Cong Doan Restaurant — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

Bad experience with this Vietnamese restaurant. We chose this place since it seemed to be popular with the locals, but boy were we wrong. The waiting staff didn’t speak much english (which is completely acceptable), but didn’t seem too welcoming to tourist clientele either.

Since we were handed the English menus at the reception, we had already gone through them diligently and made our choices. But all that was in vain, since nothing that we selected was unavailable (seemingly we were very good with picking the local favorites). Dejected, we hurried up to make new choices - seafood fried rice, fried eggs with pork, fried local fish.

First came the seafood fried rice and fried eggs with pork, which were very forgettable to say the least. But what literally shocked us was that the restaurant served us the head of the fish instead of a filet(fried of course). Upon complaining, we were told that it was finished, though we were still unsure as to why they thought it was acceptable to serve a fish head (maybe a Vietnamese delicacy that we were not aware of). We sent the fish back and just decided to finish our meal, rather quickly.

Things got worse when at the time of paying the check, we were expected to pay for the steamed rice that came with the fried fish head. We refuted the demand, which seemed to surprise the woman at the reception, but my wife wasn’t in a mood to budge.

Overall, a disappointing experience from a place that promised some local flavors. My recommendation would be to pass for the plethora of choices that Ho Chi Minh...

It's definitely not a tourist pit stop, most who eat here are locals, just the kind of place I'm looking for when I travel. My airbnb host recommended this place. I had fish noodle soup. It was warm and thick, quite big chunks of fish too, though not a lot. Closed off the meal with grapefruit juice. It was satisfying.

What I like about dining in Vietnamese restaurants is the mountain of fresh raw vegetables they give you. It was some sort of sprouts. The service staff don't speak English, but they do try to understand you. Google...

Love this place. It is coffee trung nguyen but cheaper than in front of. Because no aircon and no fancy place. I have been there few times during my stay in 9hostel. I tried cafe sua nong e milk, number 3, number 5. It is from sweet to acid taste. I think the most balance is number 3 for my taste.

Definitely love this place....