text: Sometimes good food clouds your vision You forget what makes a great restaurant the little things or the necessary things that complete a five star experience I just finished my third visit to Ha Long Bay and after the first two I was ready to give this place a strong five stars and then write enough good things to make you think it deserved a sixth Sadly the third experience went very poorly and thus my star reviewnnLets start with the good The food overall is delicious The first time I went we had egg rolls and I think I had the HS Ga Xao Don otherwise known as the equivalent of sesame chicken Both were fantastic the plate size was huge the food was mouthwatering cannot have enough scrumptious goodness and the atmosphere was a lively buzzing place with lots of conversation and smiles The second time similar experience my fiancee and I brought her family of which two of the eaters are fairly picky and it was a homerun for all involved This time we had the panfried chicken dumplings also great and I had LS Sai Oua which was a really interesting and tasty dish It had a great tomato dip the sausage was a flavorful mix of spices and overall completed another great visit My fiancee had the Drunken Noodles and despite many negative yelp reviews here both her and I really liked itnnServicewise both visits the staff was friendly and pretty good despite long waits Yes as everyone mentions this place takes their time but the buzz of excitement you always hear about it the quality of food and on the occasions where they have a good social hour going it makes up for it The first time we went it was really packed in the evening and we still got a table and our meal just fine It is too bad there is not a little more decor or more comfortable seating we have missed out on booths all three times but it is not the end of the world In all I would say the wait maybe gives a halfstar deduction if anything for Ha Long BaynnMoving on our third visit tonight was what you should not have to go through at a restaurant I will admit I was not the greatest customer tonight but the way this all went down is just not how it should be I felt like I was on an episode of Gordon Ramseys best restaurant as the secret dinernnWhen we got there the restaurant was about halffull we got a table and the waiterswaitresses were very friendly In fact I would say even better than the two previous times We ordered dumplings again for an appetizer and I would been looking on yelp for a while at reviews to see what other people like since I wanted to try a new dish again A lot of people recommended LS Nem Khao Tod and TN Pad SeeEew both of which sounded good to me although I was leaning towards the latter My fiancee wanted that too though and had been looking at it for a while so I decided to get the Nem Khao Tod and let her get the Pad SeeEew The dumplings arrived we ordered and as usual the food was starting off good along with the servicennOur food finally came out and my dish did not quite look like what I had expected but I took a bite and I did not like what I had The onions were really thick and bland not a flavor ingredient like they usually are in say a stir fry or other mainstream dish I am not a huge fan of onions but I really do not mind them if they are not terribly invasive This was cutting right through the taste of the food and not making it appetizing for me I had one more bite the sausage was average the rice was still soso and again the onions were ruining it I tried a bite of my fiancees Pad SeeEew and it was great So at that point I knew I did not want the dish and she did not want me to have something I did not like or not eat I waved over a waiter that we had talked to before I told him that I really did not care for the dish that it just did not taste good to me at all and that my fiancee did not like it either I asked him if I could get what she had instead He apologized and said that it was no problem and took it back to the kitchen nnA few minutes later our waitress comes out and tells us they are charging us for all three dishes and has a togo container trying to offer us the dish I sent back I explain to her I did not want it and that neither of us liked it and that I do not want to pay for a new dish She goes back to cancel the new order I walk up front and ask for a manager which turns out to be her and I tell her that we have been here a few times we love the food and the place but that they are about to lose two customers if they cannot make this right She gets into a minute debate with me about it saying that this is how the cooksowners do things and made me honestly feel very embarrassed as a customer They eventually concede by the time my fiancee finished her meal I hate putting someone in a spot like this but this is not the way you handle a situation I was as polite as I could be but comon man