Mia Saigon - Luxury Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

HEADLINE: THE MIA desperately FAILS to deliver on a 5-star experience. I rarely take the time to write in-depth reviews but my recent experience at The Mia has led me to take this review quite seriously.

Pros: The food was quite good, at the same time this should be the standard given the price point, it wasn't above average, but it meant the standard at least. D2 is a charming village, neighborhood, and the the location was perfect for exploring. However this hotel is actually quite very far from the more walkable places.

Cons: Poor Facilities management : Immediately upon checking in we found a massive crack in our bedroom wall of the television (see pictures below). It was so noticeable that we had to double check to see if it was supposed to be part of the "decor" but found no other walls to have this damaged crack on the wall. Immediately called the front desk to which there was MAJOR lack of urgency and they claimed they somehow miss this upon inspection before giving us this room. We ended up moving to a different room. Bad customer service: This place is notorious for giving different treatment depending on if your a foreigner vs. Vietnamese-speaking individual. Me and My partner are both fluent and bilingual in English and Vietnamese without accents in either language. We immediately notice different treatment when we spoke in english versus Vietnamese. As overseas Vietnamese we find it really disappointing that this establishment differentiates their service to cater and worship english speakers. We had to call room service to get transferred over to our parents, when we first called in Vietnamese the front desk said it wasn't possible to get transferred. We thought this was strange so I called again in English and they transferred us without a problem. Additionally, at dinner service, when I ordered in English, my cocktail and food came out first, and my partner who ordered a glass of champagne which literally requires just to be poured into a glass took 30 mins and we had to reminded our server numerous times. Additionally, they forgot his order. Everyone received their food and he was waiting another 20 mins after we discovered they had missed his order.

Really disappointing dinner service: This trickles down from the above ^ but dinner staff is undertrained. I had a half-eaten duck and left to go use the restroom, when i came back they took my plate away without even asking me if I had finished or not. When I notified them that I wasn't done, they LITERALLY took the same plate back from the kitchen to the table again, who knows if it was in the trash already and they had put it back on the plate for me? That was honestly so insulting and disgusting. a 5-star hotel takes your food away and then serves it again? They apologize by trying to offer me a free glass of prosecco and dessert what a joke.

4.NOT LGBT Friendly: See photos below, but this establishment seems to not support LGBT couples staying at the hotel. Everything is labeled "mr and mrs." for a luxury boutique hotel catering to international and educated people it seems to reinforce a gendered narrative and lacks an inclusive experience you'd expect from a 5-star establishment. Verrrrrrry disappointing and especially because D2 is known to be an expat environment with LGBT families.

SUMMARY: Overall, for how much we paid, we did not get our worth, in enjoyable experience & financially. We will be staying FAR FAR away from The Mia and encourage others to do so as well, especially if they are Vietnamese. Additionally, just looking at other google review posts, you can notice this is a trend. The biggest issue of this place is its unprofessional staff. Particularly a supervisor manager of the restaurant who doesn't understanding how to provide excellent service and address tension & instead relies on his wait staff to do that...

On the day of entering Mia, the gentleman at the outside entrance was lovely! He had a warm and welcoming attitude. But all after that went downhill. The check-in process was not prompt, and we had to wait. I think it's because you guys were understaffed. As we are waiting, Mr. Tan approaches my husband about the room, he is a man I understand but the booking was under my name and I am paying for it. Throughout our time, I felt like most of your staff only made eye contact with my white husband. It was almost like I didn't exist because I was a woman of color. When you guys are addressing it should be to both of us. Not one or the other. When we got to the room, the main desk where the TV and all the drinks were had so many stains on the table. It would be best if you guys renovated that. I don't want to pay almost 6 mil to look at some stained wooden desks. My husband found a hair on his bathrobe. Next, is the smell of the room. It was not nice, it smelt like a storage room. There should be some diffuser.

Next is the food and beverage at the hotel. I will explain next. To sum up the culinary experience at Mia, I was floored by how terrible it was.

We had lunch, dinner, and drinks at Mia. For lunch, we ordered 2 wonton soup. It took almost 36 minutes to prepare 2 wonton soups. I would understand if the restaurant was busy, but by the time we arrived, there was barely anyone/finished eating. Your wonton soup was below average and I think even the street soups were better than that. The only good thing was that the wontons were properly stuffed and that's it. At this time we already knew we didn't want to eat at the restaurant but at night it rained for hours and we had no choice but to do room service.

Wow, how disappointing! Firstly the menu at the restaurant lacked identity. I understand you have a French chef but I'm not sure if he did anything with this menu. The menu was all over the place, nothing stood out. By being left with no choice, we ordered 3 starters. The passionfruit-carrot Barramundi ceviche was way too overpowering with the sweetness. Please make the tiger sauce without the passionfruit. It lacked punch and acidity. For the salad, you guys gave fish crackers, I'm truly speechless at this. How in the world did you guys give these cheap fish crackers? You could have done something more gourmet. Maybe homemade sesame crackers etc… there are just so many ways to elevate this. Disappointing Octo Panzanella - the sourdough croutons should have been seasoned more, again, the salad was filled with croutons more than anything else. Crab and crab salad was missing picked jalapenos and again lacked seasoning and flavor.

After this, we went to the bar and that was the only part of our stay which was pleasant. We requested ginger and honey tea and they made it even though it was not on the menu. This is where the hospitality service excelled. We ordered 1 dessert (black forest)and I felt like this was the only thing that the French chef had influence on. The elements, the sweetness, and the layers of textures exceeded our expectations. That dessert was exceptional. 10/10.

Next day, breakfast: I asked for ginger and your team gave me some rotten ginger, I can send the picture later on as I can't attach it here. At 10 am I went to the crepe station and I asked for a freshly made crepe and your cook at the station was mad that I asked for a new one. He didn’t have a name tag on so I couldn't get his name. Tall-youngish boy. This kind of attitude is not acceptable, Also by 10:05 am your breakfast service team was in a rush to close it. It was chaotic...

Update: Wasn't satisfied with the first response from the business at all, but it seems that response has been edited into a more professional response, so I have upped the rating a notch. Thank you for realizing that first response was pretty terrible.

Original: This incident happened almost a year ago, but as the anniversary was coming up and I was reminded of the occasion, I have decided to finally write this review. Was a regular at Mia, as our group regularly enjoyed our seasonal staycation and brunch meetup with their overpriced buffet lunch menu, due to their great scenic location twice yearly.

Would have been a pretty alright lunch experience, had not for one of the chef (I assume he’s the head chef) who came to our table and asked how was the food.

The lunch was pretty decent all things considered (except for the price, because it’s Mia). But as our group were consistent of people witch background wihin the FnB industry, since the chef personally asked: we earnestly gave several constructive feedbacks, which was probably something the chef wasn’t prepared for, and thus acted pretty defensively about it; but the one which stood out the most was when we told him the Panna Cotta served for dessert was very runny (which is an opinion our group unanimously shared).

In a misguided attempt to save face, the chef dared to attempt to gaslight us by saying that’s how the consistency of Panna Cotta should be: “slightly runny”. As someone who’s internationally certified in hospitality and part of the field, it was severely insulting for the chef to try and sweep a constructive criticism under the table with a shameful lie such as that. The panna cotta had a consistency which was akin to loose soft yogurt, something that would spill off the cup if you were to tip it. It was clear that this particular Panna Cotta batch was not left in the fridge long enough at the correct duration to set right, and was rushed out to fulfil buffet demands; but the chef still flippantly lecture our table that’s what panna cotta should be. Everyone in our table were people who is in the industry, and folks who own hospitality businesses local and overseas, so it was a much more shameful behaviour even moreso.

At that point our group knew it was a lost cause to discuss things further with the chef (having spent plenty of time dealing with these kind of chefs in my years of working in the industry), and we let him leave our table smugly to badger the next table for their hopefully more positive opinions instead.

Despite the recent review, this incident happened on the 19th of March 2023. It has been a year since, and I personally have not returned to Mia since due to this soured brunch experience, which was something of an occasion we enjoyed every multiple times a year. While I tried to let matter settled and forget about this incident, the sheer unashamed attitude of the weasely chef still occasionally cross me off to this day.

Guess I will finally write my opinion on this matter for closure, then move on with my life.

You are free to pay an arm and a leg to eat here, but don’t expect the value to match with your paid money. Think of it as a sightseeing tax, and you should be able to have a half...