Saigon '60s Vietnamese Cuisine — Restaurant in North Island

I don't usually write reviews, but I thought I should to let people avoid my mistake. I went here with my partner after seeing many good reviews but regretted it pretty quickly. The food was above average, but nothing to rave about. That's where the positives end. Here are the negatives:

The person serving us told us that we have to work with 2 menus in tandem. The old menu for prices, but the new menu for items that were available. Firstly, we were told after we ordered, and not when we were provided the menus. Secondly, we were told the menu we ordered was not available even though it was also on the new menu. After checking again, it turned out it Was available. Not a huge issue, as we ended up ordering what we wanted. Not only is this a confusing method of ordering, it has also confused your staff!

Our food came quite slowly, I would say 20 to 25 mins, which is quite long for a Vietnamese restaurant. Again, not a huge gripe. However an "authentic" Vietnamese restaurant would have provided condiments such as chilli's, mint leaves, lemon and bean sprouts with a Pho noodle soup dish separately for the customers to add.

This is what tipped me over the after the first two minor issues. We ordered 2 iced coffees with our meals. Generally they come before the food but the food came first after our 25 min wait. When the food came, I asked about the iced coffees and the waitress said sorry and that they would be out soon. 10 minutes later and I am halfway through my meal, the same waitress comes back and asks, "what coffees did you order?" Basically they were "coming" 10 mins ago but now I am asked what coffees we ordered? One would assume if you missed someone order 35 minutes ago, you would make sure it is done, and not wait another 10 mins to ask what coffees they were. We finally got our coffees in another 10 mins.

All in all, the food wasn't poor, but the sheer lack of customer service was at the point of being rude. Luckily, you had the luxury and the customer paying for the food and drink in advance, or else I probably would have walked out. Judging by all the the good reviews, hopefully it was...

If I could give this restaurant a 0 star rating I would. I ordered the Beef Pho, for $14+ I was expecting a beautiful broth and tender beef. Instead I got overcooked noodles, a broth that smelled gamey, and 3 stingy pieces of colourless beef. My partner ordered the Grilled Pork on rice, which was $15+, what we got was a very small portion of fatty off-cuts of pork - which would have been bearable if the meat didn't smell like leather boots that had been in the rain for 3 days. There is no way that any fresh meat that is cooked in clean oil, in a clean pan can have that stench. My partner has a higher standard for food than I do, so I tried some - I have never in my life rejected food or left a plate uneaten - but the food was so terrible that I felt compelled to tell the owner. I told her very politely, that I don't want to offend her, but there is a smell in the meat and that we cannot eat this. She then became very defensive and unfriendly, she said that it is the "New Zealand pork" that has a bad smell and refused to amend anything or offer even a portion of a refund - even though one dish was not eaten at all and the other was maybe only 1/3 consumed. Will NEVER come back here again - and will tell my colleagues, friends and family to avoid this place like the plague if they visit Rotorua.

Don't eat here unless you want a terrible experience with stinky meat, overcooked gluggy rice, overcooked rice noodles and terrible service and...

We visited Saigon 60's Cafe in Rotorua and tried both the beef and chicken pho. The broth was really flavorful and made the meal enjoyable. The beef pho was especially good, with a generous amount of tender beef slices that made it quite satisfying. However, the chicken pho was a bit disappointing — it was average, mainly because they used tough breast meat instead of the traditional kampung chicken you'd find in Vietnam. I understand that might be due to import restrictions to New Zealand, but it affected the authenticity and quality of the dish.

The service was quick, but most of the staff were Vietnamese and had limited English, which made communication a bit challenging. Additionally, when we needed to find the toilets, we were told they were outside, to the right and then a right turn. The lady service crew appeared to be unwilling to provide more directions. Unfortunately, we couldn't locate them despite searching around, which was frustrating. We ended up having to cut our dinner short and rush back to our accommodation because I really needed to find a restroom.

Overall, the broth and beef pho were highlights, but some aspects of the service and certain menu items could be improved for a more...