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I've been here many times and their service is getting worse and worse. I stop going there for a year because of it and decided to go back just to give them another chance. I ordered a set menu which consisted of a noodle soup dish and a tea. I got the tea but waited 30 minutes for my dish (Noodle soup dishes are usually fast to get about 10 minutes). I then asked when it was coming and they haven't made it yet because they forgot about it. By then, I had to go and wanted them to cancel my dish. Well they tried to sneak the order in anyway by convincing me to wrap it up and go so they could charge me. They couldn't understand that I couldn't eat it under hours later and noodles by then would go all soft and mushy. So guess what? They charged me $3 for my tea that came in the beginning when originally the whole point of getting a set menu was to get the tea for free. Because of their mess up, they should have not charged me in the first place (it only cost them pennies to make tea). I am never going back there again.
The King may be happy, but the customer sure isn't. The food isn't great, but it's not terrible either. It's pretty standard fare and I won't be too critical about it. The service, however, is just awful. I wasn't expecting much to begin with, but they really didn't have to be so deliberate in making a mess. When they could have easily put down a bowl of soup or a cup of tea on your table, they made it a point to tilt the containers so they spilt. And this is not just one server. I was sitting quite close to the kitchen and serving area, and it definitely seemed like they were trained to make a mess. On top of this, they were also yelling at one another and making lots of noise with the utensils, as if their goal was to make the dining experience horrible for the customers. This is not the Happy King I remember from a few years back. And I don't think I'll be back anytime soon.
I eat here pretty often. Usually avoid the peak hours, cuz there's no service in the peak hours. I realized I just gotta grab my own tea refills and help myself to extra napkins. Even when it's not busy, there's no point asking for any service as you won't get it. The Food is pretty good I gotta say. It's a decent value, always hot, and a decent value. Food comes out quick too! I'm always surprised to see White People in this Restaurant, as, most of the staff don't seem to speak a lick of English. I've spoken english to them and recieve dumb looks and stares, until I start speaking chinese that is. Restaurant is kept pretty clean. The Roasted(Pork, Chicken, Duck) is pretty good, Fresh is what makes the difference. I was told that it was a total "Hong Kong Style" Restaurant, and not to expect much in terms of service.
Being blocks away as well, we reluctantly frequent Happy King out of lethargy to drive out for a better Chinese food. We're usually relegated to the two-seaters by the window and service is usually poorer there. They're always trying to push the set dinner menu, which peeves me because I'm seen as a burden when I flag down a server to get the casual, HK style menu. We normally order congee, noodles, fried rice, and the occasional crab. Food comes out quickly and for reasons unknown, the service stops there. As previously mentioned, servers don't have territories to cover so you never know who to flag down and the person walking by you never seems to want to acknowledge that you need service, pay the bill, extra tea, etc. To get out of there quickly, we normally walk our bill over to the cash area to pay. I would be happy if they could get their service quality to that of Hon's. At least the ladies there are friendly. Btw, the food is average...not bad or good. Value is fine for the casual fare (congee, noodles, etc) but only decent for the dinner items a la carte.
Wait staff in total chaos. No one seems to have a designated area so they just float all over the place. Fine if you get service but if you get stuck in a corner you are completely ignored. Ordered 2 dishes which came 10 minutes apart so my spouse was nearly finished eating when my dish finally arrived. And it was barely warm because of the length of time it languished on the counter which didn't even have a heat lamp. After asking twice the complementry barely warm soup arrives after the main dish. Food was cheap enough but not worth the aggravation. Premises need a good cleaning. Floor is very greasy. Restroom is an embarassment just hold on till you get home. No chance in hell of a return visit.
I took Mrs. C for a late dinner here after a trip to T&T. I used to eat here occasionally when it was Happy Date, and I haven't been in a while. The restaurant is typical HK Chinese joint, if a bit more chaotic than most. It is not luxurious but functional. They had king crab on special, but you need a big group for that. Instead, we had yin yang chow fan (honeymoon fried rice) and some fish congee, accompanied by Chinese doughnut (a sweet deep fried dough). All the food was good, and it arrived quickly with a minimum of waiting.
The restaurant itself is plain but it was clean enough, and the service was very good. The place seemed to be packed with happy families powering down mega-meals. What better recommendation is there?
Does anyone know what is happening? Are they opening again, or what?
Have gone to Happy King for years, always thought it was a great Chinese diner and now it is closed since probably September 2010. Seems a little long to wait for a renovation. I hope they open again so I can get some of those great "prawn wontons noodle in soup"
I was there for lunch a couple of times. I know, I should not be going back if it wasn't good. However, it use to be pretty good, I thought it was just that one time, so I go back. Not again will I ever go back there.
I had noodle in soup there for dinner one time. The soup was luke warm and the noodles were cold.
The second time I was there for lunch, I had a mixed noodle. The sauce was stale. It was very apparent, as I had ask the rest of the people on my table to taste it, so I know it wasn't me. I had told the boss lady, she took it away, but it wasn't taken off my bill. She said because I had taken a bite, so technically, I ate it. We also had a curry fish ball and it had a piece of hair in it.
One of my friends had congee and it took FOREVER!!! The entire table had finished their food and congee still wasn't served. When we asked the waiter a couple of times, then it finally came. However, no apology whatsoever!!!
I would never recommend this place.
Went for dinner and it was your standard asian fare. Nothing wrong with it and service was standard,
When it was time to pay, we left a decent tip at the table and went up to pay the male cashier/waiter.
We picked up all our change, and the fellow asked rudely why "no tip.
Very poor on thier part and it left a real bad taste in my mouth.
I shouted that the tip was on the table, made him know that I was not happy that he asked us for it, and stormed out. I wanted to walk back to the table and grap the tip that I had left.
When did restaurant people start demanding tips???
Lame and ruined my evening.
Decided to dine here for my fathers birthday. Food really was delicious and if you order a set meal you get a free dish which was the fried squab. It is always extremely busy at this location and the tables are crammed together so that is a major downside. If you are in the area and have a craving for HK style food then give it a try!
We did a dinner here with 4 of our friends (a total group of 6 of us) and even though 2 of our friends arrived more than 30 minutes late, the staff did not make us feel rushed or hurried. Our server took the time to translate the group menu for us from Chinese (no one at the table can read Chinese) and even told us that we could make changes if it was too unfamiliar to our paletes. We ordered the 6 item deal and it came with soup and a complementary order of fresh fish steamed Chinese style. YUM! The food was tasty and quick to arrive. While nothing spectacular compared to the spreads at the big weddings and special events, it was good consistent food. The decor is very basic and minimal. Reasonably clean room (didn't visit the bathroom though) and we had no problems with parking. Nice bonus to a pleasant evening. Oh.. and very easy on the wallet. It worked out to be about $20 per person (we had a total of 8 dishes plus the freebie dishes for a total of 10) and that was with a generous tip! I think we'll be back for sure.
My better half was craving Chinese BBQ, so we first stopped off at Hon's in Chinatown. We ordered 3 items in a row, only to be told that they did not have each and every item. So, without much thought, we walked out and headed towards Happy King.
It was PACKED when we arrived (probably due to the fact that the Alaskan King Crab was on special that day). We were seated right away however, because there was a little room in the back (probably used to play Mah-Jong late at night). I'm pretty sure of it because the table that we were seated at was a Mah-Jong table.
Anyway, we ordered the 4-dish special, together with some veggies and a plate of BBQ meat (duck and soya chicken). When you order a set meal, they give you a free dish (which turned out to be squab). We thought it was a mistake, until the waiter told us the squab was the free dish. Bonus! However, the squab was kinda dry, so it was not that much of a bonus. We waited FOREVER for our dishes and drinks. We were constantly asking the wait staff where our food/drinks were. I guess being in the back room is not the greatest idea. You get overlooked. The kicker was the final dish - the BBQ plate of duck and chicken - disgustingly bad pieces. We should have sent it back as soon as they put it on the table. It looked like all the garbage pieces - and everything was dry, dry, dry. Yuck.
As we were leaving, I noticed two friends from high school having dinner with their families. The restaurant was packed, so I didn't make my way over to say hello. I think if I were to come back to this restaurant again, I'm going to make sure that we are seated in the front of the restaurant and ensure that the BBQ meat is fresh before ordering it again.
I've never been so frusterated at any restaurant before this one.
I would consider myself as a regular customer at Happy King...despite some previous comments about the restaurant....I haven't had any bad experiences with their service. I guess it could be because I go there so often, the workers all recognize me.
So last night I went there for a late night snack with a friend. The food and service was ok as always...nothing spectacular or outstanding. Our bill comes and it was about under $20.00. Unfortunately, neither my friend nor myself had cash...we only had credit on us. Since the sign at their front counter clearly states VISA or CASH, I figured, oh i'll just pay with Visa. Boy was I wrong.
The owner's wife looks at the bill, then looks at me and says "You can't pay with Visa, your bill is under 25.00. You can only use Visa if it's over 25.00"
I was like, but you didnt' state that on your sign? It says Visa OR Cash. I don't have any cash... sorry.
Then she said, I don't just accept Visa for a measley few dollars...you come here often, you should know that there's a limit. There's a Scotiabank across the parking lot. You can get money out from your Visa."
I was so floored that she would say something so crude! Especially coming from her...the owner's wife! Is she trying to drive business away?!
I just said, Sorry, I'm not going to get charged interest just because you didn't clarify on your sign that there's a minimum charge to use Visa. And since you know that I come often, have I ever just spent a 'measly' few dollars here?! Apparently Happy King's business MUST be doing very good considering you're too good to accept just a measly few dollars for your business. Don't worry, I'll make sure I take my measely dollars to another restaurant next time!"
In the end, of course she had to accept my Visa payment....but my gosh I was very appalled by her rude customer service! Who fights with their customers in front of other people?!
Clearly they are doing too well to care about customer service standards since they have such a huge chip on their shoulders.
Definately will not go there again!!
Had breakfast with my family this morning at Happy King. After about 10 minutes of waiting and trying to flag down a server...we finally got to order. We decided to order a breakfast special that was listed in a plexi-glass stand (that stood on the table). It was for "Spam" and eggs with toast. Along with the plate of food you would get a bowl of noodles and a choice of coffee, tea or soft drink. When the server took our order down, she said that the soft drink that we requested would cost an extra 0.50. That didn't make any sense because the ad for the special said it came free (no mention of extra charge). The server argued saying that was the policy despite what the ad said. We then asked to speak to the Manager. During that time, we also spoke to another Server who told us that was the restaurant's policy despite what is advertised. At the end of our meal, the Manager finally appeared at the til and we went to speak with her. She unabashedly argued that they always charged 0.50 for a cold drink order despite what the ad says. She insisted on leaving the charge on the bill and didn't seem to care about customer service or what others thought around her. For us, paying the 0.50 was not a burden but ethically, it is not right to advertise something that you aren't getting.
This is a typical HK style cafe.
The best time to visit would be during the afternoon tea period as they have a discount menu. A small baked rice in 2 different sauce with grill chicken only cost $3.99 and it comes with a drink. You can't really find it elsewhere.
Service is good. However, ordered a cold drink, but they brought us the hot one. Other than that, not much complain.
The table is very tight together. Agree with the last post that don't go to the washroom.
Overall, you get your money worth.
I live near Happy King and have frequented it on MANY many occasion. The service is ALWAYS bad. You just expect it. If you walk to the bathroom the floor is sticky and slippery like oil on tiles and you worry you will slip.
Today I came to this site looking for the phone number and laughed when I saw the bad reviews. It's a chinese restaurant. You almost never get service.
I told my husband to go down there today and pick up 2 congee, 3 beef brisket and 2 sticky rice wrap. He didn't want to wait so he called on the phone and picked up.
When he came home he had 1 congee 1 beef brisket and 2 sticky rice meals. At a cost of $37 00. He called and told them they had made a mistake and the lady on the phone insisted at no time did he order 2 congee or 3 brisket that he only ordered one. A
s a customer my husband said "No 2X I told you 2 CONGEE and 3 Brisket, and that we did not want the 25 dollars in rice cause what we really ordered was sticky rice wrap which is about $5 each.
The lady preceded to argue and said well what do you want me to do? My husband said he wanted her to fix the problem that we were still 2 brisket and 1 congee short and we would keep the rice even though we didn't want it. The lady on the phone said that we did not order 3 brisket and 2 congee and she did NOT make a mistake.
My husband then asked for the owner of manager. The lady then prompty HUNG UP on him.
So Happy King we put up with a lot of crappy slow service from you over the years since you are 3 blocks from my house but we will NEVER NEVER shop there again.
I advice people to visit any other chinese restaurant where they dont try and give you expensive food you didn't order and then deny they made a mistake and be hung up on.
Last week, we, 3 people, went to the Happy King restaurant (海皇美食 by the plaza of 1st Avenue T & T) for lunch but only my order billed was different than the price has shown on the menu. The menu price was $6.50 but billed me $7.00. Before I paid the bill, I had talked to the boss and she told me if the billed price was different than the menu shown, it should base on the final billed, which is the price showed on their computer, and its mentioned on the menu she said. I did have my complaint to her and she didn't do any adjustment on the bill, only telling me that I should check the price with server before ordering my meal. I am wondering if there have any label laws to protect consumer for this occurs. End up, I have paid the total billed plus tips because of my limited lunch hours. Over the weekend, I had told some of my friends and surprised me that they had treated same kind of situations.
Now I will have my complaint to BBB. Let's see there have further information to me. It should be fair in both buying and selling. And this is not an excuse to have fraudulent conduct.
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