Happy Chef Restaurant

I have a thing for vintage diners, and I SO wanted to love this place. The food is actually great – simple breakfast options that are really well-​executed (omelettes, hashbrowns, and waffles are all excellent). The atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired though. It definitely has a down-​home clientele, which I love to see. The décor was probably really awesome once, but they’ve had what looks like an unfortunate 90s «update» along the way that killed the original charm. If you’re thinking it’s going to be an old-​school mid-​century diner… not so much. It feels more like a late-​century truck stop (which isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t as good as I expected). The service has always been very competent and friendly, but on one trip they had a couple of really unprofessional servers (e.g. talking loudly about their love lives while well within earshot of customers and apparently not realizing how bad it makes them look). It’s by no means everyone, and as I said the service itself is very good. The main thing that kills this place for me is the price. It’s just way too high for the kind of place it is. If they’d take everything on the breakfast menu and subtract 30%, we’d be in business.

Happy Chef has pretty good food, but their breakfast options are far more expensive than you would expect– especially compared to competitors like Wagon Wheel and Weggy’s

I cannot say enough nice words about this wait staff! Cherri remembers you even if you’ve only been in once or twice! The staff really make this restaurant, so attentive, kind and hard working!
The food is pretty delicious too, I’ve only ever ate breakfast food while there (the hash browns are delicious). I had pancakes and they were large and fluffy, like I expected! I also don’t normally eat eggs at restaurants but these were well cooked and trustworthy.

Happy Chef fulfilled two criteria during my Minnesota vacation: 1.) It offered food at reasonable prices when we weren’t looking for anything fancy and 2.) there is a big statue out front of a chef holding up a spoon.
The décor is a bit outdated and I don’t know if I would necessarily use the word «sad»…but there’s also a cozy vibe and the friendly staff make you feel more at ease. We were hungry after a day of exploring and driving around and I had a feeling we would satisfy our hunger here. Our waitress was very excited when we ordered the fried pickles. We also ordered the cheese curds while we decided on our main course. The menu offered your typical diner/​family restaurant fare with a few daily specials. We both went with the special burger. I can’t remember exactly what it was called but in between those buns was a burger surrounded by hash browns, cheese and an egg. Any time you put a runny egg on any other food item it immediately makes it better. And that was the case here. We ended our meals with apple pie for dessert. I was very excited to add cinnamon ice cream as well.
I wouldn’t necessarily call this meal outstanding. Maybe just a notch above average. But I definitely left with a happy stomach.

Stopped in with my daughters expecting perkins like food and prices. I was right about the food, way off on price. Ordered a BLT and fries, plain hamburger and fries, and I got hashbrowns and an English muffin. We all had pop, the total bill of $ 40 was shocking!!! Never again. I saw the sampler appitizer which include
d chips as one of the samples was listed for $ 11.99! Are they crazy?! The service was good and fast but the price you pay for the food you get is ridiculous. At least we got pics with the big Happy Chef outside. Going back to Mankato today and will be looking for somewhere else to get dinner this time.

The food is drab, the décor is drab, the friendly servers were really the only high point of either of the meals we ate here. I know there aren’t many choices for breakfast around ‘Kato, but there’s plenty better than Happy Chef.

Good, solid comfort food. Pretty similar to Denny’s, Perkin’s, etc but with a slightly smaller town feel. I was actually hoping it would be a little more «family diner» than it was.
Service was good. Food fit the bill. Don’t expect to be wow’d but you will get a satisfactory meal.

I was so excited to check this place out since we’ve driven by it a dozen times. Let’s just say the chef may be happy but that did not translate to their food.
The giant statue upfront was so inviting and we were expecting it to be more fun inside. The room was dark, the service was so-​so and the food was nothing special. If you are hungry and looking for a diner, there might be a Perkins close by.

I wanted to say they use to have a chef burger on the menu… They will still make it if you ask, its super good.
But late night the omelets are as good as they get… Old fashioned service. I really like the vibe and you can relax and enjoy the food.

Happy Chef is your typical greasy spoon family diner. The interior décor was 1980s earth tones and I’m certain our waitress’s name was Flo. Breakfast was ordered: We each had omelettes w/​hash browns, toast and pancakes. My friend raved about the blueberry syrup (I think her order came with 4 pitchers of different syrup flavors.) My omelette was okay — ingredients weren’t the freshest, but it ate.
Like I said, we left stuffed. Happy Chef served up some generous portions at a reasonable price. It’s a good place to stop if you’re passing through this small town.

The Happy Chef Restaurant is located on US 169 on the North side of Mankato. It’s next to a Super 8 Motel and is open ²⁴⁄₇. It’s closest relative is probably Denny’s as it was several years ago.
I grew up in NW Iowa and our family went to the «Big City» a few times a year. This Happy Chef is where we sometimes stopped (usually on our way home). There’s also this big statue of a Happy Chef out front and you used to be able to press a button and hear the big guy speak.
Gayle, my son, and I had Lunch here today on our way to visit family and friends in the Twin Cities. Service was small town friendly, the food came out slow, and the soup was lukewarm. Yet, everything we ordered was tasty and well received for what we felt like eating.
This is not fine dining by any means, but roadside restaurants like this do have their place and I’ll continue to patronize them as a particular road trip warrents.