Viet Bu Tong (VBT) Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Islands District

As a long term resident of the area I had high hopes for this restaurant and was eager for its opening. Now after two dining experiences there I feel it's safe to say that this restaurant is a disappointment. The visual atmosphere is nice following a somewhat intimate theme however the music is played at a very high volume making any attempt at conversation difficult, and the result being the opposite of what must have been intended. The menu is perhaps the most limited one I have ever seen in a Vietnamese restaurant in Hong Kong with the majority of the dishes not actually being anywhere near Vietnamese food or even available from the menu (out of stock). The portion sizes are very small, the flavour is quite standard and you will quickly realize the prices are outrageously high when you see what you get or in the case of them mixing up the meals (which happens frequently) what you don't get. It's confusing why an average Vietnamese restaurant in Gold Coast charges upwards of 30% to the equivalent in Central. The rent's are high in Gold Coast but $90 for a very generic bowl of pho is tipping the scales of logic. The service is slow and during the previous dining experience food was spilt on me during it's delivery and the waitstaff cursed out loud in front of the children that were present at the table. She apologized for the spill but she made no mention of her cursing during the experience which I found particularly unusual. I do believe the wait staff are nice and mean well but they are under-trained and the responsibility for that falls squarely on the management. Unless this restaurant steps up its game by revising their menu to include a better variety of selections at more reasonable prices, more appropriately stocks the items listed on the menu, revises the volume of their music, properly trains their waitstaff and actually makes the conscious decision of whether they'd like to be a Vietnamese restaurant or not then I strongly believe that it will ignorantly go down the road previously traveled by so many failed businesses in Gold Coast.

6 months on...

I appreciate the management reaching out however 6 months later the menu is the same (perhaps even less Vietnamese) and I just got a $97 bill for a bowl of very average Pho noodle. Quite possibly the most expensive bowl of noodles in the city!! If you are going to price so high then please for the love of god don't be so skimpy with portion size and basic ingredients. After 20mins I payed the bill and although the restaurant was mostly empty I was most bizarrely asked to give either share or give up my table. Classy...

Thought I'd give it another try but I learned by lesson. Today will be...

I saw something today regarding this food place that really just blew my mind in a very negative way. We have eaten in this place quite a few times as a resident of discovery bay over the years. the food was decent, a lot of time the meat was decent and a few times, very tough and hard to chew but it tasted decent so we go sometimes. But, today, I was shopping in the market across the path called YUU. I see the manager in there buying lots of dumplings, many packages, lots of dreyers ice cream and many other items. Enough to feed the restaurant across the path. I have seen this about 4 other times and it did bother me but I thought maybe she is going on and taking it hoe ect. Then today, we sit outside and watched as both her and either the cook or help takes the food inside the restaurant and guess what, They are using this to serve to patrons. For me, it is not so much about the food, but they did buy the cheap dumplings, the cheapest ice cream that is not even real cream. Out of all the choices to pick from in Hong Kong, if I am going to go out to eat, I sure as heck do not want to eat the same frozen stuff I have bought in the market and then go to VBT restaurant and find out, it is not even the best food they serve yet their prices are so high. I just really liked this place 60% of the time because the server was always most of the time super nice. Maybe it is me, if you knew that you were buying the same frozen same old same in the restaurant as you do the market, would you feel the same about it anymore? Very, very sad. This is not to put the place down, just to let DB residents beware and future guest, you are not getting real authentic food here. If they use this cheap frozen food across the market, which I have seen her buy 5 times now, it makes you wonder what the rest of the food they have and where they get it. Sadly, we will not be going back here and as living in DB for many, many years, at lease be honest with your patrons. Signed, I work for my money and expect something nice when I go out, otherwise, I will just buy the same frozen junk in the frozen isle. PS, for the prices you charge, tacking on your big service charges, you could at lease buy better ice cream. We really are smarter than this as consumers and we do have choices where we can find better places that really care about the food they give to patrons and...

We went to the Discovery Bay location. Nice decor but, unfortunately, we didn't have the best experience. The English manager, or owner, I'm not sure which, greeted us in a friendly, cheerful manner and recommended I try the Lime Soda with mint and cucumber as a drink; which turned out to be an excellent choice. So far so good. We ordered the Spring Rolls appetizer which, apart from the mediocre fish sauce, were excellent. The problem began with the Sirloin Beef Pho we ordered. The soup base was lukewarm and not cooking the meat, which is how we are used to having it. When I politely asked the manager/owner if he could have the soup heated up, he put his hands around my bowl and said, rather tersley: "It feels hot to me." When I insisted politely that the contents of hot bowl were lukewarm and not cooking the beef, he said: "You can eat it raw you know." Again, still polite despite the attitude I was getting, from him, I explained that we preferred it cooked in the hot broth. He snatched the bowls off the table without a word and then returned a few minutes later, slamming the bowls on the table and then walking off, quite obviously in a huff. Not exactly a stellar example of customer relations. He never came back to ask us if everything was now okay. To top it off, I am in agreement with other reviews I have seen regarding the lack of taste in the soup base. All in all a disappointing experience. We won't be back, thank...