Hanoi restaurants more hostile than hospitable
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.
Tuoi Tre - June 28, 2006.
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