Saigon Bistro — Restaurant in Lakeland

I ordered saigon bistro through postmates. I had never eaten there before. I ordered 2 beef pho, an order of spring rolls, and an order of dumplings. I was charged over $7.00 for what turned out to be 4 dumplings... FOUR!!! i also paid over $5 for 2 spring rolls roughly the size of my index finger. All the pho ingredients were packaged separately, from the broth, but the broth was not hot enough to heat the ingredients up. the beef, described as "rare" on the menu, was in fact 100% raw. This is a bit of a problem when the broth isnt hot enough to bring the meat up to a safe temperature to consume. I understand that the food being cold may not have been their fault, seeing as how it was delivered, but i live pretty close, and if they cant make sure their pho is gonna be safe to eat when the customer gets it, they probably shouldnt offer it as a delivery item. I called to complain about the portion size of the spring rolls and the dumplings, and the girl on the phone couldnt have cared less. she defended the restaurant by stating that the restaurant only charges like $6 something for the dumplings and postmates gets the rest, which is possible but unlikely, since none of their competition operates that way. Usually, restaurants are told they can increase the price for menu items to help compensate for the flat percentage taken by the delivery service. Either way, her argument was ridiculous. even at $6 something, thats still over $1.50 PER DUMPLING! the quantity per order is listed nowhere on the menu, and the girl on the phone suggested that I was at fault for "buying something that I didnt know what i was getting" . What reasonable person would expect to get only 4 dumplings when they're priced north of $7? There wasnt anything particularly different about the dumplings compared to anywhere else i've seen them. They werent any bigger than any other dumpling ive had I didnt eat them, but i cant imagine the flavor would have justified the price. same goes for the $2.00+ spring rolls. whoever prices these menu items either thinks that nobody knows how much ingredients cost, or how to REASONABLY mark up their items. The customer service was just as bad. The girl on the phone had no business fielding customer complaints, and she told me as such AFTER i had been complaining to her for a couple minutes. I told her why I was calling and she just let me start telling her what my problem was, only to tell me there was nothing she could do about it because she didnt make the prices (exactly what every upset customer wants to hear.) I asked her why she was answering the phone and she said that shes the one who takes the call in orders... Fair enough, but when a customer calls to complain about their experience, you hand the phone to someone who is capable of at least pretending to be sympathetic. She did eventually hand me off to someone else. I have no idea who it was because she didnt tell me she was doing it. I told the mystery person the issue with my experience and the guy basically said that they charge what they charge and they have NEVER had a complaint in 7 years, which is impossible. No business will ever have 100% satisfaction. Thats just not possible. Ive worked in customer service long enough to know that. I get that the girl and maybe even mystery man cant control the pricing, but they can absolutely control the situation. Unfortunately, there must not have been anyone there who knows how to interact with an upset customer, and with no resolution, I'm stuck here making sure that everyone else knows where to set their expectations when doing business with saigon bistro. I cant speak to the flavor of the food, as i am going to make sure i get a refund from postmates, and out of principle Im not gonna eat a meal I'm requesting my money back for. I have half a mind to drive the food back to the restaurant and leave it by their front door so they cant throw it out. 0/5 would...

Extremely disappointed in my experience here. I am not sure the reasoning behind their behavior. During this time, there is a lot of confusion and stress going on, but there is no excuse for inconsiderate and rude treatment of customers. My family and I were craving Asian cuisine tonight, and this was the first place we thought of. After literally 10 attempts to call in for Takeout, we decided to drive up to the restaurant to order. We realized that they posted another number to call on the front of their door, so I called that number. An individual answered and told me that they were super busy and attempted to put me on hold...they made a huge mistake and did not press the hold button, so we could still hear. I was on "hold" for 10 minutes before I heard another one of the restaurant's phones ring. The same person that put me on hold decided to answer that call and take their full order...she still did not come back to the phone so obviously I decided to hang up and call again in another attempt to order. This time, the same person answered. She apologized for keeping me on hold and said they were very busy. I mentioned to her that it was strange for them to be too busy to take my order, but they could happily take the orders of people calling AFTER me. She then interrupted me and said "okay I guess I just have to take your order now" then proceeded to put me on hold AGAIN. I felt extremely disrespected, especially for an establishment where I was willing to spend my money! Very unacceptable and will not be returning...

07/18/21- Trying to place a simple pickup order for teas was impossible! I was having brunch literally next door at Grillsmith so I’m like why not pick up two teas on the way out since I had a strong craving for it. Should be easy right? I called, I was placed on hold for five minutes. I hung up, called again, it went straight to busy tone. I kept calling several times, busy tone. My husband even called, busy tone. Now the automated message when you first call in does recommend to place the order online, HOWEVER, the passion fruit teas I wanted ARE NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE TO ORDER. Finally got someone to answer the phone around 2:45-2:50pm only to be told the person who makes the juices won’t be back until 3:15pm. What the……????? I’ve been calling since 2:18pm (it’s all in my call log). Do the math, that’s over 30 minutes. It was beyond ridiculous, extremely irritating and I’ve eaten here several times (which I’ve also had additional issues that I never reported, but today’s incident was that special cherry on top) Thank goodness we ate next door, can you imagine trying to order food to pick up if we couldn’t even get to order a simple drink? Regardless of the excuses of being swamped, or super busy etc., don’t run a business if you cannot cater to your customers (for example: only having ONE person on duty that makes the juices when you offer a FULL MENU of freshly made beverages is not good for business, you always have a backup present). After all, WE mere “simpletons” are the ones that make your business thrive...