Tourists complain over $500 meal at Ha Long restaurant

The tourists described the incident on a Facebook page, saying the Seafood King restaurant in Bai Chay, a popular tourist hub in Ha Long, had "expensive prices."

Trang, one of the group’s members, said they ordered 11 dishes and drinks with the total bill costing VND11.7 million.

Two bowls of shrimp paste at VND2.1 million and two plates of mantis shrimp at VND2.6 million "were expensive and not worthy of the quality," she insisted.

In addition, they were served with sweet snails with spoiled salted egg sauce.

Le Van Thanh, the restaurant’s owner, admitted the bill was expensive. Normally, it would come to around VND8-9 million, but Thanh argued that the price increase was "inevitable" because during Tet, input prices are increased by 10-15% and wages for staff also doubled.

The incident was spread on social media, prompting local authorities to step in. Ha Long People's Committee confirmed that during the ordering process, the tourists knew the prices of each dish.

The group of tourists also did not offer any feedback at the restaurant at the time.

When working with the authorities, the restaurant provided a list of dishes served at the restaurant. Local authorities ordered the restaurant to adjust immediately when there are any changes in prices to avoid confusing customers.

This was deemed the first time that the particular restaurant had been accused of overcharging customers.

During the five-day Lunar New Year holiday, Ha Long City welcomed over 158,000 visitors, nearly double compared to the same period in 2023.