Happy Garden

I am disappointed in the quality of food this time. This is my 3^rd time having dim sum and the last two times were ok. After eating dim sum here– I have a splitting headache and so dehydrated. I thought I was the only one feeling this way until my siblings mentioned the same affect that they are experiencing too.
I felt that the the dim sum was overpriced– we got a small dish of Chinese broccoli and was charged as a large dish. We got some medium dishes and felt like they kept marking large dishes. When I went to go ring up they already included 9.75%tax which I thought tax in that area was only 8.75% at the most and a 15% «management fee». Watch your tab. You’re being overcharged.
What’s frustrating was the waiter /​waitresses doesn’t speak English so most of the time there’s a language barrier.
It’s annoying that there’s people setting up for a wedding. It makes the eating environment so hectic and uncomfortable. There are two sides to the restaurant, why won’t they set up the dim sum food on another side so people can enjoy their food instead of feeling like their table is in the way of setting up for the wedding or they have to rush through their food.
No stars for
1. Food quality bad.
2. Overcharge on prices.
3. Uncomfortable eating environment.

Very good dim sum and atmosphere.

This was my 2^nd time going for Dim Sum and I didnt like it much. I found myself ordering off their regular menu because the dim sum didnt have much to offer. I like the fish and shrimp balls a little bit. Its flavorful and good with a little bit of soy sauce but left a nasty after taste in my mouth. I didnt know if this is normal for dim sum or if it shouldnt be like that. I didnt like the chicken stuffed rice in banana leaf thing but that too had a bad meaty after taste. The chicken feet was ok and has a very acquired taste. The cream bun was very good. Not too sweet it was light and airy. The fried rice I ordered was very good. It had lots of chicken and was very flavorful. The roasted duck was not very good. Meat was super dry and mostly bone stripped of its meat. That too had a bad after taste to it.
Their service was excellent! I didnt understand much of what they were saying to me so I had to use alot of keywords and pointing to menu items. Even then they did everything they could to accommodate me and help me order things from the menus. There were a few items I got from the dim sum cart that after one bite didnt like too much but they gladly took the mark off my order card and didnt charge me for it. Their service alone may bring me back in the future. As for the restaurant itself, the place is huge and can be rented out for parties.

What a shit show.
3 errors on our 10 dish order.
Service was horrible. The manager blamed it on shift change.
If you can serve the people during shift change then why stay opened?
When we were leaving we saw a table complaining because they got chicken instead of duck.
Food was typical.
Kings in West Sacto has better Dim Sum!

I think this is the best place is sac for dim sum. I was never a fan until last year when I started coming more. I’ve tried dim sum at other places in sac but the quality was never as good as it is here at Happy Garden. My favorite is probably the spare ribs and the tripe. Simple but full of flavor! They have a good amount of dishes and desserts to choose from and there is always someone coming by with a car so you’ll never go hungry.

The phone line was busy for 20-​mins. I finally drove down to the restaurant (about a 4-​minute drive) and ordered in person. When I walked in there was a large group preparing for a rehearsal bridal dinner and the restaurant was only accepting walk-​ins in another side of the building… which was also full of people!
I told the woman my order, she memorized it and I assumed it would be around 30 mins. I went back into my car and waited (listened to the NY Philharmonic perform Peter and the Wolf) and before it was over, she was walking towards my car! It maybe took 20 mins. She brought the food out to my freakin’ car, took my card back into the restaurant, brought it back out for me to sign! Like, whoa! Talk about the best f’ing service I’ve experienced in a long time.
Salt and Pepper Crab $ 42 | Because Dungeness is mostly coming from Washington, I was informed this dish is $ 10 more than usual. You’d think that the delicate flavor of crab would be lost within the crispy batter and jalapeño, but it’s not. The crispy batter somehow protects the crab meat so when you’re inevitably gnawing at the crab shells, you get a bite of the salty batter and tender crabmeat. Sporadic bits of spicy bites. Cleaned, cracked and cooked.
Lobster in Garlic Butter Sauce $ 32 | «I have two sizes of lobster, you want to come to the tanks?» I just told them to choose the smallest they had, it was only to serve two people. I’m not a real big fan of lobster, but my mom barely spoke a word as she delved into the pile of freshly killed lobster. Large chunks of sweet and tender meat enshrouded in a subtle garlicky sauce. No fillers.
House Special Fried Rice | This was hohum. Some microscopic shrimp, some bits of bbq meat and a lot of stir fried lettuce.
Again, great service. This crab dish is not to be missed for a special occasion.

Finally, a dim sum restaurant to which this native Hong Konger can give his stamp of approval!
As I have indicated in my other dim sum restaurant reviews, I don’t walk into any such establishments expecting them to match Hong Kong standards — that would be setting people up for failure. However, you do want a place where you could go on a regular basis and feel like you’re getting close to the real thing. New Canton and Hong Kong Islander were underwhelming, but Happy Garden succeeded.
Came here on New Year’s Day at around 10:30am (you always want to give them some extra time to finish steaming up the dim sum, but before the lunch /​brunch rush really hits). The place was busy, but not packed, so it was perfect.
In terms of ambiance and décor, Hong Kong Islander still has a bit of a leg up. Happy Garden is decent, but a tiny bit on the dated side. Regardless, the tables are clean, and the seats comfortable — nothing that I would say is a distraction from the food.
Service is competent too — but like other dim sum restaurants, a solid number of cart-​pushing ladies have limited English skills. (I speak Cantonese, but the table next to mine was struggling a bit to overcome the language barrier). There are a few young ladies who seem to be American-​born, so all is not lost if you don’t speak the language.
Now, onto the food — I ordered the staples again just for the sake of comparison.
1) Shrimp Dumpling /​Ha Gow — Nice, soft wrapping with plenty of shrimp bunched up inside. The wrapping is not the thinnest you will ever see, but thin enough to get a thumbs-​up.
2) Pork and Shrimp Dumplings /​Siu Mai — Good flavor, and comes packed with a solid amount of filling.
3) Chicken Feet /​Fung Zow — Very well-​balanced sauce with the right mix of sweetness and heat. The chicken feet themselves are soft and fall-​off-​the-​bones as they ought to be.
4) Sticky Rice with Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaf /​Loh Mai Gai — the sticky rice is moist and soft, and the filling is plentiful and flavorful. A highlight in my opinion.
5) Steamed Pork Buns /​Cha Siu Bao — Good pork-​to-​bun ratio. The steamed bun exterior has the right texture — not chewy, not doughy, but not too soft either.
6) Turnip Cakes /​Loh Bak Goh — the corn starch content is still a tad bit on the high side, but not enough to garner this a negative review. The balance of flavors is just right — enough to overcome the slightly starchier texture.
7) Shrimp Wrapped in Rice Noodles /​Ha Cheung Fun — The noodle wrapping is not as noticeably silky as Hong Kong Islander’s, but the quality is decent. Good amount of shrimp wrapped inside.
8) Egg Custard Tarts /​Dahn Taht — first of the three dim-​sum restaurants I have tried in the area that has egg custard tarts with puff pastry crust, as opposed to the regular butter /​lard crust. Good custard filling too.
What sticks in my mind about their dim sum is **consistency** — each of the dishes I tried got a grade of B+ or A– in my opinion, and that gives me confidence to try their other offerings next time.
Oh — and here’s the bonus — prices seem to be the most reasonable of the three I’ve tried — $ 2.50 for small plates; $ 3.00 for medium; and $ 3.50 for large. The majority of dim-​sum dishes at these restaurants are now classified as «medium» or «large», so it’s more important to get a better deal on those two categories. The tea fee is $ 0.75 per person (don’t know if they lower it to $ 0.50 for non-​holidays, but we’re talking about a very negligible amount anyway).
So, a thumbs-​up for Happy Garden. I still have to try King’s Palace, Asian Pearl, ABC Bakery, Lam Kwong Market, and Dim Sum House, but it’s good to know that even if the remaining ones bomb completely, I can fall back on Happy Garden and be content. Let’s hope they keep it up!

Driving to Reno and craving dim sum. Happy house came up on Unilocal as having dim sum all day.
Restaurant was huge as well as the parking lot so we were able to park where we could see all our luggage etc.
Tables were super dirty and the workers were nice but spoke no English.
Unfortunately the food wasn’t good. Here’s the breakdown:
Gai Lan– best dish of the day, but I like super mushy. If you like crisp veggies, you may not like it.
Oxtail– soft, but the bones inside were so splintered. Whoever cut the oxtail doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Crispy roast pork– super salty and wasn’t salty. The plum sauce they served with it was so hard we couldn’t dip our meat in it.
Chicken feet– same problem as the oxtail. The bones were all splintered inside, making it impossible to eat.
Haw Chuong– pass. This came out cold. The shrimp was so fishy and the noodles were hard.
Siu Mai– basic. Not good not bad
Haw gow– forgettable, and it’s only been 5 minutes since we left the restaurant.
With a beer, total was $ 50, which is really high for dim sum for 2.
Wasted an hour of our lives we can’t get back.

We tried their dimsum but although the flavors were fine, some of the dishes were almost cold by the time they reached us. The staff was also not very attentive, we were unable to flag down any wait staff and had to grab a bus boy to get a waitress.

VIBE /​layout
This place brings back many family and childhood memories, Basically grew up coming to happy garden for dim sum. Dim Sum is great for the weekends, and we always keep it a tradition to come here every other weekend just to catch up and visit family. Dim sum is a very enjoyable meal where everything is small bites, sip of tea, sit comfortably and catch up with each other.
The LAYOUT here always fluctuates with décor, due to different occasions happening. This place is huge and can host a big party or even wedding receptions. I have been here for wedding receptions and the food is good and serve very generous portions for a table of 10 to 12 easily. Very nice and comfortable with all the seatings, and you won’t feel too cramp, but i have been here where 2 wedding parties happens at the same time, They do have a wall divider so you do get privacy with the 2 different rooms. They even have a stage with a table for the bride and groom and other family members.
FOOD
Under this list i will do some compare and contrast and the highlights i found useful from my experiences /​critique.
TRIPE — This is one of the best tasting tripe, i have tasted out of all the other dim sum places. This dish is colorful with the ingredients inside, ginger with the light yellow brown color, julienne cut carrot, scallions, and beautiful white color tripe. The taste is very refreshing with ginger and scallions and seasoned well. The con to this dish was it was too julienne cut. when it is small cuts you can’t really taste the texture, and that is a very important fact to this particular dish.
BEEF MEAT BALLS — The presentation is great, but just from the look of it they look like they are a bit stiff. When you pick it up with your chopsticks your like oh you can definitely tell. One of the best beef meatballs, i have tasted is new hong kong islander. Its steaming hot and fluffy, and it just melts in you mouth. Also NHKI beef meat balls have watercress which gives it a crisp texture vs HG which doesn’t have that. Both places do put cilantro and onions inside which gives it a great flavor to the beef meat balls.
VEGGIE DELIGHT RICE NOODLE — This is not on the menu nor in the portable carts, you will have to put in the order with the server, this dish will take some time since they make it fresh. The ingredients include black mushrooms, bamboo, black fungus, baby corn, and some sort of crisp watercress, which is soaked or drenched with sweet soy sauce. The rice noodles were a bit firm today but it isn’t a deal breaker. The inside consist of fresh veggies.
OVERALL i do think the dim sum here is great with a 3.5 stars. They also have other dim sum places close by which is kings palace and i will have to choose Happy garden over there because the flavors here are better. The temperature to this dim sum was on point, it wasn’t the hottest but it was ok. The hottest temperature for dim sum would be Hong kong islander. I do like coming here for dim sum if i am in the area, some times driving can tiring when your hungry.
PARKING –There is plenty of parking. Parking is never an issue, but sometimes it can be packed.
SERVICE — They improved a bit with serving ice water without you having to ask. I remember the struggles of asking for water and they never bring it out fast enough when you are thirsty. I always prep beforehand and bring my own water bottle when i was a kid. I like how they use one of the carts and place all the water and tea, so its much faster. Flagging for the bill is always quick to bring it back and forth to you.

I don’t go to Sacramento that often but whenever I am out that way, I would go for dim sum. Happy Garden has one of the best dim sum in SacTown. Their har-​gow, steamed char siew buns, siew-​mai, sticky rice in grape leaves or in a bowl are awesome. Also, try their gai-​lan with oyster sauce. We also like their chow-​fun with beef. Their service is also very good. This place is huge so the waiting time is short. I also like the fact that they have chrysanthemum tea. I read other reviews and apparently, they serve dim sum till 9 pm! I didn’t know that as most dim sum restaurants only serve dim sum till about 2:30 pm. So I think that is a bonus!
I have to add I have only come here for dim sum but have not ordered from the menu before.

Came here Last night for a wedding and
ALthough the wedding and decorated venue was beautifuL, the food was kind of a hit or miss with me.
Dinner consisted of a 9 dish course:
–CoLd Cut Appetizer PLatter
–Crab, AbaLone, & ScaLLop Soup
–Deep Fried QuaiL
–X.O. Lobster
–SaLt & Pepper Crab
–Roast Duck with Steamed Bao
–Seafood & Veggies in NoodLe Basket
–Baked Seabass
–X.O. Seafood Fried Rice
My fiancé and I found the food to be either bLand or saLty but each and every item was cooked to perfection. For instance, the QuaiL dish was very saLty but extremely juicy (not dried out like most pLaces).
ALL in aLL, Happy Garden was doabLe. From the Looks of the reviews, this pLace seems more well known for their dim sum offerings.
I might be back IF im in the area but that won’t be LikeLy. The 2+ hour drive from San Jose is definitely waaaaay too steep for me.

This review is 3.5 stars.
Since I have become unhappy with my normal dim sum spots I decided to re-​visit some old spots. Happy Garden was the first on the list. This place is gigantic. Pretty much one giant room which can be set up for parties this place has plenty of room. Décor is a bit odd as there are streamers hanging down from the ceiling. While the streamers are nice for weddings and banquets they looked sort of out of place for a Chinese restaurant.
It was early when we arrived and the parking lot was still empty. As soon as we sat down we were swarmed by dim sum carts. In a matter of minutes we had more food than we could eat.
Most of the servers spoke decent English which was a surprise. The food quality is best described as average. The only item that stood out was the Chinese rice tamales (sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves and filled with savory meats) the tamales were chock full of tasty meat along with egg and a tiny bit of Chinese sausage. The best part of Happy Garden is the low prices. A medium dish (har gow, sui mei) costs a measly $ 3 and a large dish is only $ 3.50. We ordered about 9 dishes and escaped with two boxes of leftovers for under $ 30 before tip.
Now that is some affordable dim sum.
In sum Happy Garden is a solid choice for dim sum especially if you have a lot of mouths to feed since the prices are so reasonable.

I rarely come here but when I do it’s mainly for dim sum. My family usually comes here for dim sum.
Food: The dim sum is good, but nothing out of the ordinary. Same variety as any other location. I wish their pepper sauce was a little thicker, it’s more of an oily kind, which doesn’t mix well with the soy sauce for dipping. It was a really long time ago when I tried one of the shrimp chow fun for dim sum and it tasted overdue. But the dim sum comes around often which is a plus.
Services: The carts are pushed around often and I like that about here. They go around to all tables and the employees are actually helpful.
Price: Prices are decent. Not too expensive and affordable.

Yum dimsum! This place is my go-​to for dimsum. There’s lots of seating so there’s never really a long wait. This place serves dim sum all day all day!
I love the shui mai! Each bite is seriously salivating and I can’t get enough of it. (My BF and I usually order like 3 orders each for us = 12 shui mai per person) LOL.
Favorites: shui mai (if you can’t already tell), sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf, har gow, bbq sticky bun, spare ribs in black bean sauce, shrimp wrapped in rice paper, and their tofu sugary soup.
Price is decent. But with dimsum places, watch what you order because it totals up quick!
Can’t wait to come back again :)

I love dim sum and ate it all the time growing up so naturally, I crave it a lot. Yes I know everyone from the Bay Area (including me) is spoiled with good dim sum so they complain about places in Sac since they aren’t comparable. Even though that may be kind of true, there aren’t many options so you have to take what you can get when you’re craving dim sum!
With that being said, I think that Happy Garden has the most decent dim sum in the Sac area. I also like how they serve it all day so if you don’t wake up early enough or you don’t want to deal with the lunch rush, you can always come here.
They have a wide variety of dim sum dishes — almost every kind you would find at any other dim sum place — and they’ve never ran out of anything I’ve ordered each time I’ve come.
Overall the food is satisfying, the prices are reasonable, the service is decent, and they serve dim sum all day every day. I don’t know what more you could want!

I have been here several times as well as another dim sum restaurant. I will not mention names but although the other place has the table cloths, this place has the speed, the friendliness, and the food is just as yummy. At least for the dishes I like.
There seem to be more people matriculating around with the carts, so you get more of a chance to get food to your table much faster. When you ask about another dish you are wanting, they come to you rather speedily with said dish in hand.
The shrimp and noodle roll, the har gao, sticky rice, shrimp and chive ball, and fried shrimp ball are so good and yummy! My daughter can eat a whole plate of shrimp and noodle roll dish in less than 5 minutes! For a particular child palate, I’m impressed! The tea is the usual Jasmine, and although it is nothing spectacular, they set it out for you automatically along with water in a matter of a few minutes of seating you. The other place you have to wait several minutes before you can even ask for a simple water and they charge for tea!
These guys are friendly and actually know how to smile! Imagine that! Overall the service is much better!

I’m in search of the best dim sum place close by to my house. This is my favorite food so saying this place is winning the race right now is kind of big!
My food staples were here: chicken feet, shu mai, ha gow, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, baked bbq pork buns and pineapple custard buns. I had no complaints on these items. They tasted like they should, they looked like they should and they were warm enough for me to enjoy.
I wasn’t a fan of the salt & pepper shrimp because it was cold once it reached our table. I’m sure the dish would have been better and devoured if it was warmed properly. Eating a cold fried shrimp just left a mushy texture and greasy bite.
I actually enjoyed the calamari rings. There was a light yellow tempura coating on each ring, but this did not taste greasy or oily. The red pepper flakes were a nice added touch to the dish. I didn’t feel like I needed sauce to dip the calamari in.
I liked that this restaurant had other items I am not used to seeing on the carts in other dim sum restaurants. I was able to just point for chow fun which I needed to balance out all the protein. I usually have to flag or even walk up to a waiter if I want noodles or rice dishes.
I didn’t order the oysters but they were HUGE. They were as big as my hand. I am not used to seeing that on a dim sum cart, let alone a restaurant here in town.
Staff here were friendly and attentive. They refilled our waters in a timely manner and everyone was patient while we asked what was under each lid. We left with 2 boxes of leftovers and it cost us about $ 45 for 3 people.

Happy Garden is a large dining facility and events hall that serves dim sum 7 days/​week. It’s a decent place for dim sum and seems to be one of the few places serving dim sum on weekday mornings (Chinese don’t customarily eat it for breakfast, apparently). Cards accepted.
Stopped in on a Monday 10am to field the cavernous hall deserted. Once we were noticed, we were quickly seated and within a few minutes, a dim sim cart was rolled up to our table.
We went with some $ 3 items — hargow (whole shrimp inside), su mai (pork & shrimp), crystal chives gor (good!), Shanghai bun (a soup filling, recommend eating in one bite, good), spareribs in black bean sauce (one-​inch «riblets», bland, pass on this one).
My buddy who speaks Mandarin and is immersed in the Chinese culture, ordered the $ 3.50 tripe. He was reaching for the chicken feet when I drew the line!
The dim sum may not have been the freshest since we weren’t there during the rush. Still, I was underwhelmed. It was just OK; nothing wrong, nothing stellar. Still ISO that quintessential dim sum experience.

Super delicious! Went on a Tuesday for lunch and they have some carts going around. We didn’t see the crispy pork so we ordered it and I highly recommend! It lives up to it’s name and is pork belly with real crispy skin and came with plum sauce and pickled veggies. Loved the steamed tofu skin as well. Egg tarts were also on point with a custard like filling and a flakey crust. It was pretty cheap too. 8 people and total was $ 88 (only 2 guys). And we were stuffed!
The restaurant was one giant room with big chandeliers and a dance floor so you can tell they use it as a venue. Service was pretty typical for a dim sum place. Bathrooms could have been a lil better.