Happy Valley Dim Sum & Asian Cuisine, 喜萬年 — Restaurant in Norcross

This is a review of our catering experience with Happy Valley for our wedding in Rock Hill SC on 10/1/22 to help guide future brides/grooms and to hold some accountability for improvement. I would like to note that the below has been discussed privately with the owners/manager, proper compensation for mishaps have been given, and there seems to be a desire to do better for future weddings

The good: food was hot and tasted decent per guests -menu items discussed prior to wedding day were prepared as promised day of -some of the waiters went up to me and genuinely gave good wedding wishes/blessings and assisted with bringing out boba tea from another caterer to cocktail hr tables

The bad: -my reception venue manager had warned me that Happy Valley cleaned up too early in the past. I addressed this concern with the manager prior to the wedding via text and asked for clean up to not begin until 9pm. Clean up started at 7pm when food was only brought out at 5:30pm. There are pictures of me during my first dance at 7:15pm with the background being trash cans being rolled out on the dance floor and table linens balled up by Happy Valley waiters. Some of the images were so bad due to the early cleaning in the background that that photographer said he could not deliver all the first dance pictures taken to me. One of the waiters even blamed me and said I told them to clean up early when a guest brought up how they felt rushed. They could have at least waited till 8pm

-Costco mini water bottles purchased for guests were not all placed out on tables as discussed prior via text. Guests were asking us where to get water

lazy Susans and champagne flutes not used day of though promised

you have to rent your own linens unlike with some of the other competitors who provide linens as part of a package. There was no assistance setting this up.

there was no offer of a complimentary menu tasting. competitors offer this for free which I found out after my wedding through a friend planning her wedding food with Canton House

-Day of Coordinator had to carry cake to get it cut as no one made the initiative to cut cake after bride and groom for 30 mins. Effort instead was trying to leave early though there was promised to help with this and other competitors provide this service without hassle

-kitchen was not fully cleaned and mopped despite early cleaning

Overall I have to be happy that my wedding had warm decent tasting food which was the bare minimum and most important thing. The pricing was cheapest compared to their competitors Royal China and Canton House but again came at the cost of the list above. They did an excellent job catering my brother’s wedding 10 years ago but I unfortunately cannot say the same this time. I would advise brides/groom who are English speaking to request planning with the manager Jason who was friendly and helpful. Others involved in planning did not have good command of the English language which help contributed to the frustrations/confusions on that day.

I did received a sincere apology and compensation so I do think the business deserves a chance but I want people to know risks and to have everything done in writing. And to ask...

I’m so disappointed in this restaurant! We’ve been coming here for about 2 years as our choice of good dim sum but my last two visits have left a bad taste in my mouth literally and figuratively. The food tasted old and mushy. The waiters kept ignoring our table when walking around with the food carts so we were forced to sit there and wait to catch someone’s attention to request plates. This was very odd to us as they would normally go table to table. But we kept giving them the benefit of the doubt. After waiting so long with no service and seeing a ROACH crawl under the table we decided to leave. We went up to the counter to pay our bill and I was surprised our bill was over $100 for 3 adults and two children. I paid without being able to see the itemized bill and got my receipt texted to me to review later. I didn’t leave a tip on the card because we were going to leave a cash tip. And before I could put my card away and get the cash out the host began to ask multiple times no tip? No tip? I said yes I’ll leave cash on the table and he walked out from behind the cash register to look on the table and said there’s no tip there and I said I have it right here and handed it to him. And once I was able to look at the receipt I saw they added a $10 without telling me! My family and I will not be coming...

I should have known something was off when I walked into Happy Valley Restaurant during prime dinner time and it was as empty as a library during summer break. Red flag #1. But, ever the optimist, I figured maybe we just beat the dinner rush.

The first few dishes came out—lobster, fish, and salt and pepper squid—and honestly, they were decent! I was feeling hopeful. But then, I made the rookie mistake of asking for some rice to balance out all the salt. Big mistake. You would’ve thought I asked them for the moon. Fried rice was one of our dishes (another family member ordered), but apparently, in Happy Valley, white rice is treated like a rare artifact. Who knew rice was the new gold standard? Waiters kept complaining, and I was wondering what kind of dystopian world we had entered where rice became such a luxury.

In the end, though, we still had a good laugh with family, and that’s worth something. So, despite being in a “Valley” that doesn’t make anyone happy, I’ll toss in an extra star for the family memories.

2 stars, mostly for the company, not the rice negotiations. Also wish I took more photos of the food but it wasnt...