Ba Ghien Broken Rice Dish — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I want to share my terrible experience when signing up for the Glubel whitening service at Cao Kim Spa. ( Phòng Khám Thẩm Mỹ Cao Kim)

Initially, I decided to try this service after seeing many positive reviews on various Facebook groups (later, I found out that many of these reviews were from people hired to spam posts and comments, also same from google 5stars, it’s their staff.)

When I contacted them through Facebook, they requested my Zalo phone number and then called to provide a quote. During the call, they claimed that for a single whitening session priced at 3 million VND, there would be a significant visible improvement in skin tone, and the whitening technology was 5000 times better than regular whitening methods.

I had provided my phone number when booking the whitening service, but upon arrival, they insisted on conducting a facial skin analysis (totally it was unrelated).

Subsequently, they led me into a private room for consultation with a male doctor (whom I did not see after the consultation). The consultation session was quite surprising. The doctor stated that "doctors should not discuss prices or money," yet he continuously tried to persuade me to use the premium package, offering discounts repeatedly to get me to sign up.

Initially, I wanted to book the basic package to try it out, but the doctor persisted, claiming it would save time and reduced the premium package's price from 10 million to 8 million VND. They also suggested that I would need 2-3 sessions to see significant differences.

I reluctantly agreed to pay for the premium package at 8 million VND for one session, but afterward, I felt deceived because they had tried to persuade me to sign up for two sessions, reducing the price from 10 million to 6 million VND.

During the treatment, the staff constantly rotated, trying to upsell additional services like whitening injections. This was contradictory to what the doctor had initially explained during the consultation, stating that the premium package would include whitening for underarms and the bikini area.

Today, after spending 8 million VND and noticing no significant changes, I checked the spa's website and discovered that they do not disclose their prices. You have to call their consultation line to get a price estimate over the phone, and they do not send price information via messages like other spas.

I'm sharing this experience to caution everyone to be careful when booking services and always inquire about prices upfront. This was a costly lesson for me. Don't fall into a similar situation.

Please research thoroughly and exercise caution when choosing services and always ask clear questions about pricing before making a decision. Don't let anyone take advantage of unclear communication to...

Never ever book with VIP SAPA Train! They will scam you. If I could choose zero stars, I would rate them with ZERO! One day before the journey from Hanoi to Sa Pa the manager Ms. Nguyen contacted me and said that I am rebooked to the SP 1 train that leaves at at 21:35 (originally my ticket was for the SP 3 VIC SAPA train at 22:00 and my category VIP 2 Berth 1 cabin/private). I replied to this email asking if the category is the same and Ms. Nguyen confirmed that it was. Originally I had paid for the cabin a total of 190 USD (4.757.125 VND). When we entered the cabin it was a huge disapointment!!! The cabin is nothing like what I was promised: it's very old (almost falling apart, pictures attached), the decoration is non-existent... What happened is that they apparently overbooked the train at 22:00 and moved some passengers to the train at 21:35 BUT this train is the normal Vietnam Railways cabin ( one Berth costs 410.000 VND = 15 USD so the whole cabin is costing them to book with Vietnam Railways just 60 USD which means that they keep a profit of 120 USD through FRAUD). Nothing VIP about it!!! When we saw this we went back to the VIP Waiting room in the train station where they hand over the tickets to complain and ask either to move us to the correct category or to get a refund as we had 20 minutes until departure. The guy said he is sorry but can give us just 30%, we said we do not agree. He promised to speak with his manager and bring us more money back to the cabin before the train leaves. He NEVER CAME BACK! I immediately sent an email about the issue to Ms. Nguyen asking for refund however she did not reply! I spent a lot of time researching for the BEST train to go to Sa Pa, and that is why I paid this price. And getting re-booked last minute to a what I see as a very low category at the same price is non acceptable. Please be very very considerate when booking VIC SAPA train. We were not the only ones scammed - in our wagon the other cabins complained also when they heard me discussing. Even worse - the SP 3 train with the proper VIC SAPA train carriage - luxurious and with decoration inside - was just beside our train and people seated there were paying the same ticket price as we did however I was seated in the SP1 train although my original ticket was issued for the SP 3 VIC SAPA train . The company is FRAUD and TOURIST trap....

Michelin? Are you kidding me? There's a lot better Com Tam out there. Trust me on this: the past few months I've been eating it multiple times a week. I guess the most positive thing I could say about Ba Ghien's Com Tam is that the grilled meat is gigantic. It pretty much covers the whole plate. I see size matters to you. Listen: the meat completely covered the rice dripping all its sauce - slightly burnt and grizzled I'll add - all through it. I'm not saying that this tasted horrible; what I'm saying is it wasn't very good and I like broken rice on its own without any kind of sauce or meat pieces on it - or at least for a part of the portion that's on my plate. Covering all of the rice with the meat ruined the very nature of the meal. This meal is called Com Tam not Grilled Pork Rib. The main dish or entree of Com Tam is the rice not the meat. Go figure. Hey, this place looks really really popular packed with lots of hungry working people during the lunch hour. I'd recommend off houre if you come. Vietnamese people definitely like this place. When I told my friend Henry about coming here and it being packed and all that, he referred to this as the "crowd psychology." I think what he meant to say was "herd mentality." I guess all the fat cows want to follow the big pigs off the cliff here. Henry won't bother coming out here for this like I did. You probably...