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Categories: Chinese, Vegetarian [Edit]
111 N Atlantic Blvd
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Eating there many weeks ago... 2 months I guess...
Great food... Orange beef , sweet n sour shirmps ... everythings is so REAL which made all of us wonder if those r really Vegan n what they really made of...
R they putting real meat into our food ?
that's not possible ... my only complain is that the chef forgot to put salt into our soup...So soup was kidda aweful despite we tried to put some salt into the soup as they told us...
well... mistakes do happen and I guess it was 't too bad overall.
We came here for dinner Thursday night. We decided to do the AYCE thing because we like eating until we're sick, sleepy, and lazy.
You are allowed to order two dishes at a time.
We ordered: Minced squab in lettuce wrap, pickled napa cabbage with sausage, broccoli shredded pork with sweet spicy sauce, home style deep fried tofu with hot sauce, egg plant with basil, house chicken with sesame, steamed bun, and we had hot and sour soup.
Way too much food for 3 damn people.
I enjoyed everything except I didnt like the pickled cabbage too much. The sausage that came along with it was tasty.
My favorite was the sesame chicken. The only thing about that is - you have to eat it while its hot. Its ten times better then Vegetarian Wok's chicken.
So, all you can eat cost $12.95 each person. The waitress was laughing at us because we only had two dishes. She called us babies. Shid.... that was all we could eat. We started with soup and had white rice and tea throughout our meal. Ugh. Also I don't know exactly what Sol smoked before we went but he can really pack some food away. On top of everything we ordered he ate two of the damn steamed bread rolls. Who eats bread when they're full?
The food came in a timely manor. At one point I was hoping she wouldn't bring us all our food. It was just so much.
In the future - we are going to go on 10mi hike, not eat food all day, then hot box the car when en route to the restaurant. Then... it's on!!!
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You must park in the parking garage - take the elevator to the top - Its to your right.
WARNING: LADIES SNEEZING INTO FOOD REVIEW.
Let me just start off this review by saying that I LOVE the food here. Have been here twice, and the second time happened to be yesterday. Everything started out well; I had been looking forward to veggie chinese all day and even made the drive from Long Beach!
The SO and I started out with the minced squab in lettuce and it was delicious as usual; however.........as I am taking my second bite, I notice that an older Chinese lady is sitting right across from our table, chopping green beans. "That's funny and cute," I thought to myself.
UNTIL SHE SNEEZED. TWICE. RIGHT INTO THE GREEN BEANS, AND DID NOT GO WASH HER HANDS OR LOOK AWAY FROM THE BEANS TO SNEEZE INTO HER SHIRT SLEEVE. Instead, she continued her chopping green beans business and then got up to give the bill to the table next to her.
I was pretty grossed out, but I justified it in my head by saying it was a batch of green beans that I was not going to eat, and had been looking forward to coming here all week, and drove from Long Beach...
Needless to say, the SO and I stayed to eat. The lady SLIGHTLY redeemed herself in the end because as this is an all you can eat place, you can only order 2 dishes per person, and you can't order more until you are finished with all the dishes, and you usually can't take stuff home. However, sneezing lady came over and said "You want something more? You want orange chicken take home? I let you take home," which was incredibly cool considering we still had a plate full of fried tofu (which was too greasy!).
I haven't decided if I want to come here again....but the rating goes like this:
+5 stars for food
-4 stars for SNEEZING into food
+1 star for the nice waitress
+1 star for offering us another dish to take home.
Healthy? So many of the comments seemed to also focus on the health part of the food served at Happy. First, I think that having Vegetarian "health food" as the title to their AYCE menu is not the most accurate.
My bf and I went there yesterday to try their AYCE. Primarily because my bf has never tried "fake meat" and we thought that AYCE would allow us to try many dishes.
We ordered things like the squab in lettuce, kung pow "chicken", string beans, porridge, their fried bread, "chicken" curry, and the sliced "pork" with cabbage.
All of the food we received were oily. The vegetables, the real ones w/o the combination of fake meat, were shinny with oil. The bottom was also had an uncomfortable amount of oil. To top it off, even their non-deep fried versions, are mixed with heavy sauces. Some are deep fried and then mixed with sauces.
Here the thing, if you just want food (oily) then this place works. But if you are looking for delicious but not so bad for you food then this is not the place.
Service: we asked that we be served smaller portions (half orders) because we wanted to try more dishes and did not want to waste food. They server said "No" and we were served rather large oily portions of everything. Needless to say, there was lots of left overs.
Price: AYCE $16 a person with tax and tip. The cost is $12.95 for adults, and $8.95 for children.
I've had their 'chicken' with basil (also deep-fried) but it's yummy. And knowing its deep fried, I did not make any assumptions about the health benefits.
Cheap, tasty and probably healthy.
What more do you want?
Was very disappointed in the food. Ordered the kung pao chicken, fish, tofu and eggplants and they were all very untasty. I wouldn't recommend this place unless everything else in the San Gabriel - Monterey Park area closed down.
Ever since my mom became a vegetarian, I've been frequenting the local vegetarian restaurants around the SGV. Unfortunately, no one restaurant makes the best of everything.
The spiced popcorn chicken here is quite delicious, fried to a lovely crisp and topped with copious amounts of fresh basil and celery. Dip it in their delicious chili paste and soy sauce and you're in business.
The eggplant and tofu claypot leaves a bit to be desired, namely FLAVOR. Although the eggplant was able to absorb the sauce, the tofu in the dish needed more cooking time to soak up the juices. Other restaurants season this dish with fresh basil, and this tofu clay pot was the lesser without it.
The four seasons beans (literal translations are all I know..sorry =/ ) are different from those of other restaurants because the minced mushrooms and beans actually stick to the beans, rather than slip off to the sides. They are well-seasoned and very mushroomy in flavor.
Purchase a gift certificate from http://restaurant.com and save!
love the sweet and sour pork! worth the drive from pasadena!
all you can eat at a decent price.
Many may think vegetarian dining is healthy but to make something taste good, oil or butter will be added. The food wasn't bad but it's bad for you.
Having to order the following :
Kung Pao Chicken - boring
Spicy Eggplant - tasty
Fish with Hot Bean Sauce - best dish by far
Mapo Tofu - very gravy and tasty with rice
Deep Fried Bread - can't go wrong with it
In my opinion, I prefer the Happy Family in Rowland Heights. The environent is a lot cleaner, service is much friendly and more complimentary items (ex : Soup, Rice, Porriage, Deep Fried Bread)
I really like the food here. The only problem was... it's really greasy and oily and made me feel really fat afterwards. I love their chicken with basil. It was delicious and tasted just like real chicken and maybe even better. Their green beens were pretty good but their eggplant tofu dish I could live without. Overall I would recommend this place to anyone and I would definitely come back. Our waiter was really friendly and she refilled our water constantly without us having to ask and I LOVED IT.
Wait...
Did I hype up this place too much in my mind because of all the 5 star reviews I kept seeing? Was I expecting too much?? I don't know. This place is good, but it isn't spectacular. I ordered the Eggplant w/ Basil, the Green Mustard dish, and the Kidney w/ Celery. My favorite was the Eggplant with Basil, but overall, the food here tasted just like the food at any other chinese vegetarian restaurant. I prefer the kidney dish at Vegetarian Wok, which is prepared with basil.
There's not much to say here. Hopefully the next time I come back I will be amazed by some other dishes I try.
On a brighter note, Happy Fam Restaurant 3 has a lunch special with a bunch of dishes under $6, and you get rice, bread, and soup, so come during that time!
Just plain terrific. Don't let the word Vegan scare you away. This is damn fine chinese food, made to perfection.
For all of those who complain that it 'doesn't taste like meat' perhaps you'd enjoy eating actual meat instead.
There's no better deal in town than the All You Can Eat special, served on individual plates saving you from the indignity of a buffet. The service is quirky but solid, and they're always happy to see you.
The House Chicken may just be my favorite food of all time. So go, try it, love it, and order a double order of the House Chicken for me.
Am I vegetarian? No... Do I love vegetarian food? No
Having said that.. whoa this place totally took me by surprise. My friend who's a vegetarian brought me here some time ago (shame on me for not Yelping) and I thought it was really good... particularly their lettuce cups! A bit of hot & sour soup, brown rice, shrimp w/ cashews and we were ready to go!
Tonight, my friend & I decided to bring the fiance here. It was a bit like pulling teeth. Mention the word 'vegetarian' around him and he kind of goes into shock. I assured him at the very least he'd like the lettuce cups. So, we go and we find the waitress who helped us the first time. Pretty friendly, pretty helpful. Tonight we were starving so we ordered the lettuce cups (minced squab with lettuce), hot & sour soup, shrimp w/cashews, shrimp w/broccoli, and the 'chicken' with sesame seeds.
The shrimp w/cashews was my friend's fave until she tasted the shrimp w/broccoli. It's very reminiscent of shrimp in lobster sauce, super garlicky, super yummy sauce...and yes, when I say shrimp.. I mean some faux version of it. The 'chicken' with sesame seeds is actually mushrooms and they look like orange chicken. This was SO good! My fiance & I could not get enough!!!
I asked the fiance when we got home (and once the friend left) what he thought and he said he was super surprised at how much he actually really liked their food! Yay for Happy Family!
What a great find so we can take our health-conscious friends, our vegetarian friends who are in the need of some Chinese food, etc. Ok... who am I kidding.. I actually just really like their food too! I find myself actually craving their lettuce cups and their orange 'chicken'-ish dish.. their 'chicken' with sesame
If you're looking for healthful food, you may be better off somewhere else. But if you are really adamant about not having any hooves, feathers or scales sully your plate, then you've come to the right place.
It is a scientific fact that the majority of humans will eat anything that comes out of a deep-fryer. So if you deep-fry a harmless mushroom and call it "chicken", I'll eat it too. But why can't I just eat a nicely prepared mushroom that tastes like a mushroom? Ok, well I can, but not at Happy Family. Neither can I avoid seeing a faux "shrimp" in my hot pot. I'm not sure what this is made out of, but it was like eating a matzo ball on which someone had painted shrimpy pink stripes.
I had a lead belly feeling after dinner and probably would have been better off just choosing vegetarian options at a regular Chinese restaurant.
surprisingly greasy for a vegetarian restaurant.
Food is good though.
The fake meat taste almost like real meat.
Super cheap all-you-can-eat vegetarian dinner right around the corner from my place - yes please! Service was a little spotty, it took two requests to get water and they aren't the friendliest servers in town, but they had good recommendations and the food came out piping hot and fresh. We used a http://restaurant.com coupon and had no problems. We will definitely be back.
This is hands down one of the best Asian vegetarian restaurants in the vast universe called Los Angeles County. "But what about...?" "Ohhh but you haven't been to...." No, it really is.
Other than being a little tough to find (in one of those multistory kind of strip mall/mini-mall complexes that sprout up in places where there are a lot of Asians), Happy Family is like finally making it to Canaan after being in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. The food is fresh, servers are incredibly nice, and the prices are unreal for the sheer variety and MASS that you can consume over the course of the meal.
Like everyone is saying, this is a crazy man's buffet. It is not a long table where you "get what you get," you sit down, order things off the menu (2 plates to start, then one at a time after that) and they just keep bringing it to you - all for a set price! While I wouldn't say the "meat" is as convincing as say... the Santa Fe Chicken Sammich at Veggie Grill, it's the variety of different flavors and the way that the restaurant doesn't
bank on just having a couple good dishes. They have vegetarian fish, beef, chicken, squid, weird balls (that's what she said), tofu dishes, soup, noodles, all kinds of things on the menu that will be just as good going down as it will be smooth coming out later that night.
One of the best things about Happy Family is the service. Even if you're an obnoxious looking 25 year old guy (like me), the servers always stop by and they actually seem happy to take more of your orders while you're just stacking plates like a Vegas buffet at your table (until they take them away).
Go here. Leave happy. Cure your consti.
[BTW, I always prefer real vegetable dishes to the soy- and other vegetable-based "meats," so perhaps that's why I love this place so much. Another recent reviewer downgraded Happy Family because she ordered dishes with "fake" meat -- not too bright at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant!!! If you want good vegetarian dishes, order *vegetable* dishes and ***ask*** if anything contains "fake" meat. As a general rule, avoid that stuff and you'll like the vegetarian dishes much better at *any* vegetarian restaurant!!!.]
Compared to several other vegetarian Chinese restaurants, this is absolutely our top pick. The food *always* tastes absolutely fresh, with subtle, delicious flavors. We're not Asian or vegetarians but we love this place. See photos I've added for some of the dishes we had 8/2/09.
Although we like some dishes better than others, I've never had anything that wasn't well prepared and with good, tasty flavors. We've tried all kinds of things on the menu and like to be adventurous when ordering. ["Tree leaves," anyone?]
We go on weekend evenings and have had absolutely stellar service, but of course we're regulars now. The ladies who wait on us even know we'd like a bucket of ice and ice-filled glasses so we can pour the hot tea over ice and make iced jasmine tea or whatever flavor is on offer that evening, and they bring us our "fixings" automatically.
I have *never* encountered bad service or an attitude here, contrary to what I've read in some reviews. But we are always polite to wait staff at any restaurant -- and we leave a tip -- so maybe that's what makes the difference.
Give them a try, I think you'll like Happy Family if you appreciate very fresh and tasty vegetarian Chinese dishes, even if you're not ever considering becoming a vegetarian!
Excellent vegetarian restaurant that uses various foods to recreate the texture and taste of various animals.
This place is off of Atlantic and Garvey, its new location that is has been at for a while. It is somewhat hidden inside an asian themed two story mall like structure, perhaps the kinds one would find in the orient. I think a lot of people probably don't want others to find this place..because they don't want a deluge of people populating their happy secret and latest discovery. lol
A fan created a myspace page for this restaurant.
Suffice to say that this restaurant quickly serves up food that tastes as though it were made at home, by someone who can actually cook well to boot. Nearly every time I go there I get the veggie pork with cabbage and green pepper, always piping hot, and FRESH. Big helpings. I close my eyes and am grateful for the filling, delicious fare that tantalizes the taste buds at this wonderful restaurant.
I recommend the sweet and sour chicken too.
If someone does not "understand" why veggie restaurants exist in the first place, they are truly living in a bubble of their own making. This is simple arithmetic, simple knowledge.
You go to this restaurant and you don't eat one shred of cholesterol. Its HEALTHY. Not only is it HEALTHY.. it taste better than most restaurants around and its guilt free as they call it, because you're not mushing down on a mouthful of someone else's family. Unless of course you are without consciousness and prefer not to think about such things, which is how you get through your day.
I highly recommend this place!! Just don't take my window seat! LOL! :)
First off - I'm so sorry that I can't give this place 5 stars! Based on the rave reviews from fellow yelpers, I dragged my poor parents (carnivores) to this vegetarian restaurant for my birthday.
We decided on trying out the all you can eat menu as we can try out a bunch of different dishes. Love that idea.
We started with the minced squab lettuce cups (per happy yelpers' reviews). Hmm.... lettuce cup with deep fried stuff in it. Tasted like deep fried crispy wonton strips in a nutrient-void iceberg lettuce cup. It's all crunch and . . . seriously? it's just fried stuff. Nothing healthy here but yes I know, healthy is not necessarily always the goal. Sorry, not impressed.
Ordered some other dishes that are not notable enough to write about. I like the green pea leaves dish and there was another green veggie dish with tofu cubes in it. AH - I ordered the sweet and sour taro (per a yelp review) and ick. SUPER THICK deep fried layer and lots of sticky sweet sauce. I know, I know. It's not always about what's healthy, but that was just not tasty at all. If I'm going to ingest high fructose corn syrup - it better be freakin' delicious so I don't completely regret ingesting it.
Unlike some yelpers have said - I actually liked the tea. ;) Basic typical tea served in Chinese restaurant. Helps to wash down the deep fried non-goodness.
OH - I did like the bread that they served with the meal. I had ordered the bun to be fried (which tastes better than steamed) and it was pure golden perfection. It glowed. Soft on the inside and crisp on the outside. Delicioso! See? If I do want to engage in unhealthy behaviour such as ingesting fried foods, it has to taste good and that bread was yummy! I will disregard that it is white bread (which I usually loathe.)
Service is fine, nothing to write home about. Food came out fast. I won't be going back there but please do try it for yourself.
Really greasy, salty, unhealthy, and lacking in flavor. I tried 5 things from their all you can eat menu and they all sucked.
I miss Golden Era in San Francisco (they make damn good vegetarian Chinese food). This was supposed to be the best. Well I guess I don't get to eat Chinese food in LA.
:(
I am not a vegetarian. I love meat too much, but I don't miss meat whenever I go to this restaurant. I am not a vegetarian expert but I this is the best Chinese Vegetarian food I've tried. Lunch special is pretty cheap for $4.95; it is served with fried/steamed bread & porridge or rice & soup. Dinner ayce is great; It's about $12.95 per person. Recommended dishes: minced squab in lettuce (1 per person), crispy deep fried house chicken, deep fried rib in sweet & sour sauce, tofu in brown sauce, kung pao chicken, cashew nut chicken, vege fish with chef sauce. Dishes I didn't like there: fried rice, vege squid, orange chicken, wheat glutten puffs and vege sausage. Don't forget to get your steamed bread/fried bread with your ayce meal. Order half order if you think you can't finish your dish and want to try a lot of dishes. You can order from the menu if you don't want ayce but it's not the same because you will miss out a lot of dishes....
The minced squab, deep fried house chicken, deep fried bread, deep fried oyster mushrooms, string beans, fried rice, corn and tofu soup are a must. I get these almost every time so the buffet is pretty well worth it if you're hungry and you want a variety. The oyster mushrooms aren't on the buffet menu. You should come with at least 2 or 3 other people. Everything I like seems to be fried, but it doesn't give you that bloated feeling you get after eating fried foods. It could be a vegetarian thing...it just feels healthy.
I'm a believer.
This place is a breath of fresh air and one of the best restaurants, hands down. I say this because you won't be able to tell the difference whether you're eating meat or not. It is that good. You have the choice of ordering from the regular menu or the all you can eat. I've had both versions and the benefit of the former is your ability to taste the more traditional dishes. On the other hand, the all you can eat comes in smaller plates and the range of dishes to choose from is still remarkable.
The dishes are made from two ingredients that are served as the primary replacement for meat: tofu and mushroom. I have been there for lunch, dinner and for all occasions and I highly recommend the steamed bread, the fish, any of the soy skin dishes, ribs, and seafood nest with kidney. My friends who are recent veggie converts were so impressed that they decided to quit eating candy and cereal as comfort foods during their transition.
This place challenges the conventional thinking about vegetarian food and is not intimidated in projecting a different mindset about what food can be. The only downside is that they don't serve traditional Chinese breakfast but otherwise I think you'll be quite pleased with the experience.
Having cut my teeth on the now forgotten gooey Cantonese Chinese cuisine of the 1950's I am not completely over the meat filled old school menus of my youth. Think of it as Chinese meat loaf and mashed potatoes. I visited Happy Family to celebrate a friends birthday and not really to fill my belly but I left a believer in the possibilities of being Vegan...if I ate every meal at Happy Family. The house chicken is awesome, I could go through several servings my lonesome with the fluffy rice but the buckwheat noodles, the spicy green beans, broccoli with not really beef, tofu this and that are tasty and satisfying. The staff is friendly, the price is absolutely right, parking convenient and the round tables make palaver possible. The only "beef" I might have is that they could pump up the AC a little but...
What can I say-no visit to LA is complete with a visit to Happy Family.
Why oh why isn't there a place like this in the Bay Area?
What's great is that they have three or four private dining rooms for groups of 12 to 30 (or more)? Perfect place for a UYE dinner.
Really good vegan Chinese food with a cook to order all you can eat lunch or dinner. Yes, it's true the whole table has to order the buffet but why not?
The place was packed on our recent Saturday night visit.
The lettuce cups are still my favorite. I also like the congee and the fried bread.
Maybe it's a good thing to be far away from HF--we'd go there at least once a week if it were closer.
BEST BUFFET on the planet!
Even though we are 400 miles away Happy Family is one of our
favorite…
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I thought the food was pretty good, though they did get one of my entree orders wrong. I ordered Kung Pao Chicken, but they gave me shrimp instead. Let's just say I wasn't too much of a fan of the fake shrimp, though it's a pretty good imitation.
Hot and sour soup was good though.
Interesting and tasty vegetarian themed eatery with a multitude of selections. Go with a group of friends and try the All-You-Can-Grub/ $16 per person. That way you can try numerous dishes, since they only bring out more if you finish that plate. Two dishes per person.
All previous posts on this restaurant are accurate. So no need to reiterate the facts.
But please don't forgo the fact that eating vegetarian is not always synonymous with eating 'healthy.' This place uses a lot of fatty batter to make up for taste and texture on their fried vegetable plates. Lots of saturation of oil on other plates as well, and lots of gluten in their noodles.
We went to this restaurant for my grandmother's birthday dinner recently, and at first, the thought of eating at an all-vegetarian establishment was a bit of a turn-off since I was letting myself loose this very weekend to indulge, and what is so indulgent about vegetarian food, right? Hahaha.
When I saw the menu, it was like a vegan person's dream come true! I have never seen so many options that my sister was able to have in one sitting, and I admit I was excited for her! Also, there were plenty of dishes that sounded really tempting, and even some deep-fried options for the truly indulgent.
We let the adults do most of the ordering, and when the food arrived, it looked like a heavenly feast! I loved the vibrancy of the food and I can honestly say, I didn't miss my beloved meat for that night. I had this stringy jellyfish imitation that was nearly as good as the real stuff! Everything was very flavorful, despite being greasier than what I am used to.
In terms of pricing, most dishes were definitely $10 and below, although we did it family style, so there was a lot to go around with 12 different dishes, providing for plenty of leftovers!
This is authentic vegan chinese food. How do I know? Chinese monks are seen eating there often! In my visits I've tried and loved the "house chicken" (breaded and deepfried button mushrooms covered in sweet/citrus sauce) which resembles Orange Chicken. If you like jelly fish then you will enjoy their vegan version. The fried eggplant unintentionally resembles fried oysters, so if you like oysters, give them a try! Although they do use wheat-gluten to create faux-shrimp, fish, and other animals, like with the "orange chicken" sometimes they just use mushrooms. This is a typical sit-down Chinese restaurant, so portions are large and served "family style".
Pros: Free parking in lot!
Cons: Take out service during the lunch rush can take over an hour if you don't order ahead!
100 % cow, chicken, fish, and dog free! no animals are allowed in the place except for you, you animal! I. Yummy. get your gluten on!
Oh yes that one server with the light hair can fill my water anytime! lets go out for some tofurkey? no f that. go here instead!
SO GOOD IT GAVE ME A NOSEBLEED!!!**
If HapFam decides to retract the all-you-can-eat option from their dinner menu, I apologize to the rest of my SoCal vegetarian brethren cause it was probably our fault.
Noteworthy/ Order this: sliced "sausage" with pickled napa cabbage (HEAVENLY!!), hot and sour soup, "fish" with hot bean sauce.
Meh: the "squid", and the pot of hot tea our table received.
I zeroed in on anything labeled spicy, don't get apprehensive if you can't handle the zing - none of our dishes were that spicy. There is chili oil available if you want to kick it up a few notches. This was the first time I had soy fish and was pleasantly surprised with the savoriness, it even has a "skin". The squid was tasteless and chewy, even with the sauce I didn't feel it could be saved. AYCE choices come out tapas style so you can try a couple things before your tummy is filled.
Servers are a lil' cold but don't be discouraged. Grab your waitress when you see an opening, you'll be lucky to have them look your way 20 minutes later when you need a water refill. Our tea was pretty watered down, order a soda if you want something with flavor. Huge grungy underground parking lot. Come with a bit of patience and you won't be disappointed.
A pipe broke and water started seeping out of one of the smaller dining rooms, so we got to stuff our faces with the sound of a wet-vac in the background. TRES CHIC!! I'm positive that this doesn't happen everyday at HapFam but if it does it makes life exciting to watch the hostess get hopping mad.
** like an anime character. No joke, my body couldn't take all the delectable-ness. This place is that freakin' delicious.
Mmmm, Happy Family makes me smile.
It's delicious Chinese food that is completely vegan. They cleverly disguise tofu and other vegetables into delicious dishes like House Sesame "Chicken" , "Beef" & Broccoli, fried green beans, those delicious "squab" lettuce cups- oh and and their delicious hot buns- you can get them steamed or deep fried- either way, they are gooooood.
And at $12 for an all you can eat menu for dinner, you can't beat that with a stick.
Only thing that's kind of a bummer- they close pretty early, 8:45 during the week, and 9:15 on Fridays and Saturdays. Whatever, eating dinner earlier is supposed to be better for you.
So even if you're not a vegetarian, you'll appreciate the really good Chinese food here- I've brought some of my most die hard carnivorous friends here and they loved it too. Happy eating!
So! Being vegetarian - but STILL in the process of convincing my mother that I'm not insane and, yes, vegetarian food IS edible - I decided to try Happy Family with my parents for dinner on a weeknight.
We ordered three things totalling $30 (I forgot what fellow Yelpers suggested, so.. I don't think we ordered the "popular" things, but, they were still good!):
Eggplant and Basil - this is a basic Asian dish, and they did it well.
Bean skin (yuba?) with nappa cabbage - nice and warm, I love cabbage.
Tofu+"crab"+edamame - I still remember (and miss) the taste of crab, so I HAD to order this, and it was delish! I just wonder though... how DID they make it taste like crab?! I'm a little suspicious... but, meh. I'll take their word that's it's vegetarian "crab."
Cons: Because we went on a weeknight (7pm ish?), we were literally, the ONLY people there.. until finally, another family arrived 30 minutes later! Let's just say that it was pretty awkward being the only ones there.
Pros: The restaurant is located on the third floor of a shopping complex, parking structure (free~!) underneath.
My mom warmed up more to the idea of vegetarianism - ALWAYS a plus, score!
Thank you, you mysterious Chinese veggie gods, for blessing us with the Happy Family.
First off, know that the name is not a distinct chain. There are many restaurants named Happy Family. But it's like "Golden China" or "Eats". One restaurant doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the other. THIS Happy Family will make your veggie balls vibrate a twitter.
As dumb and "Panda Express" as this may sound, you'll want to eat the fried rice and orange chicken. They're both fancifully nicey. Little fake pork pieces in the rice. For the all-you-can-eat lunch, they don't offer the orange chicken. The house chicken (actually deep fried mushrooms) is a good substitute.
Speaking of deep fried, I agree with the previous poster. It's not exactly healthy food. It's just good.
If you order to much, you'll be subtly reprimanded. My girlfriend and I wanted to try the shark fin soup (which is awesome). But it only comes in a huge bowl for 90 people or so. So we ordered it and some other shit and decided to take the rest home. As every dish was brought to us and as we were checked upon throughout the meal, the waitresses would scornfully look at the table and murmur, "Too much food..."
But hey, who needs service with a smile when you've got deep fried buns and fairly convincing fake fish?
One note: In the men's restroom, the urinal has been out of order for close to a year. There is a toilet stall with two chairs mysteriously facing the toilet, as if you are ready to expect an audience at any time.
Review based on 10-20 visits.
I admit, I hate 'American' vegetarian food. This place serves great tasting vegetarian Chinese dishes though. I loved the house special chicken thing. They're actually mushrooms lightly fried and covered in sweet and sour sauce. It was so good, I swear I drooled in my sleep that night. The fish I tried there wasn't so good, it was just slices of tofu marinated in some fishy smelling sauce. My boyfriend noted that it tasted like milk.. Somehow. The pork and broccoli was definitely awesome. As were their spring rolls. And this one thing that looked like shredded pork in a lettuce leaf. Still a lot more to try out, but so far it's amazing as far as vegetarian food goes around here! The waitresses are super friendly, and very sure to get your orders correct, the type of rice(white or BROWN!) you want, and your hot tea. My boyfriend can't have caffeine, so he didn't have any tea in his cup. The waitress was walking by and noticed, and offered water. That's awesome service. Parking should not be a problem as there is plenty of space available in their underground parking lot for the plaza.
Overview:
A pretty secluded place, somewhat hard to find if first time there. 3rd floor.
GREAT tasting(for most everything) vegetarian food. Best around here.
Offers white or brown rice. Brown is definitely healthier, with fiber too!
Great service, especially for an Asian place. They're super nice.
Parking is not an issue. Large underground parking lot.
Large area, with some large tables. I think also private rooms.
Great for big parties to share Asian-style! More variety!
Don't wipe vegetarian out of your scope while choosing somewhere to eat! This place can fill you up all the while satisfying your cravings.
A beautiful day was had this past weekend. Good friends, good conversation, excellent food and the ultimate, a good route. A few weeks ago, Nathan decided to set up a ride to Happy Family in Monterey Park. Since I had never been, I decided to RSVP and looked forward to the Chinese vegetarian fare that Happy Family offered.
All 16 of us met at Orange 20 at 4pm. We left at 4:30pm and took Vermont down to 3rd Street, which turned into 4th and then took Monterey Pass Road all the way to Happy Family. It was a gorgeous and warm day and the route Nathan picked was perfect. Not much traffic, a few good hills and well-timed green lights. When we got to the restaurant around 6pm or so, we locked up and waited for our table to be ready. A few people who didn't ride met us there, so our group went from a sweet 16 to a dirty 19.
We were sat in large room at two seperate tables that held 10 or 11 people at each table. After a quick round of tea, we bounced around ideas of what to order. I, along with the other people who had never been here before, consulted with the vegetarians and vegans at the table and decided what our culinary course would be. We discussed our game plan and initiated it.
Im glad the Vegs were there as the menu was impressive but overwhelming. So many delicious sounding dishes. In the end, I think every person at our table ordered a different entree and we all decided to share each dish...family style. As a conditioned and seasoned meat-eater, I was not in the least bit apprehensive of enjoying a vegetarian meal. On the contrary, I was tired from the ride, completely famished and ready for whatever they put in front of me. While I don't remember the particular names of every dish, I can tell you that everything I tried was absolutely delicious. EVERYTHING. The fake chicken and fake beef was tasty to say the least and the different sauces that accompanied each entree were flavorful. I had helpings of everything and then helped myself again. By the end of the dinner, we were all stuffed and looked backward to our ride home...all 12 miles.
At $7.95 per entree for most of what we ordered, it was one hell of a deal. The service was top notch, attentive and at times funny.
It was a great experience and completely met my expectations of the restaurant that was talked up and hyped. If there is ever another ride with with Happy Family a the destination, I'll definitely be there.
I took the rest of the day off from work on Monday just to try this "All You Can Eat" Lunch extravaganza I've been hearing so much about. Unfortunately, the hours in effect are limited to after 5pm on weekdays.
So essentially, I drove 15 miles out of my way for nothing. The Rowland branch is 2 mins away from me!
The House Special Chicken (deep fried mushrooms, orange chicken style) is to die for. Whenever I have friends insist that they don't eat mushrooms, I drag them to try this dish. It works every time! The tomato tofu is a bit blah, as is the pork with baby bamboo. I always get the Brown Sauce Eggplant. Loooove eggplant!
There was a surprising amount of food considering the lunch time pricing. I was expecting baby portion plates @ 4.95-6.95 a pop, but they were serving full sized dishes. We ended up with rice, soupy rice, AND the fried bread (6pcs! for 2 people!), and tons of food leftover.
Next time, I will have to take off work early to finally try this all you can eat madness.
Pretty decent non Cantonese, Chinese style vegetarian here. While it's nothing like vegetarian food in Taipei, this restaurant draws a lot of local Taiwanese expats particularly of the Buddhist faith, and those who like this kind of fare for whatever reasons float their boats.
My only gripe is that some of the dishes are rather greasy, and enhanced with salt or soy sauce, and of course a buttload of MSG for that pseudo umami vegetarian love n' feelin' to otherwise enhance the blandess of vegetables and soy bean type products. It's a refreshing perspective to dine here once assuming you don't eat much Chinese vegetarian in the SF Bay Area, but the 2nd and 3rd times might not necessarily be a charm.
There's a "vegetarian chicken" or literally vegetarian version of your favorite animal friends kind of dish (minus roadkill of course), made entirely out of mushrooms that was pretty decent for the first try. However the 2nd time I had it again it had slight hints of sweet and sour in it, which kind of ruined it a bit for me.
The best item here might just be the green bean soup, if that's your thing. That's also because it's the least offensive to the senses and is not a masked meat wannabe dish like many of the others.
For really good Cantonese vegan, Lucky Creation in San Francisco Chinatown probably whips up better fare than most places in Southern California (especially their wheat gluten).
At Happy Family, it's only smiles until your neck starts to stiffen and your throat dries up. A Coca Cola might just be what the anti MSG doctor ordered to neutralize those effects.
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Temple City, CA
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San Gabriel, CA
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Rosemead, CA
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Monterey Park, CA
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Montebello, CA
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Monterey Park, CA
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