Ha Long Bay Bistro — Restaurant in Dunedin

After a rough weekend I needed some comfort food. For an American like myself, you might that would be fast food or a sammich from somewhere... But for me? It’s delectable Asian cuisine. 🤤

We ordered ‘rangoon’ (American), steamed pot stickers, summer rolls (totally my fault here, will explain). A banh mi, the most delightful pho and three super cool custom mocktails, if you will. Let me explain.

The term “rangoon” refers to the filling in a fried wonton. The dish’s origin leads to debated locations in California in the 1950s. No matter what, I can’t trust someone who doesn’t love fried anything, but they have the finesse where they’re poofy and not oily. That’s skill.

Pot stickers 🥟are probably good fried, but I love them steamed. The dip that comes with them (mostly soy sauce and rice wine vinegar but in a pool of wonderful) is best when the entire dumpling can soak up the joy and live its best life. Don’t deprive it of that, order them steamed. You don't have to, but if I see you I'll be honest right now and will acknowledge that you just don't know better. It's ok.

Summer Rolls. Y’all. Speaking of Knowing better, I know better. I thought for whatever reason I was ordering SPRING rolls. Yeah. So, I ordered SUMMER rolls with PORK. Epic fail. Do not make the same mistake, my darlings. Luckily, I have cocktail shrimp 🦐 on standby to correct my ignorance.

🌞SUMMER ROLLS are the ones that have a kind of sticky translucent rice paper outside and are not fried.

🌸SPRING ROLLS are these super tightly rolled fried sticks of yes please.

Learn from my errors, even when I know (maybe?) the menu(ish).

Banh mi is a sammich that will change your life. The combination of ingredients is just beyond belief when put together. You really shouldn’t dissect it and ask for more _ or less_ because it is a piece of perfection, you’ll mess up the balance and then you failed yourself. The sammich didn’t fail you. You don’t go and visit the Mona Lisa and ask someone to put mascara on her.

And pho (pronounced ‘fuh’) y’all. If you haven’t baptized yourself in the broth, then you’re missing out. If you get it to go, it comes with the broth separate from the ingredients to go in. So, there are rice noodles, whatever protein you ordered, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, Thai basil, bean sprouts, and if you’re in the know... then you know a place like this has its own 🌶️hot sauce. If you’re into spicy, make sure to ask (AND BE THANKFUL)! You won’t be disappointed!!!

Finally, the beverages. I LOVE fun non-alcoholic drinks!! I got a taro drink, a Thai iced tea and a coconut coffee thing for my husband. The gentleman who helped me gave me some suggestions and of course the only reasonable response to that is, “Just make them for me like you would make for yourself!”. You cannot fail with this response. Most people really love what they do, love to feed people, share experiences and show their love in...

Before it was Ha Long Bay Bistro, it was the Ivory Bistro and it was one of several go to places for us for a good Chinese restaurant that was still casual. We never had a bad meal or experience with Ivory Bistro.

We were not impressed with Ha Long Bay Bistro. Table service was poor. After we were seated, we waited ten minutes to get menus and still ten minutes more for water and to give our order. We had three different waiters/waitresses come by our table asking if we had ordered drinks or food and we explained that someone had started us out. Our final waiter ended up being short with us when we asked questions as if he was distracted or too busy. Once our food came, I tried to ask for more napkins and a water refill, but he set our food down and turned and walked away without a word. He never did ask how our food was or if we needed anything else until we got the bill. We did finally get napkins and water refills from one of the managers I believe.

We also ordered dim sum for the first time. They had one entire page of the menu dedicated to it, so you would think it would be something they would want to sell. We felt that our waiter didn't really want to answer the questions we had about it...then to make matters worse, once we received our bill, we realized that one of the two dim sum dishes they brought was not what we ordered (glad one of us wasn't allergic to shrimp or the meal would have been much more exciting...). Another thing we thought was strange was that the dim sum was only mildly warm. They obviously prep it ahead of time and then reheat it. The metal containers they were delivered in were very cool to the touch, so we assumed that they are just for show.

The only saving grace was that both of our meals were quite good. My meal was not as warm as it should have been, but it was acceptable. My partner's meal was piping hot.

I believe these new owners have had the restaurant for over a year. It is a surprise that they don't have their act together by now.

Lastly, I noticed on the way out that they have on display in their entry all sort of articles about awards the Ivory Bistro received over the past few years...and it feels like they are passing off the pasts owners successes as their own. It is very disappointing. From what we experienced, they have a way to go before they could claim to be in the...

ChatGPT

Log in You said: Rewrite Food is amazing and been going here for years HOWEVER. BUT PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR WHEN DINING IN. TIP IS INCLUDED. We were almost tricked by this as the waitress brought the bill, we noticed the tip included, then gave the card and they brought it back without the first part of the reciept to show gratuity already added in so when you sign you give another tip. Sadly these kinds of things will put restaurants out of business because people catch on to the scam and won't go there anymore. We love their food but maybe we will just have to do takeout. And I will be paying attention to that too to see if they take out a gratuity for takeout which should NOT be included. Just bothers me they are doing this so people are tricked and dont pay attention. Gave it 2 stars because I dont appreciate scams but I love their food and atmosphere. 1 star for service because clearly the employees know what they are doing to double dip on tipping. Shame on them. Please be careful and pay attention. ChatGPT said: Sure! Here's a cleaner, more professional version of your review while still keeping the same message and tone:

Great food, but watch your bill carefully

I’ve been coming here for years because the food is amazing and the atmosphere is great. However, I’m really disappointed with something that feels deceptive. When dining in, be very careful—gratuity is already included in the bill.

Our recent experience: the waitress brought the check, and we noticed the tip was already added. But when she took the card and brought it back, the receipt to sign didn’t show the original charges with the included tip—just a blank line for another tip. It feels like they’re counting on customers not paying attention and tipping twice.

This kind of practice can really damage a restaurant’s reputation. We love the food, but this left a bad taste. We might just stick to takeout from now on—but even then, I’ll be checking to make sure gratuity isn’t being unfairly added there too.

Giving 2 stars overall: 5 stars for food, 1 star for service. It’s disappointing because it seems like the staff know exactly what they’re doing. Please double-check your bill so you’re not unintentionally...