Port City Bagels (PCB) — Restaurant in Hội An

sehr leckere Bagel mit echten New York Feeling. Es gibt von mir einen Stern Abzug, da die Bagel schon sehr teuer sind (insbesondere für vietnamesische Verhältnisse). Wir zahlten für 2 Bagel und 2 Flaschen Wasser umgerechnet 20 US Dollar

My response to the long text the restaurant owner wrote me:

First of all thank you for taking the time to respond to my review, and for providing such a detailed explanation regarding your pricing. I appreciate your perspective and the effort you've put into helping me understand the cost breakdown.

Firstly, I'd like to address the point about premium imported products. I understand that quality ingredients come at a cost, especially when they are imported with heavy taxes. I've experienced this myself, such as when I visited a Mexican restaurant nearby, where the prices were higher due to the use of authentic Mexican ingredients. However, the portion sizes were more substantial, which made the higher prices feel more justified.

Regarding the pricing in Vietnam, I do comprehend that your bagels are not traditional Vietnamese food and can't be directly compared to local dishes like banh mi or pho in terms of price. However, my point was more about the general cost of food in Vietnam, which is considerably lower than in many Western countries. While I do acknowledge that your bagels may be competitively priced compared to similar products in Western countries, they still fall on the pricier side when compared to the local food scene in Vietnam.

As for the pricing of salmon in Vietnam, it's true that quality seafood, especially imported salmon, can be relatively expensive here. However, it's essential to consider that there might be some local alternatives or variations that could potentially offer a more budget-friendly option for those who appreciate bagels but are price-conscious.

In conclusion, my intention was not to discredit the quality of your products or the authenticity of your New York-style bagels. I genuinely enjoyed the taste and atmosphere of your restaurant. However, the cost factor, when viewed in the context of the overall Vietnamese food scene, led me to deduct a star in my review. I do understand your perspective and appreciate your response, but I believe it's fair for customers to share their opinions about pricing based on their own experiences and comparisons.

Thank you once again for your response and for providing more insight into your pricing structure. I hope this dialogue can contribute to a better understanding of the various factors that influence customers' perceptions of value.

Best...

I genuinely have no idea why this place is so well rated. The bagels themselves are tough (even by NY standards - perhaps overtoasted?) and the fillings are so dry that it’s practically impossible to swallow.

We got the Piggly Wiggly and the Yipee Ka Yay and while I don’t have photos, if you look at the reviews mentioning those bagels you’ll see the overcooked meat and the lack of sauce in those images too. I laughed looking at the review just before mine saying how amazing it was when you can literally see the bone dry meat in it - a few others mentioned this in reviews too, but of course this elicited a sarcastic response from the owner telling them they didn’t understand NY bagels. Customers can’t dislike or criticise food now, apparently.

Oh, and I’ve not seen many places with so many staff (5 in the kitchen and 4 behind the counter up front), so few customers, and such slow and poor service. You go up to order, you go up to pick up your food, you go up to get tissues or sauce, and if you want to buy a drink during the meal you have to go up. Appreciate some places aren’t table service but sort of frustrating when you see 4 members of staff shouting and laughing behind a till not doing much else with zero willingness to provide a nice customer experience.

Don’t waste your time and money, just grab a Banh Mi.

And to the business owner - your greatest path to success is listening to feedback. Tell your kitchen to take it easy on meat cookery time and up the sauce. The wasabi mayo in my bagel looked like a droplet of rain on a slab...

We came for breakfast and tried the make your own bagel and the one they preset in the menu bacon/egg/cheddar as well as an earl grey tea and Carmel latte.

We have some pros and cons here:

PRO: bacon was thick and had a tone of flavour! the service was great and they were fairly fast with everything the caramel latte was one of the best we’ve ever had! Tea was also perfectly steeped but didn’t come with milk or sugar options atmosphere was very North American style with great tunes

CONS: bagels were small and not a lot of flavour. The everything bagel tasted like a normal one…disappointing Not toasted well and texture was a bit off avocado is sliced not smashed which maybe is a personal preference but makes it harder to eat VERY EXPENSIVE for what you get. We travel extensively and lucky to have eaten in many places in Vietnam, Thailand, Bali and this was over priced even for a tourist/foreign spot that caters to our food.

Over all we were very underwhelmed with the food however the Caramel latte alone is worth a trip back. But ‘vietnams best bagel’ I think not.

My rating is 3.5 stars but Google doesn’t give that half...