Happy Teriyaki — Restaurant in Stanwood

My family and I spent the afternoon into early evening hours in Camano Island State Park and it was so beautiful. As we drove out of Camano Island to Stanwood, we spotted Happy Teriyaki. Of course, we decided to stop in.

My sister-in-law and I walked in and we were immediately greeted by two young men. I loved their enthusiasm!

As we perused the menu board, we opted for a couple combo plates, which included two scoops of rice and a side salad. We ordered a Teriyaki Chicken + Katsu Chicken combo plate, a Teriyaki Chicken + Beef Kalbi (Short Ribs) combo plate, and two sides of Shrimp Tempura.

It took some time to prepare the plates so we waited in our vehicle until they brought out the food.

The side salad was crunchy and cold - just how I like my salad. And the Teriyaki Chicken was delicious - not too heavily glazed, not overly sweet, and not too salty either. It was the right consistency for teriyaki. I really enjoyed it with the short-grain steamed rice. I actually didn’t need the extra teriyaki sauce that it came with. I thought the beef kalbi was okay; it’s actually much thinner than I expected but still good nonetheless. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the Chicken Katsu. It was tough to bite into and too dry to swallow - I almost thought I was eating pork! It was bland too. Everything else was better.

Overall, we enjoyed our meal from Happy Teriyaki and we were glad to have found this on the highway. Asian comfort food to make us feel “home”...

We were visiting the area and decided to try Happy Teriyaki.

We were seated quickly but the experience was pretty much downhill from there. The 2 tables right next to us were filthy and kept that way through a large portion of our dining experience.

Someone other than our waiter took our drink order which caused an issue with our actual waiter bringing the wrong drinks.

When the food started to arrive, my food (beef bulgogi) arrive first and my wife’s tuna bowl and my side of rice took about 10 additional minutes to arrive and required us asking about the status. While we were waiting for my wife’s dinner to arrive, we watched our waiting going around and taking orders and bringing other people their food who had arrived after us. The restaurant wasn’t slammed, but the waiter was definitely not on top of their game.

The quality of the food was low to mid tier at best. The bulgogi was soupy and had almost no flavor. The tuna bowl had a lack of tuna, especially for the price and an over-abundance of cabbage.

On the menu, they advertise that they were awarded Best Japanese and Best Teriyaki restaurant in the PNW by the Seattle times, and Best Asian Restaurant by The Stanwood Camano News. I’m left baffled how either of those awards were justified, especially the one from the Seattle Times.

Overall, we were very disappointed in our visit, both with the service and the food. Next time we’re in the area, we won’t even think twice about...

At first my order was not as described on the website I came back after leaving and explained and he was like “um well sorry I guess I can give you a refund” I said ok because I paid extra for it. I get home I pull apart my food into little pieces and I realize I paid for crab and got just cream cheese I call and say I just got home and this is just cream cheese he says “no it probably looks like it but there’s crab” I go I know what crab looks like and there is none. He said we can remake it I said no I will bring back the food and get a refund and he says “we can’t the check is closed”. I have worked in 2 restaurants there is no instances where you can’t give a refund. I get there he digs through with his fingers and goes “oh wow yea there’s no crab” like I don’t know what I’m talking about. This is the 2nd thing messed up on my order that I paid extra for. He then presses a button and there is my receipt with the refund. I look at my bank statement today and the charge is pending again today. For 28$ after I did not eat one thing out of that order. Very nice guy I guess but lacking in the customer service department just a little. I also suggest updating...