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Happy Dragon Chinese Express
We live in Pleasant Grove where, aside from The Smoked Taco and The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, there's really not many other restaurants worth spending your money on as dining out gets more and more expensive. For fast Chinese food I don't know of ANY options, even bad ones, so we've been driving to Orem, until we stumbled onto this little gem in Cedar Hills. Walked in about 20 minutes before they closed and weren't expecting much more than dried out food in dirty, day-old serving trays, but we were pleasantly wrong. We were immediately greeted by an incredibly friendly Latino young man who spoke only enough English to get by, but who immediately offered us some samples with a smile from ear to ear. My wife shrugged and said "Sure" even though we were pretty close to deciding what we were going to order without them. He poked at some General Tsao's chicken with a toothpick and handed it to her. "Oh yum!" Then handed me one, then poked at some honey shrimp. Before long, I had one sample in my mouth and two more in hand when our new friend was going for more. I waved him off with a smile. If he kept at it, he was going to get me full without paying for my dinner. Thoroughly impressed already, we placed our orders. I got the Mongolian beef and, after the sample of that honey shrimp I didn't care how much the premium was, I had to have more! My wife got the General Tsao's chicken (the sample sold her, too) and the last of the broccoli beef. After our containers were loaded, he walked over to the stove and fired up a wok. I guessed he was going to get started on some more broccoli beef for the next guest just before ringing us up. Then he went to the register and punched in our orders and I paid. But he didn't give us our food. He kept smiling and saying "just a minute" and kept working the wok, dumping about 8 ounces of beef into it. Finally, in broken English he explained that he didn't think my wife got enough beef with her broccoli and he wanted to make her some more! Finally cooked, he dumped a ton of fresh, sizzling hot beef on top of her already-full container! (Look at the photo - the broccoli beef is in the upper left and you can hardly see any broccoli!) We just looked at each other and smiled! He tied up our bag with a huge, toothy smile, then in broken English thanked us for coming and invited us to come back again. About as sincere and genuine as you can get. When there are so many other places that are just mediocre with lacking service, this was a breath of fresh air we couldn't stop talking about all the way home. While the food is very good, it's not the best I've ever had, but it is about as good as Chinese fast food gets (and blows Panda out of the running without even trying). That said, the honey shrimp is outstanding and solidly worth the upcharge. We came away completely stuffed and my wife had so much beef on her broccoli, she just couldn't finish it all. We'll definitely be back, and much sooner than later! Thank you for the good food and exceptional service, Happy Dragon! We look forward to seeing you next time!
I recently tried Happy Dragon Chinese in Cedar Hills, and it completely exceeded my expectations. Their service is quick and genuinely friendly - you feel welcomed the moment you walk in. The menu is far bigger than what you’d get at Panda, and the food tastes fresher and has better quality overall. I’ve tried a few different dishes, and everything has been delicious every time. The staff clearly cares about the customers, and the whole experience is just better across the board. Definitely my new go-to spot for Chinese food, and I’ll be back soon!