Our Masonic lodge decided to eat at a restaurant rather than cook and clean at the lodge. Good choice in Happy Dragon - the food was plenty and delicious! No one walked away hungry, and the owners worked out the logistics of feeding our group, and the service was excellent. Would highly recommend for a quick lunch, dinner date, or large group (call ahead). Well done, HD, well done! read more

Customer service was good, host was friendly and apologetic for delay in food from a rush. Price was good considering other locations serving Chinese food. Food (seafood clay pot, asparagus chicken, beef broccoli, and beef chow fun) - nice portions, flavors are all differently tasted however a bit on the heavier/salty/saucey side for me and my family. Would come back again when in the area! read more

The food is always very good and the portions are awesome!! Definitely recommend this place! They deliver too!

Great people and great food! Thank you guys for being so friendly. From Los Angeles, Ca

the male waitress' attitude is horrible. I asked do they have rice noodle, he just rolled his eyes. The food is terrible as well.

The owners son is so depressing, I'm just waiting for my fortune cookie to say "Have a horrible day!" Other than the customer service, the food is really good. read more

Great food and also great service. I wold highly recommend this restaurant I have been going there for years.

A great place for good Chinese Food. Little difficult to get to, but the detour is worth the effort. The host was very hospitable. The small Hot & Sour soup was huge could feed 4 people and delicious. I got the Happy Family with plenty of meat & seafood. My wife had the General's Chicken excellent . I would highly recommend this restaurant to everyone Great Food. read more

Blown away. I am from Orange County, CA visiting my son. Not knowing the area I starting walking. The only place close was Happy Dragon. While ordering I stated talking with Taylor. She took my order with the brightest, happiest attitudes I have seen in a while. We talked for a while about my trip and Monterey. Its so much better when someone genuinely cares. The manager even turned on the Ducks game for me. All of the people working had a positive attitude about them. I only ordered Egg Flower Soup and Chicken Fried Rice. It was really good. Thank you Taylor read more

Happy Dragon - A picture I took on the water my first time being in Monterey - Chinese Near Me - Monterey, California

A very welcoming and friendly restaurant. We were promptly greeted and provided information regarding the day's specials. Our food was brought to us quickly. It was very delicious, very rich in flavor and fresh. For a decent price, our visit was excellent. Would recommend! read more

Stopped in for a quick dinner and was pleasantly surprised at the delicious dishes we enjoyed at Happy Dragon. We had the steamed BBQ buns, lemongrass chicken and szhchuan green beans with shrimp. Really good food and generous portions. A new favorite place when we are in the mood for Chinese food. read more

So for dinner tonight my friend and I were craving Chinese food but were too lazy to drive anywhere. That alway seems to be the case these days but I digress. Despite the low rating for Happy Dragon, we decided to give it a chance. Truth be told though, that was the main reason why we haven't been here before, even though I only live 3 blocks from it. Anyways, we opted for take out instead of dine in because we wanted to get back to the Football game (GO Cowboys!!!). After glancing over the menu for a bit we decided to get Beef Chow Fun $7.55/General Chicken $9.55/Broccoli Tofu in Garlic Sauce $7.50. While it took longer than expected for our food it was tolerable because they had the game going, +1!!!. Now to the food... Beef Chow Fun: noodles had just the right texture, although lacked flavor/beef was tender but also needed seasoning General Chicken: plus for being piping hot, crispy exterior, and delicious sauce but downer for lacking spice. Now I'm not a huge fan of spicy but I was expecting a little sizzle., sadly I didn't even get a siz. Broccoli Tofu in Garlic Sauce: the "garlic sauce" was definitely not what I had imagined but was good even though it was a tad on the sweet side /loved the giant pieces of tofu!!!/broccoli was fresh and had a nice crunch Final Thoughts: When you are looking for flaws in something its usually easy to find. Happy Dragon is no exception. But for those who aren't too picky about what they eat, Happy Dragon will easily satisfied your palette. read more

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Mike H is every type of wrong. Just read his review below and then forget it. As for myself and my family. We love this place! I have lived in San Francisco and New York, and have traveled throughout the United States and have eaten Chinese food everywhere. And this was by far the best Chinese food I have EVER had. And after being a guest there a few times I can honestly say that the food was very consistent, so were their portions as well as the service. Extremely nice family. I encourage everyone to have this experience. You'll never have Chinese food anywhere else. Trust that! read more

This place has good food for a good value. The people that own this place are Vietnamese so there are some Vietnamese dishes available. Service is friendly and they are happy to get you what you need. It's funny that they serve hot tea in a thermos, but I guess it's efficient and you get a lot. I'm just used to getting tea in a teapot. We always order the same thing and for some reason, we always want Chinese here on a rainy day. One of my favorite dishes is the Sizzling Soup with chicken and shrimp. It's tasty and the broth is light. Perfect for the cold weather here in Monterey. Everything else is pretty mediocre. The Chicken Chow Mein portion is big and perfect for sharing, but it's not very flavorful. It's kind of a filler and I wouldn't order it otherwise, but my roommate likes it since it's easy to eat. The kung pao chicken is not as savory as I would've liked. They don't put a whole lot of peanuts and it's missing a slight kick. This is usually my go-to easy meat dish to order in a group, and I was disappointed. Beef with broccoli was standard and a safe order. Beef was tender and the broccoli still crunchy. Overall, this place offers standard Chinese fare that you would find at any take-out place. It's nice to sit down and eat using real dishware once in a while and not in a take-out container. You won't be very disappointed but you won't be overwhelmed with great flavors either. read more

Happy Dragon - Sizzling soup - Chinese Near Me - Monterey, California

My new favorite Chinese restaurant! Delicious food and a vast selection. Friendly family owned restaurant. It's a gem! Try the fried bananas for dessert! read more

Food is always great here when I visit Seaside/ Monterey area. Family owned and the best. Customer service to a 10 read more

I'm giving this two stars because the gal that took my order and helped us was fantastic. This was our go to place for Chinese. I'm not so sure any longer....sweet and sour pork was blah. Didn't think it possible to mess that up but very soggy and lacking sauce. Egg foo young was just NOT good. Had almost a vinegar taste that we ended up tossing. Very disappointing to say the least. Normally the orange chicken is the bomb but tonight it was just Ok. read more

Happy Dragon on N. Fremont in Seaside Ca is my new all-time favorite restaurant of any kind. I have never ever had any food as awesome as Spicy Beef and Mushroom Egg foo Young!! It is so delicious. I made it up, but It is enough for two with white rice. Actually It would be my last meal!!! I would drive an hour for it!! read more

I LOVE the food here & caution Yelpers to scrutinize bad reviews. I think ALL Chinese food restaurants sometimes get bad reviews for the "wrong" reasons. No restaurant can please everyone, and "real" Chinese food that's been Americanized is certainly varied in terms of flavor, spice & oil. Also, the demeanor of every staff member can't be expected rosy every minute -- the restaurant business is tough, especially the past few years! I really don't need small talk or smiles to get good food, which is ALWAYS good here! Good value & portions for the price, and just the right balance of spice & oil. If you have certain preferences, just ask about it when ordering. I get their yummy broccoli with tofu in garlic sauce every time (no matter what else we order) and it's tasty, fresh & filling! read more

Our go-to Chinese spot. Veggies are crisp, not soggy. Sauces are flavorful, not greasy. Been going here for years and is the only Chinese food in town I like. Plus, it's a small family owned business which is a plus for me. read more

Thank you to Happy Dragon for preparing delicious food for me and my family for years!! We are so grateful that you have stayed open for take out and delivery during our stay at home time!! Glad to know that we can always depend on you for great service!! read more

Happy Dragon is my favorite Chinese food on the Monterey Bay. They consistently have great quality and are family owned. My favorite dishes are Orange Chicken and Kung Pow Chicken. They offer delivery which is very convenient. read more

Calamari Spicy Green beans Steamed ginger lemongrass fish All were great dishes. Seasoning was on point and everything was light and fresh. Great place with great people serving. All questions about the food were answered with a smile and made us want to try more things. read more

Great family run Asian Cuisine restaurant. Their Business lunch rice plates are a real bargain.

Changed menu item. Potstickers are now Store bought chicken potstickers; not that great. If I want Ling Ling Costco Potstickers will get them at home. Won't be back until they go back to old supplier. Disappointed. read more

Happy Dragon - These are no Longer served as of 05/09/2015. Now its just Ling Ling store bought potstickers; MEH! - Chinese Near Me - Monterey, California

My wife and I were in the mood for some Chinese food after our road trip. We Googled Chinese food in the Monterey area and found this place after reading that it had some decant food reviews. So, we drove across town to get there a good 40 minutes before it closed, walked in and the guy from behind the register yells from across the restaurant; "we're closing, take out only"; no hello. I double checked the business hours on the door; yeap, they close at 9PM, checked my watch, yeap, only 8:20PM. Now, my wife and I didn't look like we just rolled in off the street, we were decently dressed to go out for the evening so there was no way these people could have mistaken us for a couple of bums off the street just there to stink up the place to explain their rudeness but we were hungry and decided to order anyway. Our food was ready in about 10 minutes. I looked around the place while we waited and it was nice enough, an attractive waitress, traditional Chinese décor, a guy who looked like Bob Marley eating orange chicken behind the front desk... So we get our food and leave. We find a nice place to eat and start to tear into the crab rangoon. OMG!!! Like eating cardboard and sawdust! I literally chocked. More than $7 for crab rangoon that was so bad I probably would have enjoyed eating a pine cone more. The house fried rice and shrimp fried rice we ordered equally sucked, SUCKED! No amount of soy sauce could save it. The rice was dry, the meat was tough, it lacked flavor, it SUCKED! I mean, it's pretty hard to screw up rice but these people managed to do it. People who think that this place is good must have grown up eating out of a dumpster because that's what this place serves, garbage; which is where our dinner ended up. I rather eat a 7-11 then this place ever again! --- Comment from Lai H. of Happy Dragon 9/23/2009 Our family would like to apologize for the service you received on you recent visit. There is no excuse & we will take your review constructively to better ourselves. On another note, we would like to address the "Bob Marley" comment. Just because someone is African-American doesn't mean they "look like" Bob Marley. We do take offense to this derogatory comment & would hope that you would next time use better judgment. Monterey is know for it's diversity in ALL cultures & races. Thank you for you time & wish you all the best. --- Simpotico's response to Mr. Lia H. of the Happy Dragon 9/23/2009 I appreciate your positive concern for the poor service my wife and I received during our visit to your restaurant. With regards to your questioning of my motives and my references to "Bob Marley"; I'm sure that you are aware that there are many people in Northern California and throughout the United States who embrace the rastafarian lifestyle and look immortalized by Bob Marley, regardless of race. I reread my post and no where in my review did I allude to the race of the individual with the rastafarian look behind your front desk. But as one of your employees I'm sure that you are aware of the individuals race. No where in my review or in any of my other post have I alluded to my own race. I may be; Hispanic, Black, White, Asian, Indian, the list could go on... And besides, my profile picture is distinctly anonymous. The only person here who is making assumptions and who seems to be making race an issue is you. I was simply commenting on the general lack of professionalism and dirt poor service I received upon entering your establishment with my wife. A person's race has nothing to do with the poor professional image that was portrayed by your establishment that night. If I wanted to conduct business and receive my food at the dinner table with your employees, which your host did not even have the courtesy to ask to seat us at, I would have asked. But I didn't. I expected to be greeted with the common courtesy and decorum that a patron to any establishment would expect. But that did not happen. That's why your restaurant received such a poor review, not to mention your lousy food. The race or races of the individuals who work for you has nothing to do with it. Your customer service is poor, the image was unprofessional and your cooks can't cook. My review stands. Two stars. Poor service, unprofessional image and lousy food. The public will be free to judge from your response alluding to racist motivations for your two star rating; that they can expect the same bull headed poor service and general lack of concern for their comfort when visiting your restaurant now or anytime in the future and from the reviews that have followed mine, the food hasn't improved either. My advise to readers. Judge for yourself. Stay away from this place. read more

This is the worst "Chinese" restaurant I have ever been to. My first clue was when the sizzling rice soup didn't sizzle. Nearly broke a tooth on the rice that was in the soup. It had clearly been sitting around hardening for a long time. I wish the pot stickers had stuck in the pot to save me the displeasure. The iced tea tasted like yesterday's dishwashing water. The owners of this place should be ashamed to serve such slop. Couldn't wait to leave. I think I will call the health department. read more

4 stars not for the ambiance but for their solid food. My sister told me good things about this place and even though she just entered adulthood she has a great palate. She was right everything that I had ordered for take-out was spot on. *Potstickers *Wonton Soup *Hong Kong Style Chowmein with a plethora of fresh sauteed veggies and Barbecued Pork. Very very good. read more

Not impressed at all. No smile for you, if you've had a bad day, suck it! Bad service, bad food (some dishes not even fully cooked). The only reason I gave two stars is because the waitress looks cute and smells good. It is actually a one star restaurant. Do not try it. Trust me, do not try it. read more

Ok, first off, I am pretty understanding and usually will give places more than one chance, before I review them negatively, however, they need to let me eat before I can review them. My wife and I, and my 2 kids walked into this place at 8:33pm on a Thursday! We were told we could not be seated, and could only order "take out.". "Are you serious? The young girl, with an older gentleman standing by her, was like, yes....it's too close to closing. Now, I guess business s booming for them! Who would refuse service with 25 plus minutes to closing! Like I said, I can give any business a second shot, if they treat me correctly (and my family). But, when they turn me out before I ever get a chance to try, they are done in my book! We discovered Chef Lee's, less than half mile by highway 1....OMG, the best. Don't waste your time here, if you stay on Fremont st, go to Chef Lee's....these guys make too much business, apparently. read more

DO NOT GO THERE TO WASTE YOUR ENERGY, TIME, AND MONEY! Okay whatever you decide to do, don't ask for take-out. I'm not talking about the taste of the food, but the rice we got was SOUR! It's not okay when a restaurant is so not honest to their customers. read more

On a scale of 1-5, 1 being worst and 5 being excellent: Food Quality: -1 Atmosphere: 1 Staff: -1 (Owner lady is rude and was eyeballing me) Price: -1 Cheers. read more

This is possibly the worst Chinese food I have ever had. We got a delivery from DoorDash. It consisted of General Tso's Chicken(which tasted fishy), Vegetable LoMein (whose primary vegetable was Lettuce), Sesame Chicken (which was more minced vegetables than chicken), Chicken Fried Rice (the rice was decent but the chicken was rubbery), and Sweet and Sour Chicken(which was edible but very over cooked). Some meals were ordered a "Combination Meals" but they were no different and consisted of nothing different than the regular dish. The delivery contained a few fortunate cookies but no soy sauce or any other sauce you normally get with Asian food. Seriously terrible. read more

I am spoiled by the number of high quality and inexpensive authentic Chinese restaurants in the South Bay, so when I venture out to a place like Happy Dragon in Monterey, it is very easy to be disappointed. Our party of 6 ordered the following and shared family style: Minced Chicken Lettuce Wraps (about $8) - actually pretty good - comes with 6 giant lettuce cups Shrimp Fried Rice ($6.25) - good sized shrimps used, but overall is very plain tasting Beef Tomato Chow Mein ($6.75) - the mein tastes like spaghetti, particularly with the tomato sauce that was generously applied Combination Chow Fun ($8.25) - a decent dish, well liked by most in my party Combination Egg Noodle in Broth (about $7) - I did not like the broth Peking Style Spareribs ($8.35) - the spareribs came out dry The restaurant is very old looking but spacious and clean. Many of their dishes are catered to American tastes and aren't really, authentic Chinese food. For example, Vietnamese pho is served for lunch, and Thai iced teas are on their menu. Bottom Line: OK for those looking for standard American Chinese food. read more

Five stars for the best orange chicken and avocado bubble tea (a.k.a boba tea)!! Yeah, I know, I was a little incredulous at first about an avocado smoothie! It seemed like everyone in the restaurant had some sort of iced beverage, so I asked our server what their most popular one was. He said the avocado one is awesome. With much reluctance, I decided to give it a try. It was amazing!! I couldn't get enough of this fabulous concoction. This is the place that spawned my bubble tea obsession. I haven't found an avocado bubble tea that comes close to Happy Dragon's. I even tried making my own -- avocado, sweetened condensed milk, sugar and ice cubes-- but decided to leave it up to HD to satisfy my bubble tea needs. There must be some magic ingredient that I'm missing because their's is much better. Now on to the orange chicken. Tender chunks of chicken submerged in a magical sweet glaze with slivers of oranges. My family, who weren't big orange chicken fans till Happy Dragon, loves this dish! If you like orange chicken, please order this and you'll see what I'm talking about :-) They have great lunch specials too for around $6- $8. Oh, that avocado drink sounds so good right now :-) read more

Great job catering a lunch for 135 people at a work event today. Reasonably priced, and delivery was timely and efficient. Everything was fresh, tasty and plentiful. Even those who mentioned they were not huge fans of Chinese food, liked it. Highly recommend for large party delivery. (They did not serve, or deliver serving utensils and we did not expect or ask.) read more

Our 1st visit here about 6 months ago was great, the food was enjoyable and not oily or salty like some other Chinese restaurants. The waitress was nice and pleasant and overall our experience deserves another trip back. Well this is where it stops On our 2nd time here, we brought my family who were visiting from out of town. Service: Bad...didn't come back to fill our glasses. Hesitated in giving me an extra bowl for my daughter to eat from. Atmosphere: the owner who at the register kept on looking at us...couldn't eat with her looking on. Food: not the same from our 1st visit..too oily, no taste. Poor, poor, poor. Don't spend your money or your time here. Go somewhere else. read more

Chinese restaurants in the US are very "Americanized" to accommodate the US palate...as a result, many Chinese restaurants begin serving dishes based on popularity/demand. OK, so you all know this. The reason I say this is that too often people give overly harsh reviews of Chinese restaurants based off one or two dishes...etc. I find this to be on par with trying to rate different burger franchises for the quality of their food offerings. Simply put...the food from one place to the next is going to be based more on your personal taste of one mediocre burger from another...rather than one place or another serving decidedly superior tasting food. With that said, Happy Dragon is a good quality but typical Chinese (American) restaurant. On any given day the food will be great to average...and rarely poor. For me the reason I keep coming to Happy Dragon is its closeness in proximity to my home...consistently better than average food...and most importantly to me...their staff. I've never received poor service here...either when dining in, picking up take out...or receiving delivery. Go here when you crave Chinese food...but leave the expectations of gourmet quality food behind and you won't be disappointed. In truth, there are few Chinese restaurants where, IMHO, gourmet applies. It's the curse and blessing of having such an integral culture embedded in our society...having Chinese food readily available everywhere. Oh...and there are some dishes which are quite often awesome...but again...don't go in with unrealistic expectations...and Happy Dragon will leave you a Happy (and stuffed) Dragon, yourself. read more

If you want the rice extra fried ask for the rice more fried and don't expect want you want if you don't ask for it. I like certain dishes a certain way and they have always been able to do that for me. Service... Blah blah just eat and drink sake ok and order a bunch of stuff! It's not a Michelin star Chinese restaurant it a Chinese restaurant to eat some sizzling rice soup and warm the soul, A little shrimp fried rice extra fried and some tea or sake heck maybe even a COKE. Walnut shrimp is good and FYI the owner grows some fiery peppers for a homemade chili oil drop a few of these in your sizzling rice soup and bam! Good eats! read more

Short: I wouldn't go there anymore. We went there tonight for dinner. I was craving Chinese food and we were so hungry and decided to take the first Chinese restaurant that we're gonna see. unfortunately. the food was not bad. but not very good either. i ordered the lemon chicken. the meat was OK; average I'd say. the sauce was too watery and didn't taste of very much. the lettuce they served with the dish (in the sauce) was, well, not very delicious. my friend got the sweet and sour chicken. he liked it, i thought it was kinda too flourish. the cokes that we drank were a little watery, too. And one thing that I really hate about restaurants like this: there are no chopsticks on the tables! It's a Chinese restaurant. Chinese food is eaten with chopsticks. So why is there only a fork? Why do i have to order chopsticks and then find myself using plastic ones? Too bad. But maybe this is an American thing, even though you'll find this in Europe too. In the bad restaurants. read more