Bao An Macrobiotic — Restaurant in Đà Nẵng

I know this establishment receives rave reviews, but my latest experience was incredibly disappointing. I'm not sure if the service was poor after having extended time off for the Tet holiday or if I was being racially profiled? Had I not dined at this establishment previously, I might think the latter. After biking some distance to dine here, I was told that they were out of the dish I came to order even though I saw a large bowl of the ingredients used to make it was sitting out, then they changed their mind and said they did have it available. I asked for the table I wanted to be cleaned and cleared - it was one of two tables available and it took more than 10 minutes for a server to respond to the request meanwhile I'm standing at the front desk waiting after petal- biking a ways to get there. There were no other customers ahead of me - they were pretty full, but not busy. One server then proceeded to spend minutes wiping the table when it bordered on unnecessary/intentionally overdone. There were fruit flies hovering on the limes. Both of the tea containers were left empty on the table so I brought them to the front desk, which then resulted in waiting for several more minutes for the container to be refilled. However then the tea container was switched out a couple of times, which made me reluctant to drink the tea. The peanut sauce wasn't mixed well for the bun rau. There were ants crawling on the coconut oil I was interested in buying - when I brought it to the host's attention she didn't seem to care or maybe she didn't understand. When other Asian customers asked for assistance they were responded to promptly. Here's the thing - my dong spends just as well as any other nationality. All customers & guests to your country deserve to be treated with the same level of customer service, promptness & respect. After eating, when I went to the counter to pay, the waitstaff just looked at me, but no one moved to help me check out. After such a frustrating experience, I left my money on the counter and walked toward my bike only to be followed and pressed about the payment. Nothing was done to make things right or to reduce the bill for any inconvenience & for the poor level of service. I verbally expressed my disappointment & was told sorry (half-heartedly - if you're truly sorry you take action & make an effort to repair the relationship with the customer). If I were a tourist flying from the other side of the world to visit Vietnam for the first time (which technically I am) and on a fixed time schedule, today's level of service would be considered highly disappointing, confusing at best or troubling at worst. I really hope the owner and staff of Bao An Macrobiotic were having an off day - I really do hope so. 🙏🏾 For these reasons, I have to rate them with 1 star, which is generous after having...

My partner and I have been here twice and had noodle soup and fresh Spring rolls both times. We wanted the pumpkin soup the second time, but they were sold out. The noodle soup is all right, but nothing special. The fresh Spring rolls I like very much, as they have a Japanese twist to them and come with a peanut buttery sauce that complements it well. We also ordered a lemonade, which is the reason for my 2* review. It tasted like diluted seawater with a slice of lime in it. A lemonade is supposed to be sweet and fresh. We asked the waitress why the lemonade was salty, and said we didn't like it. She didn't understand how it could be salty, and asked if we wanted it more sweet. We knew that would just mean adding syrup to a liquid we didn't like, so we said we didn't want it. She took the lemonades away, added syrup to them, and came back with them. Strong sugar cane syrup does not go well in a lemonade, it only made it worse. I went up to the counter right after to pay, and said that we still couldn't drink the lemonades and that we didn't want them. She talked to who I assume was the owner, who was hosting a birthday party at the table indoors, who recommended us to try the passion fruit juice next time. I received the bill which included the lemonades, and I asked if we still had to pay for them even when we couldn't drink them. They couldn't do anything about that, so we had to pay. I was in awe, but there was no need to cause a scene. They offered us some beans in warm syrup water, which was the dessert from the birthday party. Before I had a chance to ask my partner if she was interested, they already poured a small bowl with it. I accepted it as I didn't want to be rude. Beans in hot syrup water was not exactly a good substitute for an ice cold sweet lemonade, so I had no desire to finish it, and we left. When you serve something that does not align with the description on your menu, or something that tastes awful, and your customers want to send it back, you take it back and don't charge for it. Any service that doesn't live up to this is...

Update: Came again to give them a second chance. Twice disappointed. Even after sending a message on Zalo. I was told there are dishes without onion and garlic. Got there and the only two things is fresh spring roll and salad.

Nice looking macrobiotic restaurant. I hope that the hours are correct now.

Went there to enjoy a large dinner with a friend but the menu was rendered to four items because they closing at 15:30 and not 20:30 as listed on the Google Map page. Perhaps they don't manage the Google Maps Business page. That is understandable. I hope it is corrected.

The waitstaff seemed to be distracted and more focused with her phone. And somewhere between placing the order and her giving it to the kitchen she didn't tell them no onions. Which I said a few times and she appeared to have acknowledge that I said no onions. The bowl came with onions and quickly taken away to have the onions picked off the top of the salad.

Having been in food service it is important to communicate to the kitchen when a customer make a request for something not to be on the dish to make certain the kitchen is aware. I recommend you having customers write down their orders. It will eliminate missing requests.

It was apparently closing time so there were no pleasantries exchanged during the 30 minutes of being there. There was one woman there appeared to be an owner. She appeared not to be in pleasant mood. Not sure what that was about. I won't be going back.

Veganism is more than just food. It should express a spirit of compassion and joy. As vegans we are here to reduced the suffering in the world. If we aren't able to do that with our interactions then what...