay expensive rent, but they sure cut down on the quality… The soup is bland and the noodles are overcooked. The meat quality is awful. I can’t seem to find a single good thing about this place… They do have tons of TVs around and plenty of seatings.
I never had the burger but it looks average. Too bad this is the cloest phở place around. I guess I can’t expect much.

Walked by this place the other day on my way to the farmers market and saw three dudes just starting their bowl of phở. When I walked back, they were finished and licking their bowls. I decided not to let all theses other reviews deter me and I’m glad I tried it. The Phở is just phine unless you’re a phở snob. Phở phast phood — It’s convenient and quick. I’ll be going back too…

This place can’t event get a milk shake right! Over the last couple of years, I’ve slipped up on 3 occasions and entered Happy Cow.
1^st — standard burger — the most bland burger ever created
2^nd — Phở — not terrible, not particularly good either, again bland
3^rd — just a milk shake, some how it was watered down and smelled odd
Three strikes your out! Shut this place down and start over!

What do burgers and Phở have in Common? Cows of course!
Happy cow should be a great little place to grab a bowl of Phở or a burger downtown, located in the Bonaventure it is close to my work but the3rd rate Phở and absolutely insignificant burgers make Happy Cow a place that I never go to.
For the Phở, the broth is bland and the noodles are soft, topping are skimpy as is the meat. It is the only bowl of Phở with walking distance of my work and it is still a non starter.
On the Thursdays they have a Kobi beef burger special… special? There is nothing special about this skinny little patty! They would have been better off making a nice burger of regular chuck with the money wasted on the «kobi» beef.
Fries where not terrible, that is something
I would consider eating here if this place was in the middle of nowhere but with so many options downtown, I’m sorry but there ain’t no way
Want Phở downtown? eat here…

Located in the Bonaventure on the 6^th floor. Impossible to find without an Indian guide and a virgin sacrifice to the Downtown gods.
The burgers looked run of the mill but what I came here for was… the Phở. Yes, they server burgers and phở.
$ 8 will get you decent sized bowl of phở that is hit or miss. Sometimes you are surprised you’re getting this much quality Phở from a burger joint and other times its exactly what you expect from a hamburger joint; luke warm chicken broth.
Zero ambiance.
Overall if you don’t have the time to drive to K-​Town and you don’t want to wait until after work for Phở, then go here.
Unfortunately this is the only Phở that is within the Financial District that you can get in and out of within an hour lunch.

1.5 stars is more suitable.
Not the best establishment in the world but it is the only place I am able to get Phở from while at the office. The phở is average but it hits the spot when you need to feed the beast. I’ve never tried anything else here.
I don’t even want to get into the hygiene of the place, lets just say I caught the lady in the kitchen with her gloves off prepping a meal and only after she noticed me staring did she put A glove on. Also whats up with the TVs, always on headline news and you can’t adjust the volume. Oh and I can swear they use a microwave in the kitchen but when I asked the manager about it he got pissed and denied it vehemently.
Only desperation leads me to this place.

I’d say 2.5 stars is more accurate.
Short version: Never had the phở, but the burgers here aren’t god awful.
Verbose version: My coworkers and I end up at the Bonaventure on those days when an indoor lunch destination within walking distance is needed. I have, on occasion, taken it upon myself to hope that eating a happy cow from Happy Cow will make me feel happy without feeling like cow… maybe a good burger would improve my moo-​d (HA!).
The burgers here are kind of over-​priced and the fries are too salty, but I still thought it was a decent effort by a hotel food court phở/​burger house. I’d tap my fries into my empty bag to get rid of about half the salt and they’d be just how I want them: crispy and fairly short, the perfect vehicle for a single bite of fried potato slathered in ketchup/​sriracha (they get bonus points for stocking single-​serving sriracha). The fries certainly out shine the burgers, which are often pedestrian and finished less often then their tater partners.

Happy Cow is in a really random location in the Bonaventure. I only noticed it because they claimed to serve phở.
I got my bowl and noticed how oily everything was. And though I didn’t want tendon, there was one huge piece in my soup. And what’s this? Bones? The noodles were okay and the meat was just kind of lifeless and gray.
My coworkers thought their various fish sandwiches and burgers were so-​so. There is a lot of seating though so it’s kind of nice to sit down inside the restaurant instead of at the badly designed swivel seats outside of the other eateries here.
They need better lighting in the whole hotel because it can be very oppressive and depressing. This is more of a «Need-​Lithium-​Cow.»

Happy Cow Diner? Somewhat of an oxymoron for a restaurant where you eat cows, don’t you think? Nevertheless, I’ve been going here for a couple years now and try not to think about the sentiments of the cows while dining. I imagine though that the name stems from the fact that they serve kobe beef burgers here and they say kobe beef comes from happy cows. How one measures a cow’s happiness I’m really not sure… But I’ve been told that the cows are happy because of the beer and massages they receive… It sounds like a rumor the massage and alcohol industries got together and started, but hey, I don’t have a degree in zoology so what logical argument can I possibly make?
At any rate, the burgers are pretty good here and I like the fact that you can substitute the fries for a salad bar. As others have mentioned, they do serve okay phở here, which adds to the strangeness of the Happy Cow name… I’m not really sure if the meat used in the phở is happy meat, but maybe that’s something you can ask when you go.
The other thing I like about this place is the televisions and the fact that you can ask the friendly staff for the remote. Just make sure it’s there when I ask for it. Two things I have never been able to figure out is why the volume on some of the television sets refuses to work and why some people feel the need to watch loud action movies… I suppose because it makes them happy…