Review Happy's Chinese Restaurant

Soniqbuoy

Take a walk to the north west of Garema place and you'll find a small staircase; go up and you'll find yourself at a hip whiskey bar called Hippo and Co.; Go down and you'll find Happy's Chinese restaurant. This is somewhat an iconic restaurant that has been around for a long time. You'll be treated by friendly staff that is of a family run business style. The restaurant is not huge in area, however manages to fit in many sizes of tables including several that will seat 10 peeps. The menu is extensive and there is over a page dedicated to the chef's specials. Fried aubergine (eggplant) with rock salt is a delight with that crunch on the outside and a soft delicate interior. Tofu with pork mince, mushrooms and vegetables are also a good choice. There are many options to go through. There isn't a big dessert menu, just the basic banana fritters and ice cream, and the likes. Prices are reasonable and you'll be rather satisfied. Worth a visit

Peilin Song

One of the best Chinese restaurants in Canberra. Must try fillet steak, soooooo good!

Angela Rayner

Authentic Chinese comfort food - old school style. I absolutely loved it - dishes were fresh and flavoursome without being too oily or MSG-laden like other places. My meal felt nutritious and comfortable in the stomach, and I can't wait to return.

Rice is life

Ordered their hot and sour soup today and was a little disappointed. It was watery and bland. It was spicy but had no taste or flavour. It’s usually okay but I’ve definitely had better at most other Chinese restaurants. On other occasions their food was delicious.

Giuseppe Basile

So glad we found this restaurant on our trip to Canberra. Amazing food, Amazing service. We booked again for the following night it was that good. Sign at the front says its been around since 1962 and I can see why. Must try.

Umesh Thapaliya

I got order from this restaurant so I went there and I show order and she doing only table costumer. Don’t care Deliveroo almost 28 minutes waiting there again come and asked number then tell me more 10 to 15 minutes after that cancel my order and back lodging zone I got $135 parking charge because 10 was loading zone. Loose my time they need to look everyone equal

FUNGFUNG

I love this restaurant. Staffs are nice and friendly, food is delicious. The food is real Canton style and reminded me back my home's food that I always eat. If I come to Canberra again, I probably will eat here again.

Chasing CasaVilla

Celebrated Chinese New Year at Happy's! It's our first time to dine and the experience was worth it! Quick service and the food was great! Good choice to have the fried chicken in lemon sauce, seafood combination fried rice noodles (which is really big and filled with seafood meat) and the beef with ginger and shallots. Indeed, a Happy Chinese New Year for us!

Allison Laidlaw

We ordered deep fried chicken. Satay chicken. Chicken chow mein. Salt and pepper squid. Fillet steak in chinese sauce. Curry chicken and a few extra soups and for dessert we tried the banana fritters and deep fried icecream.. we had 5 kids with us and they all tried and liked everything.. great food great and friendly service. Will be back

Phoebe Sara

I have been going to Happy's for many, many years. First time was in the early 80's. I have never had a meal that I didn't like, the service is always wonderful. The price is affordable and great value for money! I would highly recommend this family run business to any of my friends. Oh and you must try the salt and pepper whitebait!!!

Toomas Tom Nelson

I stumbled onto this place not being a local. Good service, usual huge Chinese menu, fast food delivery, and crowded at lunch to give ambience to the place. I recommend it for lunch.

Luke Chess

My first visit since 1987. Little has changed decor wise, and the dining room is more cramped than I remembered it. But the food was fresh and delicious and the service excellent. A Canberra institution for a reason - recommended.

Jarad Brown

Exellent food, good mix of different dishes. Friendly staff and short wait for meals. We always have a good time at Happys.

Fiona Lampard

Great place! Awesome food! Amazing staff! Highly recommend.

Daws N Barb

This place is the best dining out Chinese you will ever get! Definitely one place to visit when in the capital!

Tim Sheppard

No complaints at all, staff were awesome and chilled out, food was excellent and fast. Definately going again soon!�

Nick Livingstone

Gavin and the team make it very welcoming for new and old customers, having been there many times I feel more like family than a customer. Highly recommended as a must do if you're visiting or a great place for celebration!

Colin Kerr

Sensational food with great prices banana chicken hmmmmmm

Terence John Quinn

Claims to be oldest Chinese eatery in Civic. It maintains a consistent quality. At least 50% of the customers are native Chinese speakers.

Catherine Tellefsen-Fraei

Lovely staff, great service, quick at getting meals out & tasted awesome. Definitely going back next time we are in Canberra.

Katherine Goode

I love this restaurant. Delicious food and beautiful people. Highly recommend!

Ellen O'Neill

Seriously love this place! Great services, great food and a very cute and quirky venue!

Rakesh Maharjan

We order 4 dishes, out of 4, 2 dishes came out totally different than it says, spicy fish is all about hoisin sauce, braised lame came out stir fry(thought it will come dice lame with sauce)

Priscilla Maureen Reeve

Beautiful meal and beautiful views. Friendly service.

Sam Livingstone

Love the food here, the banquet is enough to feed an army! The pick is the sliced fried pork in plum sauce, it's a family favourite!

Glenn Harbeck

Very nice restaurant in the heart of Canberra mine host and staff wonderful. Excellent food great range of food on menu Bring your own or have at restaurant. Great staff

Maeloke97

I’m always looking for good asian food and this place totally satisfy my taste buds. I always order noodles here cause I love their noodles. But their sweet and sour pork is quite good too.

Andy Trieu

My favourite restaurant for over 20 years...But.... I feel the quality has taken a dive. Best dish over the last decade is the Combination fried rice noodles and the soup version of that too. Still a decent place to get Chinese but it's pretty standard.

E

Warning, you need to make your way down around two flights of stairs to get to this basement restaurant. Inside is a very dim lit but quaint gem. Apparently it is Canberra's first Chinese restaurant and has a big menu to offer. I was pleased with both the meals I tried but a special shout out to their Char Kway Teow. I've had a lot of this dish and this was definitely a stand out for me. Service was attentive fast and very friendly!

EatLiveEat

Finally got around to going to Happy's Chinese restaurant. The entrance is not inviting, and the restaurant is situated in the basement. Once you get past this oddity, the actual restaurant is quite homely and cosy (with a lot of 'character'). Table service is efficient. We tried the prawn toast (superb), chicken and pineapple fried rice (nothing spectacular), sizzling prawn in black pepper sauce (quite delicious) and spicy Mongolian chicken (not spicy at all, actually quite sweet).Lemon lime bitter was ok. Overall, a pleasant evening, palatable food and the given the time this restaurant has been around, they are obviously doing something right.

Steve Brimblecombe

We came, we saw and I conquered a beautiful banquet. I really enjoyed our meal here and it is very good for what it is, which is a simple family oriented Chinese restaurant. OK, call me conventional but I absolutely loved the spring rolls, (fat and flavoursome), the sweet and sour pork and the lemon chicken. The meals were delivered quickly and were very generous in their portion size. By the way, this place also has reasonable prices, which helps. I can imagine that many Canberrans' have visited this restaurant, as it seems to be somewhat iconic. If you want a good, cheap yet satisfying meal, check it out.

Kay

This restaurant is located in Canberra CBD. No 'visible' sight of the restaurant, except for a sign. As it is in the basement. The food are reasonably priced. As such they are above average standard compared to other restaurants in Canberra. It costs us approximately 70+$ (with excess for a takeaway) for 3 people.

T

Yuuuum! I highly recommend the sizzling duck with plum sauce. We ordered a couple of other dishes that were good too. The very busy restaurant reflects its high quality food and service.

Lagroth@gmail

We have been regulars at Happy's for almost 10 years. It's a great spot -- cheap, cheerful and the food is fantastic. One of Canberra's oldest restaurants, I don't think you're a proper local till you've been here! Usually packed by 7.00 or 7.30, it's a good mix of families, students, workmates etc. Loud and unfussy, but the prawn toast is unbeatable.

Roger Rocket

This was a terrific little Chinese restaurant hidden within Canberra's 'underground' CBD. We were 2 families with young children on a Monday night in mid January and whilst staff were a little under resourced they accommodated for us with great service. All the classic Chinese dishes served up and the kids loved it!

Mr Shawn & Miss Chicken

Salt, pepper and Tsingtao at Happy's Restaurant, a Canberra eating institution feeding our nation's leaders since 1962. Happy's Restaurant is in Garema Place, Civic. This strange brick pavement arcade in the centre of Civic hasn't changed much in the many years since DAAS busked there, though the drug selling ferals seem to have shifted on. While there's a few new hipster style joints, Happy's still just looks so gloriously daggy, so old school Strayan. We just had to go in.

Jennifer.wurtzel

‘J’ and I have just moved into Inner North very close to Civic and we have eagerly begun to explore the many restaurants in our new realm. Wanting Chinese, we headed over to Happy’s in Garema Place. According to their website, they’ve been operating since 1962. This probably contributes to the old-school Chinatown feel of the entrance that drew me in. You enter through a door leading to a dodgy looking staircase (close the door behind you or it slams! We learned the hard way.) The interior feels a bit cramped and dated but that just seems to add to the authenticity. It didn’t seem to bother all the full tables, including two large parties of at least 10 each.

Coffee

Hidden gem!. Awesome little place, looks dodgy dodgy dodgy from the outside, but a fantastic little 'traditional' Chinese restaurant downstairs!! Cosy atmosphere, quick service and great food! Recommend it!

Andrew Wright

I love happy's so much. It is a sad week where I am not there. The food is great, fast, generously portioned and FANTASTIC. The staff are all very friendly. The atmosphere is great too, I love the liveliness.

M Lau

To be fair, the food wasn't too bad but my problem was in one of the waitress. She was very unfriendly and was arguing with me about boiled and steam rice (which she said were the same). Food came out so quick that made me wonder if they pre-cooked and reheat. The same waitress gave us a completely different bill when we asked for it. To be brutally honest, I was less happy after my meal at Happys. There are increasingly more choices of Asian restaurants in Canberra of late so why Happys when you get something cheaper and not cooked from pre-made food. Plus, the service was slow, lack of enthusiasm and argumentative!

Frederickwilliamlee

Worst for "authentic" Chinese. The people who like Happys are typically non-Chinese who have never tasted good quality Chinese food in Australia. Happys serves 1990s Westfield food court type/quality Chinese food. If, when you think of Chinese food, you have in mind decent Chinese fare from Sydney/Melbourne you will be sorely disappointed. Chinese food in Canberra (in particular Cantonese) is generally terrible -- cooked by non-Cantonese or 3rd and 4th generation Chinese Australians (as in the case of Happys) who can't get out of the mindset that Australians want to eat honey chicken and sweet and sour pork. Also steer well clear of the seafood here especially their steamed fish. Cantonese cuisine - especially seafood - prides itself on freshness and typically Cantonese restaurants serve you live fish from their own tanks. Happys on the other hand serves you frozen fish imported from Mainland China (鲤鱼). You would be better off walking across the road into Canberra Centre and spending $10 on two choices with rice in the food court.

Narelle O'Rourke

My partner and I will never go back to Happys. In the past I have been able to order a chicken satay with rice noodles and I got told we do not mix dishes. My partner want curried chicken with fried rice instead of boiled rice and was told exactly the same thing he could get them separately We both had dim sims and satay chicken and we thought there was heaps of chicken when we discovered green vegetables hidden underneath the chicken to make it look like a full dish of satay chicken. I gave my card over to pay for lunch and I was asked if it was credit and I said yes and I was handed my card back I was told if I'd want to sign I had to let them know but I wasn't asked. I told the staff I would never come back or recommend Happys and I was told if I wasn't happy I didn't have to come back, I also said I would put a review up and got told to do it. This restaurant was once a great place to go but not anymore.

Pwfsa

Not Happy @Happy's. On a conference, I was recommended Happy's as a great Chinese restaurant, HOW WRONG were they, food was just average, had to continually ask for condiments to accompany spring rolls, dim sims etc: Crispy fried lamb was awful, NOT HAPPY

Drea C

The food here is pretty good, but what I didn't like about Happy's is that they keep trying to chase you out as soon as you finish your meal. They also keep trying to clear your dishes even though the last person is still picking food from the plates.

Foodpornjournal

Good food at decent prices. Happy's has pretty good Chinese food, good portion sizes and at a reasonable price. I had a birthday dinner here and ordered the banquet. There was so much food! The honey king prawns that came out were amazing and usually the first to go, but there was so much food that no one could finish it. I always go back to Happy's for a good feed.

Local Traveller

The food is terrible and decor dated. The service was matched with unfriendly and uninterested staff.

MrandMrsPatel

Fair and economical. MrsPatel has never had bad food at this restaurant. The ambience is (unsurprisingly) diminished by it's cramped underground situ, however, it is cramped because it is full, and it is full because the food is fair and economical. Big appetites are rewarded with large portions, smaller are rewarded with lunch for the next day. Even MrPatel, not a fan of Chinese food found the chicken dim sims to be delicious, and the other food fine. A firm celebratory favourite with students for obvious reasons.

Kevin McDonald

Happys has been down stairs probably longer than Canberra has been upstairs. Great 1973 decor. Huge menu, friendly service, reasonable price booze list and cheap food to a decent standard. Always a classic. After dinner, head upstairs to the Hippo bar and catch some jazz. 9.16 out of 13.6

Kathleen Cobcroft

Popular hidden restaurant. Nice little Cantonese restaurant hidden underneath Garema place, which is fun. A mural wall prevents it from feeling too closed in. Happy's was the first Chinese restaurant to open in Canberra in 1963.

Alex

Located in the heart of the CBD, Happy's was the very first Chinese restaurant in Canberra and has been operating from the same location for the past 47 years.

Jenster

One of the reasons my non-Asian friends like Happy's is the existence of the banquet deals. With banquets ranging from $18 to $28 per head, you can get a whole array of dishes, including soup, entrée and dessert, for a reasonably low price.

Review Happy's Chinese Restaurant - Canberra