The Happy Hooligans

This place is amazing! Everything I have ever ordered has been a perfect ⁵⁄₅! It makes it very difficult to decide what to eat maybe I will eat through the whole menu and can finally decide on my favorite dish. I do highly recommend trying the green noodles they are so delicious I have never had anything quite like it before. This is a wonderful restaurant with tasty food and super nice staff its great for vegetarians and carnivores alike.

Updated review… I’ve been to this place I think three or four times after I wrote the first review. Have dined in and taken out many times.
What I will tell you is to me they sometimes seem understaffed but everyone who comes to eat here seems flexible with that. :) For dining in during dinner, it may be a little bit of a wait for your food. They put everyone in order.
I usually get my food to go to avoid a wait time. What I love here is the Mango smoothie, buffalo chicken tenders, and the jackfruit carnitas enchiladas. I did try the German chocolate cake and it is really rich and yummy. I continue to come back to see if I can try different things on the menu.
Food is yummy and vegan. :-)

Order the green noodle salad with chicke’n. My meateting husband thought I was eating chicken! Soo is very good… Reason for not giving 5starts is because for being a 12 $ salad, they could have tossed some extra veggies on the plate…
I am coming back for more anyways… I just want some more…

Tried double decker burger, teriyaki chickin and all time favorite spicy drum sticks– all were delicious! Flavors were bold and very distinct from each other. Portions were generous and good for sharing.
While service here is always polite, today the food came out faster than the last time. makes me a returning customer
Tip: Ask for their spicy jalapeño dip on the side… it’s sooo good! Also we used a Groupon here (saved $ 10), no questions asked.

The main thing that is so amazing about this place, besides being vegan, is that there’s an amazing amount of variety. I’ve been to vegan places all over the place and this place has the most variety. It was hard for me to choose weather I wanted vietnamese, soul food, mexican, chinese, or american! It was so so good! Also, the décor is so freaking cute. I love the art and the dr. Who décor. I’m going to have to come here as a treat once a week since I work close by. Thanks happy hooligans!

I will admit, I am an avid omnivore. Sorry, I love my meat. I love ribs, bbq chicken, seafood, and yes I am not vegetarian.
I went here on a whim before our adventure to nickel city with the rug rats.
We ordered the buffalo cauliflower bites with vegan ranch sauce, the jicama rolls, the phở soup, dancing broccoli — double portion, the mango smoothie
Everything was so delicious, I came back and ordered takeout. Gasp, I didn’t miss my beloved meat. My absolute favorite is the jicama rolls, they remind me of vietnamese summer rolls. Their peanut sauce added with Sriracha is divine
Give it a try all you meat eaters. I told the waitress I am an avid meat eater out loud, and I believe I heard the restaurant go silent for a minute, yet again that could be just my imagination.
This place will change the way you think about eating vegetables.

Great vegan comfort food! I had a bad experience here on my first visit but the owner (I forget her name) personally apologised to me on my next visit and I have since been back 2 – 3 times per month. My favorites are the jalapeño chicken sandwich (the bread is heavenly!) and the BBQ carrot bites.

Been here a couple times always love what I order. The owner is very friendly and loves to hear what the customers think of the food! I always order the BBQ bites as a starter and everything but the plate is gone. Fast service, I usually always go during none peek hours. The staff is always friendly! There is a huge parking lot can always find a spot to park. I am a vegetarian and this is one of my favorite spots to grab a bite to eat!

The Double Decker Bus is a humongous vegan «Big Mac.»
Really gooey cheesy bad-​for-​you goodness.
Owner (Janice) is really nice, servers are attentive. Try her fresh baked chocolate chip cookies next to the register. This is the BEST vegan chocolate chip cookie, even better than other chocolate chip cookies I’ve eaten before I went vegan, and I am a self proclaimed chocolate chip cookie fanatic.
No it’s not healthy, but sometimes I just want to eat some delicious comfort food. This place can give you that fix!
I hope this place stays open forever. I can’t wait to try out everything on that menu.

Happy Hooligans (HH), how do I love thee? Let me count the ways (while drooling over remembering my time with you)! My only regret is that we hadn’t come to visit you MUCH, MUCH sooner!
Husband and I were in the area and I wasn’t feeling our local vegan stops. I remembered that we hadn’t been to HH and were always in the area on their closed day (Mondays) but today was Saturday… and that meant they were open. :) The place is really easy to find (it’s in a shopping plaza and for us SJ kids, it’s located in the Nickel City plaza). Parking is easy because it’s plaza parking. The place is clean with great, eclectic décor. I couldn’t help but eyeball a kitten clock that I really must have. After checking out the menu, which is both East & West foods, we opted for some down home comfort food. My husband ordered their Backyard BBQ burger and I picked their Jackfruit Carnitas Wet Burrito. A Thai Iced Tea and an app of their Buffalo Cauliflower Bites were added and we were in 7^th Heaven /​Cloud 9.
Husband’s burger had mac n’ cheez inside his burger and my burrito was such a beast I took more than half home! BUT, I wasn’t going to pass up their desserts after checking out their selection. Husband took the strawberry cheezcake home and I ate my S’mores Pie. Ummmmmm, who made this?! Because I nearly passed out from the amazingness that was happening in my palate. The marshmallows were warm and gooey, the chocolate was firm but soft like a truffle, and the graham cracker crust gave you just the right flavor that you knew it was there. We’ve been vegans for almost 3 years and I have never tasted a specialty vegan dessert so tantalizing. Confession, after eating it, I ordered one to go! How about that?!
The next day, we had Bay Area appointments again and instructed (yes, instructed) my best friend that we were all going to eat again at HH because she had to experience it. Sunday, she ordered the Chick’n & Waffle, I had the Backyard BBQ burger, and the husband had the Double Decker burger which is the more attractive, more popular, more fresher cousin of a janky-​ass MD’s Big Mac. We also brought my godson in and our rad waitress (apologies if «waitress» term is offensive or played out) was so engaging with his questions, comments, and demands. She talked to all of us, including the godson, equally, and that was huge with us. For dessert, I ordered the strawberry cheezcake which is so amazing I almost questioned if it was really vegan! Someone’s pulling my leg! Husband ordered the carrot cake which I tried later at home and wasn’t a fan. TBH tho, I may have been mad that I didn’t order more dessert to go home. HA!
I can’t wait to get back to HH. I’m already scouring my schedule for when I’ll be back in the area (ohhh and it looks like it’s tomorrow… YAAAAS!).
Thank you, Happy Hooligan. Never, ever leave us.
PS. Homemade Ranch Sauce. STFU. I died and went to heaven. Someone pass me a straw.

Went here for the first time last night and everything I tried was amazing! It’s almost impossible to comprehend that it’s vegan!
The chocolate avocado smoothie was delish, the jicama rolls with peanut sauce were super fresh and delish, and the Jackfruit Carnitas Enchiladas were sooooooo flavorful and the texture was perfect! I asked for a side of avocado and they were more than generous!
We liked it so much my girl Rachel went back tonight with her Mom! I can’t wait to go back and explore the rest of the menu. They have American, Asian and Mexican dishes to choose from.
This is definitely my new go to place! Nothing is more amazing than to know no matter what I order it’s guilt free and combining that with being delicious is the perfect match! :)

I live in Santa Cruz but found out about this restaurant through their Groupon ($ 25 of vegan vittles for $ 17). I’m very thankful for that. My only regret is that Unilocal doesn’t give us enough starts to adequately praise the venue. If I could I’d rank them five Stars plus one crab nebula. Here’s what I can say that others have not:
Environment: Great care is taken in the ambiance here. Tyko was playing when I walked in and it made for perfect background music. I’d originally thought I was getting take-​out but the ambiance was so comfortable I just had to stay and enjoy. Lighting is nice too so snap some selfies while you’re there.
Cuisine: Try the Jalapeño Chick’n Sandwich if you can handle raw peppers (see photo). It came out hot, and perfectly seasoned. The burger is nigh gigantic so you won’t go wrong there. The whole lot is served with a salad giving the added illusion of being healthy. Their ranch/​dill ($ 1 extra) dressing is perfect to have on the salad because it soothes the burning tongue left by aforementioned jalapeño.
Note to vegans & vegetarians: add me as a friend if you want to know a fellow Unilocaler who ALWAYS includes tips/​reviews germane to our self imposed dietary restrictions. I do this to help others determine if a particular restaurant caters to herbivores like us. I’m doing the same, but shorter, reviews on FourSquare & it’s companion app, ‘Swarm’ lately too.
Chow for now ;-)

Yay, another vegan joint! Let me start off by saying I’m a carnivore, but I do enjoy all these vegetarian and vegan houses that are becoming the new fad!
My friend gave up meat for lent so we stopped by here to give a new place a try. We ordered the Bacon Ranch Fries and it came with vegan cheese! It didn’t necessarily taste exactly like the real deal, but it was still good none the less. My friend ended up ordering the Pioneer burger and I ordered the Delightful Green Noodle Salad with soy chicken. I took a bite of my friend’s burger and it was pretty good! She put some of the side salad into her burger, which I thought was genius. My Green Noodle Salad was pretty good and refreshing! I actually like that it was cold, and the soy chicken was seasoned nicely.
Our waitress was very friendly and helpful! She gave us the time we needed as it took a while for us to make up our minds. The dining area looks modern are and new. I’ll be back to try more dishes!

Updated review:
Came here last night for dinner with my best friend, since I am on a month long vegetarian streak — he wanted to try a few places out with me. I have raved about how great this place was before and he wanted to see what the hype was about.
Came here around 6 and there was no wait. Sat ourselves and ordered the spicy drumstick + buffalo cauliflower bites.
The Drumstick was okay. The cauliflower bites were the best things I’ve had! Very delicious and full of flavor. Next time, definitely going to ask for the ranch on the side, the bites are plated ON top of the sauce BTW.
I ordered the dancing broccoli and it comes with chik’n pieces, this was a realllly good dish! Digging the flavors and the authenticity the chicken had to tasting like actual chicken: O
Great little joint.

Just did a remodel to the place, and it is starting to look great!
Cool vibes/​thoughts:
+ Breakfast Club is a new edition to their restaurant! Sundays mornings. Follow @thehappyhooligans on IG for updates (Feb 2016 — Sundays from 10a — 1130a, but times are subject to change).
+ Can use EAT24 for pick-​up, DoorDash (no minimum, but has to be in area of delivery) for delivery & Order Ahead (minimum delivery is $ 15) for delivery & pick-​up.
+ Menu is extensive and epic. Cuisine ranges from Mexican, Asian, & American. Favorite dishes are California Chick’n & BACON RANCH FRIES (to die for).
— Small restaurant. Not amazing for accommodating large groups, but you can call ahead and they can try to rearrange the restaurant.
— Service is great, for only one server running around. At times, it does take a long time to get food and be served.

The Happy Hooligans has changed! This restaurant is under new management, and the food is amazing. The selections were incredible, the staff was very nice, and portions were large. The smoothies were vegan and delicious, the spring rolls were very fresh, and the prices reasonable.
We cannot wait to go back!

So the food here is fantastic, but that doesn’t make up for the slow service. It was insane, we were there for over 2 hours just because it took so long for someone to take our order and then ten times longer for the food to get out.
The waitress was smiley and nice, but forgetful too. She never refilled our waters like we asked and forgot to bring us a to go box. We eventually got up and asked at the counter.
I had the bbq pork french roll sandwich, which imitates a vietnamese sandwich. It was surprisingly spicy — I loved it. But it wasn’t served with a side which was kind of a disappointment. The imitation meat was very well made, I couldn’t really tell it was fake by the taste, which is pretty unusual because I like my faux meats.
If I’m in the area, I’d pick up a to go order some time since the food was so damn tastey, but NEVER will I sit down and wait for my food here again.

Not a vegan but love vegan and vegetarian food :)
Had a Groupon and ordered to go. The restaurant is pretty small and intimate.
I ordered the dancing broccoli ($ 12.20), which is broccoli and «beef» and the spicy hot wings (4 pieces for $ 6.75).
The dancing broccoli was disappointing. The «beef» was dry and not very flavorful :(I do not recommend this dish.
The spicy hot wings were great! They were big and packed with «meat». Not hallow at all. The flavor was similar to BBQ and it had a mild kick to it. I think those who don’t usually enjoy spicy foods would like these.
In my opinion, Happy Hooglians’ was just ok. I think Loving Hut is actually better than this place.

I’m so mad… I’m so mad that I didn’t find this place sooner! I found them on Groupon, purchased a voucher and immediately headed there after reading their reviews!
The owner was extremely sweet, energetic and recommended the best items!
We ordered so much because I was excited about how awesome the menu was. By the way, they had Asian (phở), Mexican and American food which overly-​stimulated my salivary glands.
We got:
1) BBQ Bites — carrots in a BBQ sauce with vegan ranch. I want this now as I’m writing this review.
2) Mac n Cheese — house made cheese. This was really good tasting and reminded me of real cheese but I probably won’t order again as it was $ 10.
3) Garlic Chicken — I was convinced this was real chicken. So good!!! I wish they’d work on their presentation of this dish. It didn’t look as good as it tastes. A must get!
4) Jackfruit enchiladas — perfectly executed! Good mix of items on the plate
5) Nachos– we subbed for fries and added jackfruit! So good! Will get this every time. The nacho «cheese» was perfect too!
6) S’mores Pie — made in house! Perfect crust!!! Must get!
7) Ganache Pie — my other half who is a chocoholic absolutely loved this + it’s gluten free!
I’ve already been back since our first trip here and I’m addicted. Thanks Happy Hooligans for existing :-)

Came in for dinner around 7:30pm on a Tuesday night and most tables were occupied! We decided on this place for the variety in cuisines it offers. I LOVE Mexican and my man loves Asian.
We were seated after having the table wiped clean. The waitress/​hostess/​server was very nice. We ordered drinks from one of the girls and got them from another. Im not sure if they are assigned tables or just work together to cover them.
I had the taco plate. Y-​U-​M! So good! I had one jackfruit carnitas and one ‘fish’. I usually dont have a lot of the fake stuff, but decided to give the fish a try after the server recommended it. Im gonna be honest. I didnt like it. It was way to fishy for me, which I know sounds really silly. My man loved it though, so it did not go to waste. The beans, rice and chopped lettuce were fresh and went perfect.
My man had the combination phở. He is a little bit of a phở connoisseur. I am too with some veggie phở. The veggies were fresh and tasted crunchy, just like we like them. The peppers were soooo spicy! Also like we love them!
We also split the cauliflower bites. These were really tasty. Deep fried deliciousness. I highly recommend.
Two details kept this review from 5 stars.
1. The tortillas for my tacos were really soggy. I was able to take one bite before it fell apart. I would like to recommend that a lettuce leaf is placed between the tortilla and the filling. I do this at home all the time to keep this exact thing from happening. Just an idea.
2. It was a bit slow to get things out. I respect the made to order, but it was little things like getting drinks, food, checking it, etc.
I will come again and bring friends. Thank you for providing veggie options!