Happy Teriyaki

I’ve been eating here for over 10 years and have always enjoyed the spicy teriyaki bowl but my visit yesterday was my last. Sadly, they got rid of the teriyaki bowl but they’re teriyaki sauce is still my favorite in Seattle. I always appreciated the option to skip the rice get only stir fried vegetables but the last couple times I’ve visited, the vegetables were barely fried and the pieces of cabbage are too large and tough. They had a good run but the new changes have made them go from a solid three almost four star teriyaki stop to just a quick place to get something to eat that’s filling but not much more. I hope they listen to all the Unilocal feedback and get their act together before they go out of business. There used to always be a line out the door but the line has disappeared. That should tell them something needs to change.

I decided to try something different, and went with the chicken curry. Kind of bland, not what I expected. Ordered a side of veggies and they were bland as well. Maybe I should have stuck with the teriyaki.

Pretty mediocre teriyaki joint. Portions are modest and prices keep creeping up. Meat quality is definitely below par compared to other teriyaki places in the Seattle area. I typically order the bowls or combos and while reasonably tasty, are not great value. The space is pretty run down as well, with sticky surfaces and not-​well-​maintained condiment tables. Overall nothing to write home about even if it’s just teriyaki.

2 stars for ½ sized portions! But that’s about it. I’ve had a weird aftertaste in my mouth all afternoon after eating the teriyaki chicken. The price was still as much as a normal full sized teriyaki chicken elsewhere. The sauces were out in the open with flies all around. meh. I’ll try a different place next time.

Been here multiply times out of convenience, but probably not again. Extremely unfriendly to the point of ignoring you. Very inconsistent on food portions.

Rated based on convenience and quantity/​quality for the price. Disclaimer — I’ve only ordered the spicy chicken here.
If you’re looking for a quick bite to grab near the Columbia Tower/​Seattle Public Library, this is a great place to go to. A little hard to find — it’s in a food plaza tucked inside a city block.
I ordered the spicy chicken (5.75 for sm and ~8 for a lg). Ample sauce and not too dried. You also have the option of adding more teriyaki sauce at the sauce bar.
I used to work at 5^th and pike and I believe their old (?) location or perhaps second location closed down about 5 years ago. I had been a frequent customer of that location and was supremely sad when it closed down. I didn’t know they had a second location!

Chicken just seemed a little stale and dry today :(
This is very disappointing!
I appreciate that their card containers are environmentally friendly but by the time I got back to my office, the container was soft from the steam and my plastic bag was wet.
Service very quick.

They have something on their menu called bibimbap. One thing it is not. .. is bibimbap. One thing it is. .. is horrible.
I feel sick.

Cheap, tasty, generously-​portioned food with a decent self-​service condiments bar.
Is it great quality? No.
Do you get your money’s worth? Yes.

Several of my coworkers wanted to stop in here for lunch one day and thought I’d give it a try. I ordered the chicken teriyaki rice bowl, which just had steamed rice (choice of brown or white – I got white), steamed veggies, and topped with chicken. The rice was your typical sticky rice, the veggies were yummy (nice an crunchy), and the chicken was tender and juicy. The chicken itself was not very flavorful (just a very mild teriyaki flavor), but there were several sauces to choose from, from sweet to spicy. Given the price and location, I will probably be back for lunch.

Spicy chicken bowl. No salad (sub rice). Extra sauce.
Oh, it burns soooo good.
I don’t know if I’d get anything else there, because these are SO good.
(And unlike other well known Teriyaki places that are *cough*scary*cough*) their teriyaki is still under $ 7.

I’ve been coming here a long time. The restaurant is in the Marion Trust Court which offers highly coveted outdoor seating. On a nice day in Seattle, well, you just gotta take advantage of that. Seats fill up quick at lunch hour, so somebody in your bunch better be quick to get food and reserve your spot. Enter Happy Teriyaki (Teriyakisan now?), a really quick trip through the line of already prepared foods.
They have 6 or so sauces to add after you pay, so add as much or little as you like.
Food choices are as you would expect from a teriyaki joint — chicken, pork, beef, tofu, prawns, rice (brown $ 0.50+), vegis.
I stick with the chicken, and got the #1 special that added gyoza (got 5 — 1 extra in my meal today). The chicken was gristly and warmed up as it sat on my plate. The rice was good, and I enjoyed the grilled cabbage/​vegi. The gyoza were crispy outside and dry inside.
Service was prompt, guy that dished up my food grabbed a piece of chicken from on top of the food cover and mixed it in before grabbing mine out — probably fine, but why not just throw that out (or at least not do it in front of the customers).
Too many recent trips here have been sub-​par. I’m putting HT on my banned list. As was pointed out to me by my lunch bunch, I could have gone upstairs to café phở and gotten better grilled chick/​rice. I have to agree, HT it was a good run, but goodbye.

Not so Happy Teriyaki Spicy Chicken… The meet is chopped up and dry, yet somehow greasy at the same time… The cabbage/​carrot Vegetable dish is burnt… The rice is wet… The Spicy chicken is just bottled chili sauce…
I was looking for a quick and inexpensive lunch… But 7.58 without a drink, not really inexpensive…

After my initial 2-​star review of this place, I decided to give it another shot this year and thought I would come back to update/​upgrade!
I was actually impressed with this place and their variety of teriyaki dishes. The bowl was a solid option for lunch as the portion was the ideal size and spicy chicken was tasty. There are also plentiful sauce options you can add to the side.
Looks like they improved on this place which is a bonus for me as I work in the area. I’ll be coming back!

My close to work go-​to place for Teriyaki! Nice large portion, pretty good teriyaki, and great value! They have a nice sauce bar to get your teriyaki sauce, etc. A nice convenience. I gave it only three stars because the food could be fresher (if it was cooked fresh, but still very good) and the dining area can be noisy with the employees at work.

I have to smell the stench from this place every workday. They have horribly inadequate ventilation and apparently cook all their meat first thing in the morning, so that office workers in a three-​block radius are greeted by the smell of burned sugar and seared flesh when they go to work. I wish the City would shut them down.

Over the years, Happy Teriyaki has become a dependable lunch spot within walking distance of my office. I’m not going to disagree with some of the reviews — I make much better teriyaki but so what? I eat out because I don’t want to cook.
Here’s why I like the place:
1. I often eat later than 2pm. Guess what? They’re open. And they have food.
2. By the time 2pm rolls around, I don’t want to wait an additional 15 minutes after I order to get my food. I want someone to scoop food into a container and send me on my way.
3. The staff moves quickly.
4. Working in that area, finding a decent place to eat for under $ 10 (food + drink) is quite a find.
5. Punch card (okay, so you have to eat there like 53 times before you get a free meal, so what?).
The chicken is not marinated here. Where I come from, marinated meat is the key to great teriyaki. I’m not saying this is great teriyaki, I’m saying this is dependable teriyaki and I’m willing to pay the minimal price for what I get back. You put your own sauce on at a station so it’s as much as you want. As some reviewers have said, it seems like it comes out of a bottle — yeah, it does. That’s no surprise, they sell it in the store… by the bottle. It’s not as if they tried to keep that a secret.
I like the way they prepare their gyoza (and no, they don’t make that either, they get it frozen from a bag). The veggies could use improvement but again, for the price, it’s not a big deal.
TIP: If you bring your own container, you get a free order of gyoza.

Honestly, I could probably make better teriyaki at home. The chicken was cooked according to the «quick teriyaki spot» standard, which I expected. The «vegetables» were slathered in oil and consisted of 95% cabbage (red and green), 2% carrot, 1% broccoli and 2% unidentifiable bits. Rice was fine, but then again rice is hard to mess up. My biggest issue with the food was the sauce. It tasted like it came straight out of the giant Costco size bottle and was just… gross.
The real treat, however, was the conservative talk radio station blaring during the lunch hour. I’m all for free speech (yay America!), but I don’t expect to have extreme viewpoints shoved down my throat while also trying to choke down my lunch.
Ultimately, I won’t stop here again unless I have a live-​or-​die craving for teriyaki, a stomachache, and Rush Limbaugh.

Typical teriyaki place. The service was really fast and the price is cheap. Got the chicken and gyoza special which came with vegetables. The food tasted fine but both the veggie and the chicken were somewhat burnt; which supposedly lead to higher risk of cancer. So, don’t eat here if you are health-​conscious. Otherwise, if you want to enjoy a quick, greasy, and inexpensive meal, this might be the place for you.

Mmm, not bad. Like it. Good menu selection and the place feels pretty good. It’s connected to the (i think) frozen yogurt place next door. Decent condiments area. Little sloppy by it but I have a feeling it’s just certain customers that do that (drip drop here and there, fork on the floor, etc.). Kind of cute with the stuff by the cashier and how they display the RECYCLE & COMPOST. Nice folks. Kind of tight with the walkways, yet okay table seating and window bar.
Worth the occasional lunch trip for sure.