Comments on: Harry’s Bar de Ville, Bay Tinh, Marrickville

By: Not Quite Nigella

Not Quite Nigella — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:12:21 +0000

Hi md-That sounds horrible! Was it Harry (pictured above?). Sorry to hear about that as that sounds awful and would have me feeling very stressed indeed

By: md

md — Sun, 10 May 2009 06:17:08 +0000

MY BAD EXPERIENCE
On Saturday 2nd May 2009, my husband and I went to Bay Tinh Restaurant for dinner. We arrived at around 5.30pm. A waitress in Vietnamese dress greeted us at the door and asked if we had booked. I told her that we had not booked. A man came to us with a folder on his hand, it looked like a booking list, and he asked our name. I told him that we had not booked, but said if he could arrange a table for 2 we would very happy. Then he asked my husband, “Will you be leaving before 7pm?” When I heard him ask this I wanted to tell my husband we could go to another restaurant. However my husband looked at his watch and said: “We have plenty of time.” He smiled and invited us to come in.
While I ordered, I asked the waitress is it normal to have to book for a table. She said yes because they are very busy, “We are fully booked tonight.”
After 6pm, people started to come in and it was almost full downstairs. We tried to finish quickly as we understood that the restaurant was fully booked.
While I waited at the counter to pay our bill, there was another man waiting to pay his bill as well.
The phone rang and the owner (I guessed) answered the phone while he was still calculating the bill.
When it was my turn to pay, I handed the owner my credit card and told him that I wanted to enter my Pin Number.
The owner was still talking on the phone. He then passed me the machine to enter my Pin Number. I saw on the machine that it said to remove my card, so I did. The owner told me that I should not have removed my card. He then re-entered my card into the machine and gave me a receipt to sign.
All the time this was happening, he was still talking on the phone. I was not happy having to sign as I would have preferred to have used my Pin Number, but I signed the receipt.
The owner stared at me and said “What is your problem madam? I asked you to sign”. At that moment, I was shocked. I couldn’t actually believe what I was hearing. How could an owner of a restaurant, that was fully booked, speak to his guest like that?
However, I just told him that I didn’t have any problem. What I wanted was to use my pin number, not a signature, but he did not listen to his customer.
He then surprised me more, whilst still holding the phone in one hand, he started pointing to the door and yelling “Get out of my restaurant and don’t come back!”
My husband held my hand and pulled me towards the door. I knew my husband never likes to create a scene. But I wanted to answer back to the owner because it was not right when I came to his restaurant, paid for our dinner and received a bad attitude like that. “Definitely I will never ever come back here. I paid for my dinner so I expect better service, not a rude owner.” He was still yelling: “Get out of my restaurant!”
Some customer looked at me. I told them about this story. A lady customer told me, “Maybe he is in a bad mood today.”????
I could not sleep through that night. I woke up this morning and still feel stressed!!! I still could not believe it. That has never ever happened in my life before!!!!

By: Review: Mui Huong Goat Meat restaurant, Marrickville @ Not Quite Nigella

Review: Mui Huong Goat Meat restaurant, Marrickville @ Not Quite Nigella — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:01:13 +0000

[...] But when my blogging buddy Christie and I drive past the Goat Meat restaurant on our way to the Harry’s Bar event, we squeal with excitement. A Goat Meat restaurant you say? Yes. One with drawings of goats [...]

By: Not Quite Nigella

Not Quite Nigella — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:38:18 +0000

Hi Sophie-We sure did! It’s always nice when you can share times like this with friends

Hi grace-He is isn’t he. It’s hard to resist a smile like that Aww thankyou!

Hi Kathy-Absolutely, we’d love to take you here (as well as lots of other yummy places )

Hi Su-yin-I adore Vietnamese, it’s one of my favourite cuisines. I keep thinking about those spring rolls!

Hi Diamond Lil-Haha two very good reasons to visit I agree!

Hi nilla freak-I make my own ice cream (I haven’t bought any e in ages). I use vanilla bean paste or vanilla beans but rarely use extract and never use essence. I don’t find the extract as good as the pasta or the bean itself!

Hi anna-Haha that’s so cute, blood packets! They do look blood packet-ish! Touches of red like that are gorgeous

By: anna

anna — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:23:02 +0000

I had a hard time figuring out that lighting fixture – at first I thought it was fish, and then I thought it looked like blood packets. Turns out I was wrong on both counts, but it is stunning. I love red!

By: nilla freak

nilla freak — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:56:30 +0000

Hmmm! Everything looks sooo goood!!! The vanilla ice cream comment caught my eye as I love cooking with it. Do you guys make your own ice cream?

I make my own with pure vanilla paste. I buy it at http://www.arizonavanilla.com if you ever care to check it out. (I saw your blog from theirs).

Keep up the good work!

By: Diamond Lil

Diamond Lil — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:50:50 +0000

Harry is sooo cute n smiley! I want to visit just to see him. And eat those spring rolls too of course….

By: Su-yin

Su-yin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:37:44 +0000

Ooooh Vietnamese. I’ve never really had proper Vietnamese before, but this place looks really good. Especially the rolled beef and the pork spring rolls!

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:18:02 +0000

Yumm! Vietnamese food is one of my favorites and this restaurant looks like they do it well! Will you take me here when I come to Sydney next?

By: grace

grace — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:26:15 +0000

boy, harry’s a happy character, yeah?
great-looking food. but then, everything you post looks good. always.