[Vnbiz] [vbf]: Hanoi restaurants more hostile than hospitable

[ToanDucPham@GMail.com]

CACE from Hanoi, and else where,

Wanna to say a few words on the below?
Cheers,
Toan.


===
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/features/2006/06/585900/

Hanoi restaurants more hostile than hospitable
17:43' 28/06/2006 (GMT+7)

A long queue in front of a famous Pho restaurant on Bat Dan Street, Hanoi.
VietNamNet – As the country moves toward global integration, Hanoi has been
taking stock of its
hospitality services, yet restaurants and hotels are still plagued by
bullies, who shout or swear at
their customers.

Pho, the most common breakfast food in Hanoi, draws hungry punters to a
myriad of establishments,
such as Pho Thin, Pho Ly Quoc Su, Pho Bat Dan, and Pho Co.

The horror of a long wait
Arriving at Bat Dan in the old quarter on a hot summer's day, and just
finding a place to park our
motorbikes was a real problem. Dozens of people were standing in two long
queues waiting for their
bowl of pho. It was not pleasant standing in the Hanoi summer heat along
with the sweating throng.
My friend got his chance first. About eight minutes later it was my chance
to get my noodles. Then
we had to find a seat. The small restaurant didn't have nearly enough space,
and people were sitting
on the pavement outside.
But even on pavement it seemed that every seat was occupied. Some folks were
milling around waiting
for someone to finish and leave their seat.
After 40 minutes waiting, my friend and I had to take separate seats. If
customers come in a group
of two or three, it's likely that they will not be able to sit together at a
table unless they wait
right through lunch.
Nevertheless, when talking to one of my friends who are a food connoisseur,
he told me that, there
are still many these restaurants in Hanoi, handed down from generation to
generation, where the
owners are the king's, not the customers.

King of pho, foul of mouth
In these restaurants if customers are not shouted or sworn at, then they are
already having a good
time. One bun restaurant at Ngo Si Lien Market has the dubious honour as
having the foulest mouthed
workers.
The noodles are mixed with pork, all in all a very tasty dish, and this
particular restaurant
attracts many customers. However, the owner, a woman in her 50s, and her
daughter, are ready to
swear or produce long strings of sailor talk for their customers.
For instance, a customer asking for more meat or spices would be greeted
with "Why didn't you fxxxxx
ask me before?". Patrons urging them to move quickly with service after
being made to wait, they
will be offered a retort along the liens of "Don't fxxxxx push me. I don't
have 10 hands."
Several weeks ago a customer lost his temper after being offered too many
choice words, and dished
the owner up several knuckle sandwiches. She was forced to languish in
hospital for a few days and
think about her shrewish tongue.
This is not such an isolated incident. In many other kinds places, bia hoi,
hairdressers, camera
repair shops, you name it and the service is lousy, and the staff ready to
give you a piece of their
mind if you dare complain.
When asked, shop owners usually say that they are the top shop in their
sector, and as they have no
problem attracting customers, they don't need to provide good services. Some
blame their poor
service on the subsidy period, and that they don't need to change as they
are doing well enough.
People who have a good knowledge of Hanoi often categorise customers who
choose this kind of service
into three different personality types. They include those folks who
actually miss the subsidy
period, another type who think that pho or ice cream culture means going to
the same place as
everyone else, because after all, that place is "number one". Then there are
the folks who believe
that such service is part of Hanoi's charm.
Many restaurant owners say that they have been shouting and swearing at
customers for so long, that
the punters actually expect it, and any change in their habits may drive
people away.
Writer's always blather on about how Hanoians don't just go to restaurants
to eat, but also to enjoy
'the special, unique atmosphere of Hanoi dining'.
This could be true for some restaurants, where diners are forced to stand in
long queues, yet, why
are other, more traditional restaurants, La Vong grilled fish for example,
doing so well without the
shouting and swearing.

Eat up or get lost
Each restaurant deals in their own specialty and one could forgive the
occasional accidental
outburst on a baking hot day. Perhaps in their kitchen cooked heads,
shouting and swearing are terms
of endearment to customers. The simple truth is that in many restaurants in
Hanoi, owners and their
staff ignore their customers needs.
In a restaurant where food for breakfast is served, some customers from the
south ordered omelet and
bread. After waiting for some time there still seemed to be no food
forthcoming, and the hungry
customers tried to remind the waiters that their food hadn't come. One
waiter didn't look up from
whatever he was doing but said the food would be another 15 minutes. When
the customers called
again, the water said "It's only been 14 minutes". One customer growled
"Making an omelette takes
two minutes", to which the surly waiter replied "Every customer here has to
wait for 15 minutes. It
is the restaurant's regulation,"
"That's ridiculous!" The customer said not believing what he heard.
"If you don't like then get lost".

Another irritating ploy is when customers order just one or two dishes, but
waiters bring out too
many, or entirely the wrong dish. Waiters will also allow customers to order
dishes from the menus
even though they don't make said dishes, and don't bother to tell the
customers, rather just make
something else.
At one renowned restaurant, which is in a very good location in Hanoi,
customers ordered tea after
their meal. "We don't have tea," the waiter replied. But when a big group of
foreign tourists walked
in, out came the cups of tea.
In the book on globalisation in different places written by Thomas L
Friedman called "The Lexus and
the olive tree", there is a short paragraph about Hanoi. The author wrote
that after he had lunch at
the Sofitel Metropole he ordered tangerine for dessert. The waiter told him
"We don't have
tangerines". At that time it was the right season for tangerines and many
were being sold on the
streets. The writer went on, "Every morning I have seen tangerines on the
tables for breakfast. Are
you sure?"
"No, we don't have any," the waiter insisted. When Friedman changed to
watermelon, the water went to
the kitchen. After few minutes he brought out tangerines and said, "We don't
have watermelon, but I
found some tangerines."
To explain this, some people say that Hanoi was wrapped in the darkness of
the subsidy period for a
long time and the integration has not changed much, as it has done in
Saigon.
The second reason is that Hanoians simply don't demand much of themselves or
their peers.
This reason is further confirmed by the fact that restaurants that have good
locations such as near
rivers, lakes or town centre normally have a bad reputation. As these
restaurants are located in
good places, they don't bother to find ways to attract more customers.
It is estimated that every day VND20bil (US$125,000) is spent on marketing
for goods and services in
Hanoi. However, in hospitality, services are still appalling.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)
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