Crystal Jade Kitchen — Restaurant in Đà Nẵng

An unpleasant incident happened on 15/06/2019 between the assistant manager, Mr. Quang Ly and us (a group of four tourist guests).

We entered the unbusy restaurant at about 3:40 pm and placed our order after 10 minutes. After waiting for about 15 minutes, our first dish came along with our beverages. We acknowledged some language barrier and accepted an erroneous order whereby an extra glass of Tra Tao Do Ky Tu (a herbal drink) was served. At this point, the service staff also came to inform that one of our order, Ha Cao, was not available and showed us the menu to select another dish.

Disappointingly, we opted for the Sui Cao Chien Gion (Fried Dumplings). Please be mindful that the unavailability was mentioned after the first dish has been served at about 4:05 pm. Between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm, we have to ask at least twice for the service staff to check with the kitchen because it was taking quite long for the food to be served, especially when the restaurant is not busy.

By about 4:30 pm, when most of our orders have been served and consumed, the fried dumplings remained unserved. Unanimously, we agreed that we should cancel the long-awaited order, especially when this dish was ordered to replace the originally intended Ha Cao. We approached the service staff at the cashier and made our request to cancel the fried dumpling order and to pay the bill. The next moment, assistant manager, Mr. Quang Ly, emerged and tell us that there is no way for them to cancel the order.

In all honesty, we may have accepted and pay for the dumplings to be packed. However, the attitude displayed by the assistant manager was beyond rudeness. We were displeased by the demeaning tone expressed towards us, demanding that we pay for the unconsumed fried dumplings. Nevertheless, we checked the bill and tallied the billed items in Vietnamese with the menu. We noticed that the first bill had not only included the fried dumplings, but it had also included the 2 servings of Ha Cao which was unavailable. We were dismayed and felt very cheated, especially with the impolite attitude displayed by Mr. Quang Ly towards us. After several exchanges, we deemed Mr. Quang Ly as relentless to succeed in his argument while he claimed egotistically to be the only person in charge of the restaurant at that point of time. Angered, we calculated the bill by ourselves and gave the amount necessary, without the price of the fried dumpling. We were adamant to leave without reasoning further with him, especially when the clarity of communication was poor. Mr. Quang Ly, seemingly undeterred, then called for the security guard. We were absolutely incensed!

Thereafter, we took a business card at the counter and called up the restaurant manager, Ms. Le Thi My Phuong, to relate the situation and expressed our discontentment. Ms. Le was very objective, even though she understood the incident just over the phone. In conclusion, Mr. Quang Ly heeded the manager's words and acceded to cancel our order. The whole fracas lasted almost 15 minutes and we were greatly affected and left fuming. We thought Crystal Jade, being a multinational brand would display a more exceptional standard of customer service, however, we were taken by surprise.

We were greatly disappointed with this visit and urge the management to place more emphasis on service methodology and staffs' EQ.

Note: We had sent an email to the restaurant on 23rd June 2019 and our email mentioned:

"We hold no objection if you would like to investigate internally and to also consider Mr. Quang Ly's account of the above incident. Nevertheless, we expect a favorable response within 7-days from this email. We reserve all discretions to share our experiences with anyone who wishes to visit the restaurant in the future."

Disappointingly, we received zero replies.

Update 31/07/2019: The marketing team of VN Crystal Jade has replied and offered a $50 compensation in view of the unpleasant experience. However, they have not adequately addressed the issue directly or recommend any actions to avoid...

A brand franchise all over the Asia and that is why I thought the standard should be there. In fact this place doesn’t even worth a star. No one in the reception spoke English. I came in personally and asked about take outs that I want to order for the next day. They gave me the name card and asked me to email the order ahead or to call ahead. When I got back to the hotel firstly the email address on the name card wasn’t correct. I couldn’t send the email out. So I called in and place the order. Their staff who answered the phone repeated my order many times and said ok we will have the food ready for you the next day on time. When I got there the next day. No one in the reception had any idea of anything. Until a lady who claims that she is the manager and was looking at the phone for the order. Then she realized that the night shift left the orders in the message it’s just none of them seem care. I told them to make the food ASAP as I had a flight to catch. I was sitting there and waiting for about 15 min and all the other staff was like walking around and doing there own thing when I was the only one in the restaurant. No one came with a sincere apology. When I was about to leave one lady handed me the phone and said their manager is on the phone and would like to talk to me. I was like wow so who is the real manager?! Really had enough lies. The manager Li on the phone gave me a sincere apology and told me that they would give me a discount for my order and I told her that I have already settled the bill and this is not how the service recovery should be done. What they really need to do is to give the staff a proper training and there are a lot to improve. The worst experience ever. Their ratings are that bad...

We went to Crystal Jade restaurant for a late lunch at 1:00 PM. We ordered dumpling, ribs, noodles, rice, and Peking duck. After 10 minutes, only one small plate of ribs was served. Fifteen minutes later, just one order of dumpling arrived. The rest of our food was still missing, with no explanation provided.

The restaurant was not busy—only a few tables were occupied—so there was no excuse for the delay. We repeatedly tried to get the servers’ attention, but they simply nodded and never followed through.

At 1:55 PM, nearly an hour after ordering, we decided to cancel the remaining items. Only then did someone approach our table to say that the noodles and rice would arrive in another 10 minutes. They also claimed we hadn’t ordered Peking duck, blaming a system glitch and saying the kitchen never received all the orders.

This was unacceptable. The staff clearly failed to manage the situation, avoided communication, and refused to take responsibility for their mistakes. It felt as though our order had been forgotten entirely. The lack of accountability and poor service made for a very disappointing dining experience.

And the worst part is, they didn’t...