Happy Gathering in Cardiff

Wonderful Chinese restaurant. It has both a westernised menu (sweet and sour, salt & chili, the usual things) and a traditional menu which offers some great authentic Chinese food from across China. The food is always delicious and well presented. Service is always good too. Restaurant is ideal for larger groups, and is excellent if you want to share dishes. There is parking available quite nearby too.

If you want very good authentic Chinese food this is the place! Dim Sum is excellent and highly recommended!

Absaloutley Amazimg Authentic Chinese restaraunt! Probably the best Din Sum I've ever eaten!!

Husband dined here recently with friends. I am honestly surprised at the other Google reviews as it feels he went to a completely different restaurant compared to the other photos. Maybe the dim sum is the thing to eat here, but as a second generation Chinese, I am very surprised at what was served on a Friday night and the quality of it. I’m sure the food tasted good, however I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Great service, great food, and beat the food from Australia which has a larger oriental community!

Appalling food! Egg fried rice no egg and it was not fried! Bbq spare ribs the sauce was sweet and sour! Beef in black bean sauce was like watery gravy no flavour! Lettuce wrap disturbing! Beansprouts in veg had about 12 Beansprouts no taste! Vermacelli Singapore noodles are supposed to be spicy bland as hell! The other dishes were just as bad! After paying nearly £90 I would expect to be eating food cooked to perfection and actually tasting like food not water! Hang your heads in shame was absolutely disgusting! Will mever EVER use you again!

We love eating here on special occasions, they are occasionally busy but always have enough staff to cope. Lush food and very friendly staff. It is upstairs though so not so easy for a wheelchair user.

Speaking from someone grew up in Hong Kong like me, the dim sum are quite authentic especially the egg tarts which are made with puff pastry!!! Although the general atmosphere and decoration is bit old fashioned and dim, it is surprisingly clean and tidy. Would definitely revisit if go to Cardiff again.

I’ve been here twice with an Asian friend. The first time I didn’t like it at all, but a few months later my friend took me back and it was just as bad (if not worse). I made him promise not to take me back. You can get better dim sum in the frozen section of any Chinese supermarket.

The flavor of the teahouse comes from Hong Kong. And cheap and good quality, good service. 👍🏻

Really good food and a lot of Chinese people eating there, service was good and friendly,

The food is delicious. Ambience is OK. They serve both authentic Canto food plus ChineSe food catered for the locals.

By far the best Chinese restaurant in Cardiff. Serves a wide range of Cantonese food as well as dim sum on Sunday and the traditional Chinese food menu favoured by the many Chinese people who dine there .

They only reason they don't get 5* is it's always freezing with the air con on but food as always was delicious

Very nice food, will return! But as a large party, half of us nearly finished our mains while the others still waited. One in the party also found the food to their distaste, the manager offered to take 50% off dish price to compensate. Very good authentic Chinese food. Also cater to allergies.

This place is like it was when first opened 40 years ago. The decor and the tables chairs are old and well used. It's like going in to a restaurant set in China town in a Jaky chan movie. The food was like any Chinese takeaway you get from a simple shop. Nothing special. I was told this place was very good and food was excellent but sadly I don't think the person who told me knows what good food is. Lol. I'm not saying it was bad, just not restaurant quality at all. The staff were polite and friendly. I spent about 60 pounds on a few dishes . Defo needs an update.

Great Chinese food experience in Cardiff...Dumplings are very tasty and the noodles.. Definitely will go here again...

It has a Hong Kong flavor and is full of intimacy. The waiters speak Cantonese and the tableware is printed with traditional Chinese characters, which are difficult to see in traditional decoration in Hong Kong.

Food was good but service was Shocking

Very efficient service, tasty food.

Honey glazed prawns smothered in mayo should never ever ever be a thing. Please at least add mayo into the description on the menu. Actually remove mayo from the dish altogether please please please.

I have been taking the family here since I used to come here with my parents today was with my granddaughter for our silver anniversary. So its nice, its good food its well run with a great selection.

Best food ever and some unrecognisable as thY but delicious,

It is a rare old Cantonese style tea restaurant. Unfortunately, there is no tea set. I guess Lao Ying is not used to it. Everything else is pretty good, the taste is authentic and the vernacular is authentic

This place seems to have gone a bit hit-and-miss. We took some visitors there on a Saturday and ordered some food off the special menu and some off the standard. The special menu food was really good and arrived relatively soon. Sadly, the rest of the food took over an hour to arrive, even after I chased it up once. It was a totally different experience; not tasty, not hot or freshly cooked feel to it. Maybe it got left out and forgotten but nobody seemed to care. Other customers were getting their food before us. Really embarrassing for us and our guests.

My favourite Chinese restaurant in Cardiff for several reasons. I love the welcome we get from the owners, always smiling and extremely polite. Service is extremely efficient with minimal waiting time. Food is served under hot plates so stays warm so you can take your time. It’s the kind of place where you know your food will always taste as delicious as it looks! Every single time! Highly recommend for an authentic experience of Chinese food

Great atmosphere amazing food value for money

Update 26.4.24. - food was not very nice, it was awfully bad. This is a long established restaurant located in the suburbs of Cardiff for well over 30 years. Management has changed a number of times over this period but unfortunately, the interior decor hasn't. It's dated hardware, dirty stinking carpets, awful lighting and leaking roof through the suspended ceiling would benefit a full refurbishment. Food Standards Hygiene rating currently displayed on the front door is 1/5, so not good. The restaurant is unsuitable for wheelchair users as first floor is mainly used with no lift access. Table service is often slow and understaffed particularly during weekends, however, it was much better and friendly today as the restaurant was not busy during lunchtime. Despite the poor hygiene rating, the quality of the food is generally acceptable, but not always consistent.

First time going there it was like a threw back to the 1970s, the inside looked shabby and old fashioned carpet had big stains on it, ordered drinks that took 15 minutes to come which was surprising because we were the only people in the restaurant at the time, had ribs which were more bone than meat and the curry that reminded me of chip shop curry, small portions for the price not really that impressed probably won't go back there again 😕

Food was absolutely delicious & fresh! Service was friendly. Definitely recommend.

Cheap, good quality, good taste

Lovely food and atmosphere. Would definitely book again.

Been a longstanding customer and return often because the whole experience is awesome. The quality of the is consistently delicious - and plenty of it!

The service and the restaurant is really nice, the food I had wasn't quite the standard I was expecting from recommendations from other folks but it certainly did a job at a reasonable price. Could have just been an off day though, worth revisiting!

Madness,My recent meal here was ruined by mice running around. It was gross and distracting. The restaurant needs to deal with this problem ASAP. Plus, the food took forever to come out. I'd suggest finding somewhere else to eat until they sort out their mouse problem. .

Proper traditional Chinese restaurant, with amazing selection of dimsum as well as traditional Chinese food alongside the usual array of restaurant favourites.

ABSOLUTELY SO DISRESPECTFUL WE WHERE CALLING FOR LONGER THAN 10 MINUTES AND THEY WERE NOT LISTENING AND WERE JUST JOKING AROUND AND LAUGHING I AM DISGUSTED WOULD NOT RECOMMEND! SUCH BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!!

Best Chinese restaurant in wales. Dim sum menu is amazing

Great food of Hugh quality. Priced reasonably. A minor improvement would be decorated plates and chop stick rests. Reccomended

Huge soulless place with no atmosphere whatsoever it was more like a work canteen, food was distinctly average, wouldn’t return, there are much better Chinese restaurants in Cardiff

Resturant was tired looking, the service was OK, perhaps because resturant was busy, but the food was delicious

The food is good but this place is still stuck in the 90s floor is sticky , no money has been spent on this place for years ... put of going there just looks grubby

Alwayys enjoyed this restaurant pre-Covid but hadn't bbeen for a while. Booked on Saturday. Decor had become pretty shabby but upstairs was busy - usually a good sign. Service was a bit delayed and a bit rushed, but we gave our order. When the food arrived after 15 minutes one of the dishes was not what we ordered so we asked for it to be replaced. After another 15 minute wait we werr served with - the same incorrect dish. The dish we ordered finally arrived after another 15 minutes, by which time we were no longer hungry. The food we did get was very average - couldn't detect any satay sauce on the veg with crispy noodles and satay sauce. No apology and no eeduction in the blll for the long delay in provding the correct dish. Very disappointing.

Uncooked food and the waitress asked me i wanted to put in the microwave, thats so disrespectful that i didn't even eat the rest of the food. Instead of giving me another option they didn't care at all and said they couldn’t do anything.

uncooked food, then proceeded to tell me she will put in microwave, like that will do anything ? i then asked her if we can have something else she said no…overall not a very nice place it looks fancy and nice but would not recommend food at all

I absolutely love the whole feel of this wonderful restaurant. Amazing decor with a really traditional feel. Fantastic food and service. I try to get up to Cardiff for the Yi Quin Chinese New Year Liondance every year, it's like being transported to Hong Kong or China, totally magical.

I know in Cardiff there are not many Chinese restaurants so we chose Happy Gathering to celebrate first day of Chinese Lunar New Year of the dragon. Disappointing. I found a hair strand in the chilli sauce. Siow long pau was not edible. The cold chicken feet was too hard to bite. Returned it. Not cooked enough. It was a bad decision to go there for dimsum. Our Chinese new year lunch was ruined. My friend told me she will never return to Happy Gathering again. I second it.

Had my first Dim Sum experience at Happy Gathering yesterday and wow was it good. The Cheung Fun (we had the beef and the pork), Roast pork puffs, Har Gow and Custard tarts were up there with some of the best I've had. Turnip cake, crispy prawn wontons and Char Siu buns very good. Ham Sui Gok decent but a tiny bit oily. Service was very good and staff were friendly. Tsingtao was nice and cold and served in a branded glass. The meal was excellent value for money with most of the dishes costing under £5. We had a feast of a meal (12 dishes and a couple of beers each) for £40 a head with tip. Will definitely be returning to work my way through the rest of the Dim Sum menu (Dim Sum served everyday until around 1730)

I ordered a take away as my regular Chinese was closed. I’d heard about happy gathering so thought I’d give it a try, I wish I hadn’t bothered. Worst chicken chow mein I’ve ever had, thin dry noodles and dry chicken. I’d never order again!

Fabulously tasty dim sum. Felt I was back in China. Great service too. Can't recommend more highly.

Happy Gathering is a local legend in Cardiff but this was a return visit after many years. The food as always was exquisite, staff friendly and awesome with a great atmosphere. I am looking forward to a return visit very soon!

I’ve been coming to this restaurant for nearly 30 years now and have raved about it to my work friends for so long they insisted I showed them how worthy it really was! Llanelli travelled to collect Swansea and Swansea travelled to collect Port Talbot before we headed to Cardiff for the girls to taste the fantastic! One is a vegetarian so was a little worried, but I told her, have faith, they’ll talk to you and sort you out & boy didn’t they! Both went home with doggy bags to entice their husbands and friends back! Obviously I go because the food is by far the best I’ve ever had, but the staff are always wonderful and accommodating! Happy to answer any questions, if they don’t know the answers, they’ll go find out for you! Thank you Happy Gathering, we will be back!

This used to be the best place for dim sum but it has lost some of it's magic. Service is good albeit when busy the staff lose some of their smiles, which is understandable. Parking at the back is a bit precarious , lots of litter and not an attractive view of the kitchens.

Great dim sum and a lot of variety

I was impressed by the number of ethnic Chinese people who were there. A wonderful experience for the family.

Excellent quality in every dish -and we ordered a lot - in a delightful atmosphere with the most attentive staff.

ZERO Hygiene Rating news https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/one-most-popular-chinese-restaurants-28192883 Food hygiene ratings: 'A zero isn't down to paperwork' news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51120935

consistently the best over the last 30 years

We couldn’t get a table in The Summer Palace, so we checked Google and this place was recommended. The Sweetcorn broth was OK - but the rest was bland and I’m sure the crispy noodles were just raw. Service wasn’t great and there was a long wait between courses. On the coldest night of the year there wasn’t any heating on, so despite wearing a nice dress, I sat in my coat. We went to the garage for dessert, I feel much happier being now I’m home with a mug of tea & a Wispa in the warm.

We ordered har gao but the meat inside was raw! It was Sunday afternoon so the restaurant was packed. We talk to a waitress about the issue but was told it would takes a long time to get our har gao cooked so we didn't bother. The manager Martin was cunning-When we were paying the till, he deliberately gave us a bill belongs to another table(more expensive) this isn't first time he did this to us. We won't go back because it's not worth it. Anyone paying bill make sure you check the bill before paying for it. Plates and cups weren't the cleanest in this restaurant and it's very old and worn out, it desperately needs a refurbishment.

Seriously bland, uninspiring and overpriced food. Building is tired and stuck in the 1970s and a bit of a dive tbh. Service was seriously lacking, and slow. The traditional menu served before 6 sounds more interesting but the place has a ZERO hygiene rating! Never again.

My favourite Chinese restaurant in Cardiff. Always great food and terrific choices, including veggie options. All reasonably priced and good quality food. It may be an issue for

My favourite Chinese restaurant in Cardiff. Always great food and terrific choices, including veggie options. All reasonably priced and good quality food. It may be an issue for those with mobility issues as the restaurant is upstairs and I didn't see any other way up apart from up the stairs.

Good food nice pint great service thanks

Good food nice pint great service thanks

Good food nice pint great service thanks

Just popped in for food on way home, as usual the most friendly staff possible.

Absolutely delicious as always. Definitely recommend Mixed meat and seafood hofun.

Just popped in for food on way home, as usual the most friendly staff possible.

Decent food but expensive for what it is.

Probably the best Chinese in Cardiff

Absolutely appalling!!! Booked over a week ago for our birthdays!!! Not open!! No phone call! Travelled 3 hours to come for a Chinese to join our children for their birthday! Couldn’t be bothered to give me call. We now have no where booked to eat on a Friday evening at 7.30 pm! Absolutely disgusting, why you don’t have the courtesy to call me! So disappointed and cross. On top of a £30 round trip taxi fair had to pay for!!

I’ve never been happier than at happy gathering. Such a great menu and exactly the sort of flavours you are looking for in an Asian meal. Portions are big and thank you to the server who recommended we get a bit less! Pork belly rice was absolutely top notch. Beers on tap and heaps of variation on offer. If you have that craving for Asian delicacies look no further!

As always the dim sum is delicious. Service always great I think I've been coming here for over 40 yrs. I think some of the decor has been here that long. LOL

This is the Best restaurant I have ever been too. Honey glazed king prawns are my favourite food in the world. Service is always impeccable and the staff and managers are all so nice. Been coming for 1022²

Tasty food with good portions and flavors. They change your dishes from starter to main dish and also provide napkins. Presentation is 10/10.

Strange place, looks closed from the outside. Service was odd to say the least! They were vacuuming the restaurant as customers left! Food luke warm but plentiful

This is the best shop in the history of Wales

Exceptional service!! I'm a fussy eater and very first visit, the food was fantastic! I tried a few dishes and all were perfect. I'm thoroughly impressed, definitely going back. Thank you to those who have recommended in previous reviews.

Food is good, but the price is getting out of hand

Was a great experience dining here at Happy Gathering. Very good dim sum and great services. Like the atmosphere, decorated like traditional Hong Kong style (Dragon & Phoenix hall) 😁😁😁 Will definitely try again when visiting Cardiff next time 👍👍👍

This used to be our favourite restaurant for Chinese food, but unfortunately it no longer is . It’s in need of a revamp desperately putting it bluntly. Desperately in need of a new chef the food was well presented but there is no taste to it. The meat is very chewy. My husband had barbecued ribs He couldn’t eat them because they were too chewy, they should be falling off the bone

Great place to get chinese dim sum

Good dim sum, relaxed atmosphere, a group of 12 and service was speedy.

My favourite Chinese restaurant in Cardiff. Always great food and terrific choices, including veggie options. All reasonably priced and good quality food. It may be an issue for those with mobility issues as the restaurant is upstairs and I didn't see any other way up apart from up the stairs.

Went to the Happy Garden as looking for somewhere for Dim Sum in Cardiff with family and friends. Saw this restaurant in a general search on the internet had good reviews so we went there: we were not disappointed. Very good traditional Dim Sum offering with prompt service. Good selection with menus in Chinese and English which is really helpful as the two were aligned so easier to make choices. All dishes selected were very well presented and had good flavours. Roast duck and pork was very tasty if a little small as dishes go. Fried seafood noodles was nice and enough for 4 to share. Deep fried squid had an unusual sauce - not the standard sweet chilli: very tasty. Only downside, was seating upstairs and no obvious signs of a lift, so may be a challenge on access: downstairs was closed. Didn't see any lift marked.

This restaurant is absolutely a rip off I spent more than £100 on this place for my family not to be full when they went home

Portions are smaller but I think that reflects in the quality. They also have a very helpful delivery driver!

The staff is friendly and helpful, the food arrives quick and tastes excellent.

I got kicked out on a quiet Sunday afternoon for only wanting a cup of tea. Apparently you have to order food, even though there wasn't a sign anywhere. It's really upsetting to be treated so poorly. I would have understood if people were queued for a table, but the place was hardly full.

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos, but the dim sum was authentic (this is coming from a HKer). Unexpectedly, the siu mai was better than har gow. The har gow arrived undercooked so we sent it back to the kitchen, and the replacement we received was mushy. Apart from the har gow, everything else was very good. The owner was very attentive and he gave us extra strong tea when we asked. Highly recommended.

Sometimes I use this restaurant with Asian colleagues. Dim sum (not dinner time) is recommended.

Outstanding food, service and value for money.

We used to come here a lot. Not anymore - tonight was our last visit. The owners appear to be complacent and the customer service is rubbish. Dirty plates and dirty surfaces. The food is standard - you could probably get better food at a different restaurant for less the price. The owner /manager even had the nerve to take issue with the fact that we had used an additional set of chopsticks. What’s really difficult to get over is the 1 out of 5 food hygiene rating…like how can you get it so wrong. I would give this place no stars. Save your money folks and go else where.

Ordinary but acceptable food served in a restaurant with rather tired decor. Large portions but other Chinese restaurants in Cardiff have better food.

Authentic Cantonese Restaurant in Canton! You always see plenty of the local Chinese community eating in here, particularly at weekends. Tells you everything you need about the quality and authenticity of the food. As with all Chinese food I strongly recommend you eat with lots of friends and/or family so you can try lots of different dishes.

Experienced discrimanatory, rude and disrespectful behaviour by the feckless 2 faced manager who is usually at the till. The food dish I ordered which I was advised would take time and waited 30 minutes for to prepare was given to the group that was sitting behind me, who came in 20 minutes after I did and that group was given my dish (within minutes of them ordering the same dish), although they were initially told they needed to wait for some time for it as it took to prepare. When i questioned the waitress and manager about it, the waitress lied saying that the group had pre-orederd their food which they hadn't because the manager and the lady who placed the order talked so loudly it would be impossible not to hear- and I repeated to her the conversation I heard when the order was placed and taken by the manger himself. When she realised I was not buying that lie, the next excuse the waitress and managress used was that I was having my starter so they thought I could have my fish dish later, and let this group have the one already prepared which I orered 30 minutes prior). That was another lie because even before the fish dish I ordered ended on the other table, I had asked the waitress to pack my starter. You can imagine how shocked I was to see that the fish I had ordered was being carried to the group who were sitting close to my table and it's obvious to waiters and manager that I am long done with my starter because it's being packed away. That's right ! It's obvious that this lot think that women from the Indian subcontinent are stupid enough to buy their lies and we can be treated with disrespect with this sort of discrimination and open prejudive - masked as consideration for me to comple my starter. they might have also thought because I came in solo and am small build, quiet and timid I would not be so bold to call out their behaviour. When the manager realised that I was not as gulliable as I looked I was amazed to see how rude, feckless and intimidating he was like a thug when raising his voice trying to humilate me by putting me down with accusations and "so what I care a damn" attitude about the way he ensured that my order that I was waiting for for so long had gone to the table that he had taken the orders from, because it was a group according to him he hadn't met ( I suppose trying to impress for new bussiness/clientele) over another customer whom he had no conscience about overstepping boundries and being disrespectful. I was initially perturbed by the manager's disregard rude feckless thug like behaviour, and how quickly his waiters were there to lie along side him. He even mocked and humiliated me to the group who were given the fish dish i had ordered. Because he can be very friendly and pally when he thinks he can gain something from you. However when I did my homework on researching Happy Gathering, this criminal thug like uncouth behaviour was certainly not in keeping with this establishment because the owners were charged with money laundering a number of years ago. Am able to verify everything stated as to protect myself from this tyrant lies have recorded my entire evening of what I experienced.

Delicious chinese food… got delivery and still hot, would 100% recommend! Thank you! x

Can’t believe in Cardiff got a lot of good quality Chinese restaurants! And this one is one of those I really like 👍🏻 As a HongKonger we just can’t say no to Chinese traditional culture— yum cha / dim sum 🥟 🫖 🍵🤎 We visited the restaurant at Sunday and they only offer dim sum on Sunday! We ordered 香片 (jasmine tea) and it smell really good 👍🏻 And what dim sum that we highly recommended : 叉燒酥，招牌腸粉，金錢肚，XO醬炒蘿蔔糕(turnips cakes with XO sauce)、咸水角(ham sui gok) And what dim sum that we don’t recommend to try: 韭菜果、小籠包、鳳爪排骨飯 The vibes are very nice and I can see many hongkongers in there enjoying the dim sum at the same time! You can hear cantonese is everywhere inside the restaurant, even the staffs speak Cantonese as well! How nice to be there 👍🏻

Food was fresh, staff amazingly accommodating and friendly. Service was fast. Quality and flavor was comparable to classic Chinese dim sum in Canada. We ordered way too much food so got to enjoy the leftovers for dinner 😋