Happy Tree House BBQ Skewers
It is quite ironic to name the restaurant “Happy Tree”. I’d be pretty pissed if I were the trees. Happy Tree House BBQ make very good lamb skewers. Unfortunately, everything else is pure trash. The interior of the space is very noisy, you cannot hear what your friends are saying. The service is not very good, all the staff wants to do is get you to finish so they can serve the next round of customers. Even with these issues, I still see a lot of customers lining up. I cannot justify the $46 per person price point. Not recommended due to high price, bad food, bad atmosphere, and bad service.
Happy Tree House BBQ Skewers Plate 2
Strength: Large Interior Space
Weakness: Extremely Dry Skewers, Limited Parking
Other Chinese BBQ Skewers Places
- Big Tree Food Palace (2 Stars)
- Li’s China Grill (3 Stars)
Happy Tree House is one of the oldest Chinese BBQ Skewers restaurants in town. Their first location is on Hazelbridge in Richmond. The one visited this time is their new location on Kingsway in Vancouver.
Their Kingsway location is right next to Szechuan Zheng’s Resturant. Sometimes we can see smokes from Happy Tree House BBQ coming out of Szechuan Zheng’s Restaurant‘s illumination signage.
Staff Will Rush You
We came straight from work and arrived at 6 pm on a Friday afternoon. This place is already packed with a few empty tables left. Happy tree house BBQ has a one-hour dining limit for walk-in customers. We knew we will need more than an hour because we haven’t seen one of our friends for a while. However, the staff requested that we leave within an hour even though we had a reservation.
A Very Large Restaurant
Happy Tree House BBQ is a very large restaurant with approximately 200 seats. There are tables lined up like a parking lot in the central area. Two of the sides are near windows where we can see Kingsway traffic.
Do We Really Need 5 TVs In A Row?
There is heavy usage of solid wood for interior furniture. It is quite ironic to name the restaurant “Happy Tree”. I’d be pretty pissed if I were the trees. I cannot understand the logic of having 5 TV above the kitchen playing the exact same thing. I mean, it’s not like having 5 TV in a row make the picture more clear. It might make more sense if they are scattered like in a sports bar. Having extra TV serves no purpose when they’re in a row like this.
The 5 televisions are being used to play music videos. It is extremely noisy. I came here to catch up with old friends. The noise was too loud that I was having trouble hearing him from 2 feet away.
Open Concept Kitchen To Showcase BBQ Skewers
Spicy Enoki Has Too Much Chili Powder
I think the chili bottle’s lid came off when they were trying to season my enoki mushroom.
Tripe In Hot Pot Kept Things Warm
The tripe skewers in hot pot is a good thing to order. The hot pot kept things warm as other food got cold and harden. The trip is a little overcooked. It is still crunchy, but a little bit of the rubbery texture is starting to come out.
Vegetable Salad Is Refreshing
The vegetable salad contains fresh lettuce and peanuts with vinaigrette. It’s good to have something refreshing when meat is the majority of the dish here.
Everything Is Overcooked
We ordered quite a bit of food. I can tell you everything is overcooked and very try. The chicken gizzards were extremely tough. I could not pull them off the skewers. After having 3 skewers, my teeth have been hurting for 3 days already.
Lamb Is Good
The “One Bite Lu Lamb Kebeb”, and the “Lamb Kabeb (special)” have a very pleasant “wok” smell when I first put it in my mouth. This “wok” smell can only be created by the chemical reaction between grease and extremely high heat. The chicken wings also have a lot of chili powder on them. I am glad they are being served on skewers (see Li’s China Grill).
604 Food Critic Assessment
Happy Tree House BBQ make very good lamb skewers. Unfortunately, everything else is pure trash. The interior of the space is very noisy, you cannot hear what your friends are saying. The service is not very good, all the staff wants to do is get you to finish so they can serve the next round of customers. Even with these issues, I still see a lot of customers lining up. I cannot justify the $46 per person price point. Not recommended due to high price, bad food, bad atmosphere, and bad service.
Menu:
How to get in touch
- Phone: (778) 383-9575
- Address: 3502 Kingsway, Vancouver
