Saigon Rex 美心酒樓 — Restaurant in Melbourne

The restaurant is modern, bright lights and stage for karaoke and dance floor, we were quite impressed with the vibe. Then everything went downhill. Service and attention to details are poor, food came extremely slow and price is on the ‘not worth it’ after the extended wait and cold food. You can get better value, service and food variety at other restaurants. Food came really slow, came 20-30 mins per dish, one at a time. We were there for a celebration, the whole point about eating Chinese cuisine is about sharing trying different hot and fresh dishes of mains with rice. However the slowness ruined the food and appetite. As part of the banquet meal, after the entree and appetisers, we get steamed fish and other dishes with rice. The steamed fish came out first, but with no bowls, plates to serve the fish on, and no rice or any other dishes to eat with. It was just the steamed fish sitting on the table alone getting cold. we waited for more than 20 mins and after much chasing we get bowls, our rice came then the rest of the dishes. By now the steamed fish is cold. We were there for a celebration, however all we feel for the night is the distress on when the food will come out, cold food. We lost all our appetite by the time the food came out.

From a price per value wise, please look and compare the banquet price with other higher profile restaurants such as Gold Leaf and Sharkfin house. For the same price or cheaper they offered more dishes, better value variety, faster and professional service.

We thought we give this place a try through colleague’s recent visit, even though we know that they are more expensive, hoping that the experience and the food is worth it.

Unfortunately very disappointed by...

UNPROFESSIONAL AND HORRIBLE SERVICE!

I placed a catering order with them a couple of months prior to our big event. Deposit paid, I even called back a few weeks later to change the catering order and we confirmed new price etc.

On the day of the event, the very afternoon of pick up, we arrived at the restaurant and it was CLOSED! NO COMMUNICATION whatsoever, just closed! No one even attempted to call to inform us! I don’t understand how given the plenty of time we had leading up to the big event, not one person followed it up or manager/person I spoke to over the phone when I called to change my catering order, tell me that they were going to be closed for renovations.

My sister managed to get through day after our party and the boss/manager said they were closed for renovations AND had the audacity to put the blame on me and said “I must of given the wrong number to him” how does one read their number wrong? No. That was a complete lie! it was his excuse to explain how they failed so badly as a business to deliver their service. Said he was happy to refund our deposit. I messaged him back and forth and even then, he still did not refund our deposit as promised. Also said he was in hospital etc. This dragged on, patiently waiting… I finally decided to call and chase it up. It wasn't until then he “remembers me” and refunded my deposit. So unprofessional and would never go back to this restaurant ever again!!!

I am appalled by the extremely poor service. I have warned other friends and family and also warning the rest of you, AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Save the headache, stress and inconvenience. Go...

Our family had an event here recently and the person in charge of the restaurant at the time was extremely unprofessional. None of their prices were consistent even though we took photos of the initial prices that we had already put a deposit on. Once everything was confirmed and finalised again (the prices of things such as: seating, table, drink charges, extra menu add-ons etc) she still tried to increase the prices on the night we paid. Even when corrected, she accused us of making a fuss for no reason!!

We fixed up whatever we noticed wasn't correct and paid. We didn't realise until afterwards that she had snuck in an extra bottle of alcohol on the bill that was super expensive! We didn't bother going back to fix it up, we just wanted the headache to end.

A couple days after our event, some of our guests told us that they didn't even receive some of the dishes listed on the set menu!!

We also had guests with dietary requirements - specifically NO pork. One guest had asked the waiters if the dish was chicken or pork and was told it was chicken. LUCKILY enough someone else tried it first and it was in fact pork. This could have been avoidable if the waiters knew what was in the dishes!

It was overall an mess! From the unprofessional staff to the misleading prices and missing dishes off the set menu. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Save your money and...