Happy Valley

Happy Valley is closed/​sold. the original owners sold it last year. new owners kept it going for awhile till now.
had a few dishes made from the original owners. he cooks asian fusion and hong kong style. food (chow fun) with equal finesse. food tasted fab.
sad to report same guy passed away last year. his partner/​wife didn’t tell me until recently.
just posting to explain why the food quality went down last year unexpectedly.

I ordered Kung Pao Chicken and there are celery and bell pepper in it, Nuff Said

Garlic noodles were really good. Mongolian beef was a bit over salted for my taste. My friend had the sesame chicken and that was pretty good as well very flavorful. It also stood the test of time and was delicious when reheated the next evening for a midnight snack!

Happy Valley is my favorite restaurant for Chinese cuisine in Berkeley. Recently they have upgraded their look (including the design of their menu and plates). The dishes themselves seem to have remained the same — tasty, fresh, and healthy. I love the eggplant with tofu, which is served in a delicious sauce. The service can be slow, even when the place is not crowded, but the food is worth it.

Awesome Chinese cuisine on Telegraph ave close to UC campus. Good prices food was good. Will recommend! Thumbs up for soccer game on the flat screen tv!!!

Didn’t realize this place changed until I walked in. The whole interior was remodeled, and after talking with the waitress she told me that it actually changed owner. They hired a new Szechuan cook. Aside from their Americanized Chinese food, their authentic Szechuan menu is written on the wall with chalk. I ordered some typical dish like Spicy Chicken, Water boiled fish fillets. The taste was surprisingly amazing!
I have to say this was definitely an upgrade from the last owner. It’s a completely new restaurant, I don’t know why the owner didn’t change the name. Very authentic Szechuan food (can’t say much about the regular menu since I’m not into American-​Chinese food) in Berkeley, they even have big round tables for big parties. I would definitely come back more often for their Szechuan cuisine.

The environment here is much better than the general Chinese restaurant, this is I ate the most authentic Sichuan cuisine, the next will come!

The food here is awesome!!! Everything I tried here is delicious and not expensive. They have best Chinese food in Berkeley. The owner is very friendly and helpful. Will definitely come again.

Americanized but decent honey walnut prawns and peking duck.

Happy Valley has the typical Americanized Chinese dishes, but also less saucy and lighter options as well. I got the fish and greens dinner special, which turned out to be fish pieces stirfried with bok choy. All the dinner specials are ~$ 6 – 8, and came out on the obligatory college-​style more-​bang-​for-​buck huge plate with a generous portion of rice to accompany the meal. I had leftovers to eat later, always a plus.

Clean dining area with lots of open seating on a Sunday for lunch. We ordered the Mongolian beef and the roast duck lunch specials, which were supposed to come with rice, fried wontons an eggroll– though the latter two we did not receive. The Mongolian Beef was good and was tossed with mushrooms and onions. However the roast duck was super dry, as if it were left out overnight and reheated. The skin was burnt, the portion was small, and the exposed meat was completely dessicated, not looking like any of the pictures posted at all.
All things considering, this is the first decent Chinese restaurant with affordable prices since we’ve moved into Berkeley 10 years ago, and I’m willing to give it another try if their other menu items are better.

Food: I always go for the dinner specials. The portions are not super generous for big eaters.
Roast Duck Rice Plate: Pretty good but when you cut out all the fat, there’s not much left. The broccoli on the side was raw (wait what?!).
Curry Beef: Standard quality. Barely enough curry to soak the rice.
Pork Chop Onion: I actually like this one a lot. Good presentation.
Preserved Veggies Meat Noodle Soup: lots of soup. Not much preserved veggies or noodles. Still pretty good. just ask for more.
Service: Minimal service. Ask for everything.
Atmosphere: Lots of people to-​go here. Good for small groups. Cool clean ambiance.
I will keep coming back until I find what they’re good at.

I have ordered their takeout three times, twice Chinese entrees other time sushi. Stick with the Chinese items.
Delivery has been prompt all three times (ordered through Eat24).
Will order again…
UPDATE: I did again last night and it was a disaster. almost two hours before food showed up and it was cold, and the containers had been jostled around and entire inside bag was covered with sauce. Terrible. Never again. The restaurant gave me a $ 5 credit (via Eat24) against my 38 dollar order.

This gets 4 stars simply because it’s the closest thing to authentic Chinese food in Berkeley. Mention Peking Express, Chinese Express (frankly anything with the word ‘express’) They have both lunch and dinner specials which come with spring rolls and rice which is convenient and the prices are reasonable (well, as reasonable as Berkeley restaurants get). I recommend trying something outside of the typical lemon chicken or sweet and sour pork. Definitely check out the white board they have near the entrance of the restaurant with their specials because those usually include real Chinese dishes and not so much ‘Chinese fast food.‘
Go for seafood dishes, claypots and even their dumplings if you want better tasting dishes but of course their typical lunch and dinner special items are still tasty. The serving size is perfect for 1 meal if you’re starving or 2 if you aren’t too hungry. They are also really quick with service and the overall place is kept clean.
Their new addition — the Boba Guys Pop-​Up is probably one of my favorite things about this place and it’s the reason I’ll be coming here more often. I love boba and Boba Guys has very distinct delicious-​tasting boba (not to mention an alcoholic version for those who are 21+). It’s pricey though — $ 4 for a cup of jasmine milk tea, however the fact that they offer organic soy milk for vegans won me over.
All in all, a great place for simple but delicious Chinese food and there are plenty of options whether you are a vegan, vegetarian, a meat-​lover or love alcohol.

Happy Valley differs from its other Berkeley cohorts in that it doesn’t take the fast-​food Panda Express wannabe route. While I’ve never been served a dish so terrible it’s inedible, I haven’t ever been struck with the urge to drop down on my knees in worship either. I usually order the beef chow fun (tends to be on the oilier side) but recently, I’m beginning to like their lunch and dinner specials. The roast duck is on the dinner special menu for around $ 7, and their other entrées aren’t so fowl (I owlways like dishes with fish filet). If you’re feeling ravenous for decent Chinese food in Berkeley, you won’t egret coming to Happy Valley.

My go-​to place when I crave shanghai dumplings, not exactly filling, but it makes a great shared appetizer.
Kind staff members. Good prices.

I have passed by this place many times but never stopped because I wasn’t sure how it would be. However tonight a friend and I decided to give it a shot, and I’m so glad we did!
Atmosphere: Not a very pretty interior and it is pretty loud. So it’s not the best place to have a «nice» dinner and it isn’t very aesthetically pleasing. But that won’t even matter once you start eating!
Food: We got three dishes: Mushroom & tofu, vegetarian chowmein, and kung pao tofu. The mushroom & tofu dish was my favorite! Many chinese restaurants don’t flavor much of their vegetarian dishes, and instead just sauté some vegetables and put them in a plate for you. However, this dish was absolutely delicious! The brown mushroom sauce that it came with was fantastic, and I loved that it was full of lots of brocoli and mushrooms (my favorites!). The only thing that I did not love was the tofu. I didn’t realize that all their tofu dishes came out with Silken Tofu. So beware if you’re ordering vegetarian dishes. I’m sure if we asked they would’ve cooked it differently, but I hate silken tofu so that was the only downside of this dish. The vegetarian chowmein once again had great flavor, lots of brocoli and vegetables, and was a huge portion of food. However, the chowmein noodles are a little more thick than most chowmein so you get a lot more noodles in one bite, which is kind of weird. But nothing bad about it really, just a different noodle thickness. The only dish I really did not enjoy was the kung pao tofu. The flavors were fine but it was literally just tofu and gravy and since it was silken tofu, the whole dish was kind of unappetizing. Once again, probably the reason why I’m giving Happy Valley 3 stars rather than 4.
Drinks: Try the mint lemonade! It is a little sweet but the mint adds a nice taste to it and it’s refreshing, especially with all the hot sauce I put in my food!
Service: This is where I deducted the second star. Service is terribly slow. I went in on a Sunday night with about five parties in the restaurant. For a restaurant with seating for about 10 – 15 parties, they are seriously understaffed. It took a good 10 minutes after we were seated, before we got up our selves to get our menus. Then while ordering, I ordered a mint lemonade. The waitress said she would bring it. She brought us water probably 20 minutes into sitting down. Even then, my lemonade did not come out. Then our food came out nice and warm, so that was nice. I had to ask probably a fifth time before she finally remembered to bring my lemonade. However I could tell she was trying her best, since it was literally one waitress handling all the customers and another one just bringing out the food. So I know it wasn’t all her fault, but the restaurant should work on getting more help.
Verdict: I will be returning! For such fantastic prices and really good flavors in Chinese vegetarian dishes, I am definitely recommending it to friends as well.

Happy Valley: Come hungry, leave happy.
Whenever I am craving Chinese food near campus, Happy Valley is there to please.
Service is speedy and the food is hearty, filling, and delicious. I always like when I can taste that the chef uses high heat when cooking noodles and meat in a wok. This is evident in the taste of most dishes I have tried at Happy Valley. Dishes can be a little on the oily side, but the taste is definitely better than most Chinese restaurants in Berkeley.
I’d recommend the lunch specials (salt and pepper fish or basil eggplant chicken) or noodle dishes (chow fun or Singapore noodle). YUM. On a warm summer’s day, try their watermelon juice. It’s delightfully refreshing.
Prices and portions are perfect for a tight college budget. I nearly always leave with leftovers!

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the quality of their beef. The reason I’m giving them 2 stars is because of the quality of their beef. I got the Beef Chow Fun and the Beef Noodle Soup and my boyfriend and I agreed that it definitely looked and tasted fake.
The noodle soup itself of the Beef Noodle Soup wasn’t bad I’d say it’s 3 star worthy. I didn’t like the chow fun too much.
I think I would rather spend my money at Vietnam Village than go back to Happy Valley again.

The lunch menu is amazing! You get so much food for your money. Both times I went, I had the peppered fish filet. The portion of fish was a lot compared to the rice. This is nice because other places just put a big chunk of rice on your plate with little food. The eggroll was average but it was a nice combo addition. My friend also had the spicy shrimp dish and it was delicious! I will definitely try that next time.
I love how they give you soup. This place is the go-​to place for lunch if you don’t feel like spending a lot of money in Berkeley. The food is really good for around $ 7! (:
I went with a group of about 13 people overall and they owner and waitress was nice enough to accomodate everyone and got the food out fast enough for everyone to enjoy their food!