Ha Long Bay Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

Eggplant and round beans in a thick garlic, chilli sauce with crisp vegetables, soft eggplant and wonderful soft rice is a treat. Again, Ha Long offers a tasty and filling dinner. It's a great value restaurant and offers dishes full of taste. From my last visit: shrimp paste flavoured sauce with tofu and veggies. Another great hit of flavours with generous veggies and tofu pieces. My friend had the large bowl of fragrant laksa with seafood. A Gobsmacking delight. Another lovely, juicy dish, the vegetable and tofu laksa. From my last visit: Crispy fried bread on top of a rich and fragrant laksa soup. Floating within are broccoli, cauliflower bits, baby corn, carrots, zucchini, bean sprouts, red capsicum and generous pieces of tofu. A little delight for lunch. From my last visit: Try the eggplant and bean stir fry. This one is with garlic, chilli and basil. Tasty and fresh. Eggplant is always great in a dish, especially the fish fragrant eggplant from Szechuan. And try the gong cha (red tea) if it’s available. Goes a treat with this lunch dish. (From my last visit: I’ve missed this honest restaurant in Wollongong’s east end. A hot fresh vegetable dish with loads of flavour, a good hit of garlic and crunchy cashews. And you get the firm tofu, not the deep fried variety. A little delight for lunch.) and it’s still a delight, especially on the balcony overlooking...

There is a real disconnect between the majority of the reviews on the restaurant's website and our experience of their food today - although, a few other one star reviews nailed it.

The food was a very disappointing throwback to the most ordinary Chinese cafes of decades past. I suspect that the Ha Long Bay doesn't know what sort of restaurant it wants to be - and whatever that is I wouldn't expect it to last much longer with such ordinary offerings.

We ordered a few of their lunch specials - lemon grass and chilli beef ... only their was no lemon grass or chilli. We also ordered the ginger and shallot chicken ... only their was no apparent ginger or shallots. And both dishes were characterised by thick sweet and tasteless sauces - not the light tasty sauces normally associated with good Vietnamese cuisine.

We also ordered the Pad Thai - and the fact that this was on the menu should have been the cue to turn around ... it was exceedingly ordinary - though it seemed quite palatable in contrast to the other offerings.

We'd strongly recommend that you give this establishment a wide...

We decided to check this place out after some online research. Interestingly, when we arrived, the waitress, who we assumed to be one of the owners or store managers, asked if I could place my order in Chinese.

We ordered the Vietnamese stuffed chicken wings. They were definitely crispy, but the dipping sauce left a bit to be desired – not quite strong enough for our taste.

Next up was the Thai beef fried rice, but to our surprise, it was sliced beef instead of the usual minced beef. A little odd, to say the least.

We also gave the combination pho a shot, but it left us puzzled. Instead of the expected thinly sliced beef, it came with thinly sliced pork and BBQ pork. If you're after an authentic Vietnamese experience, this might not be the...