Huong Que — Restaurant in Berlin

Before I start, I would like to make it clear that the following was written from the perspective of a person who is living vegan. Alright.

One night, and very hungry, our group arrived in this area quite late in the evening. Not wanting to merely treat ourselves to takeaway food (of which Berlin of all places surely has so many tasty vegan options to offer, I know), we asked politely if we could still be served here at this late hour. And even though they were already cleaning up the outdoor seating areas, we were very kindly invited inside. Kudos to those guys for this class act alone! We each had one organic Pilsner, a starter item and a main dish, and good lord, were those tasty! The starter soups were coconut and one lighter one, and each was so tangy and differently flavourful. The summer rolls were freshly made and a delight. Our main courses each consisted of differently prepared variations of vegetables, rice noodles and tofu or fake meat. Each of those items had a flavour profile on its own, uniquely savoury and insanely delicately constructed and presented. Portion sizes were more than adequate, as was the pricing. The staff were very friendly and accomodating, and we will be sure to return as soon as possible. After all, we simply have to try more of the other vegan options! Ideally though, at a much earlier hour, far away from closing time....

I had the worst restaurant experience in my life at this place today. The waiter was the most unfriendly I ever met from the very start. He was very stressed although the place was almost empty, didn't leave us time at all to choose from the menu and reacted literally aggressively to questions.

When we discovered that there was pineapple in the soup, which my girlfriend is allergic to, he at first declined there is any pineapple in there and after asking the cook because we insisted, he told us that he wouldn't take it back as it was our fault that we didn't ask in the first place. I told him as it isn't written in the menu and it is a known allergen that we won't eat it and he has to take it back, which he reluctantly did in the end after complaining more about our behavior and literally shouting at us.

The food tasted alright but let alone the fact that they charge you money for water from the tap is a shame. Overall It was just ridiculous, as I said I never ever experienced such horrible service and normally I don't tend to complain much as I know service is a hard job but this kind of behavior towards guests is simply unacceptable.

I can definitely not recommend to go there and I will most definitely...

Food was really more than decent, and if the service would have been at least OK, the overall score would be higher.

But: as we were seated, the waitress told us she'd be with us in a minute. Then she came back, just to run away again. After over 10 minutes, we reminded another waitress that we were ready to order. Another 25 minutes and we were yet to receive our first drinks. So we got ready to leave. Right then the second waitress rushed out with our drinks, and soon thereafter we got our food.

And that's fine. Sometimes it's just busy and things take time. What made the visit unpleasant for us was that the staff were obviously irritated with eachother and that reflected on the service we got. Not a smile, no apologies for taking time, and in the end we had to go inside to pay our checks after asking for it twice.

Overall - an allright meal with tapas style vietnamese food, dumplings, salmon and summer spring rolls. The pricing was really good. The lasting impression though, is the awful mood from the staff, who could have made it a really good night if they just cared to smile at each other, or at least...