Happy Dragon Chinese Restaurant

Picked up food for takeout this week. Everything tasted good but I suspected that perhaps the ownership or cooks had changed from when I last ate from here. Just subtle differences such as whole shrimp in the egg roll, darker pork fried rice, and "gooey" looking chicken chow mein. No real complaints as I always liked Happy Dragon's food; but small differences seemed to have occurred.

Usually pretty good. Ordered the other day. Ribs were burnt and no flavor at all. Then the pork friend rice was was the same. Pork burnt and pretty dried out. Last two times haven't been that great. Also pretty expensive. A combo platter, spare ribs(6) burnt, 2 pints of pork fried rice. $48.00 for delivery. And with tip in over $50+. Just not worth the quantity and quality for what I paid to be honest.

During 'pandemic 2020' where most of the Chinese places are closed! There were like only 2 places open within delivery distance,this was one. Luckily it was in the area of most of the places we usually order from,I don't know how we missed it before. I guess since there were so many to choose from,and we had our regular go to places. Anyway delivery time was ok and food was good enough and well presented.

I wish my experience with Happy Dragon's food the other night had been in some way impressive or remarkable - aside from Bing Bing on Passyunk, I really haven't found any Chinese restaurants in South Philly that satisfy me - but the order left me totally flat. I ordered 3 things - a shrimp egg roll, an order of "dumpling soup", and an order of kung pao chicken. The shrimp roll was totally fine - it tasted like a generic shrimp spring roll and that's all I was expecting from it. Nothing made it stand out relative to other shrimp egg rolls I've had over the years, but it tasted fine and had enough shrimp. I guess I feel pretty positive-neutral about it.The best thing from my order was the dumpling soup. I ordered it not really knowing what to expect since the menu also has wonton soup listed, a dish which could reasonably also be called a "dumpling soup". I was kind of hoping the dumpling soup would be the kind of tiny, delicate wontons/dumplings that you can get at places like Shaxian Delicacies and some other more authentic places. I didn't get that - quite the opposite, actually. This dish came with I think 3 (maybe 4?) large, thick pork dumplings in a broth with sliced carrots and mushrooms. Thankfully, they still tasted pretty good - the broth and the pork inside of the dumplings were both more flavorful than anything else I received, and while it was a small order, the dumplings were reasonably filling.And that brings us to the worst part of the meal, which was unfortunately my entre. I sometimes order kung pao when I eat at Americanized Chinese restaurants because it's a dish that very much does exist in China, and can often be massively flavorful and satisfying. But the thing is, more often than not I wind up getting disappointed because Americanized kung pao never contains a fraction of the flavor of its Chinese counterpart and often because way too much vegetable filler finds its way into the dish (I swear one place in Fishtown gave me a platter than was half celery, a vegetable that as far as I'm concerned doesn't belong in kung pao chicken at all). As far as vegetable content, this one definitely had way more types of vegetables in mix than I would expect, but I was actually excited to see that if they were veggie-loading it, they had at least included water chestnuts, which are at least a filler veggie that I always enjoy and rarely get to eat. But the flavor...well, there wasn't any flavor. Like, at all. It just tasted like plain chicken and vegetables in a viscous but completely unseasoned sauce. I, in a bit of a rush, threw garlic powder, chili flakes, cumin, and white pepper on the leftovers the next day and it JUST got to a point where it started to see like it had flavor. So this overall wasn't for me, and the blandness of the kung pao took me a bit aback (it even had a pepper next to it on the menu denoting spice!). But the dumpling soup wasn't bad at all and the egg roll was thoroughly passable, and I know I can be a bit hard on Americanized Chinese food sometimes. Depending on your own preferences re:Chinese food, don't necessarily pass on Happy Dragon just because I was unimpressed - just go in with tempered expectations.

Possibly the worst Chinese food out there. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. If it was possible to give some place zero stars, I would. Maybe the only thing worthy of a single star was their wonton soup which was basically the only edible thing there. The wontons are thick, and not filled with much, but I'm a sucker for asian soups.

Everything is always fresh and delicious and hot! Very generous portions. Best chinese food in the City of Brotherly Love. Extremely nice customer service!Thank you!

Found this little critter (a bug egg of some sort) in my food here. The staff were very unwilling to give my money back after showing them the egg, saying that it was "minced garlic". The food used to be quite good a couple of months ago, but they started making it differently and now it tastes mediocre, with a side of parasites!!!

Unfortunately Falling Under The Same Circumstances as All Business Of Increasing Prices & Overlooking Quality. At This Point Happy Dragon Is A Sad One That Will Not Be Getting No More Business From This Foodie. Don't Do It Or You'll Be Disappointed Too.

When I first ordered their food here, I loved the Szechuan Shrimp and Peppered Steak! Their homemade duck sauce are the bomb; unlike your typical Chinese restaurants.Quick service and fast delivery (over grubhub and other mobile eatery). You spend more with grubhub AND they take 30% from the smaller business, but why not SAVE and have them deliver it to you directly? #supportsmallbusiness

I use to love the food from this place but the last few months the food has been terrible, idk if they are under new management or what but the food is disgusting anymore.