i have been to may vietnamese restaurants and i get the feeling i am not welcome there,examples are.........
1:being served last even though i have sat down before the 3 other asian groups before me

2:when i order i say please and thankyou,all i get from the servers are faces turned away like i am scum

3:when i recieve my meal i say thankyou with a big smile only to have the vietnamese girl turn her face away in a disgust type attitude"what have i done wrong?"

4:sitting down and eating my meal and having asian people turn around on their chairs and stare at me like i am a freak,doing this all throughout my meal"very annoying,can't white people eat vietnamese food or something????something wrong???????????

5:going to pay for my meal and leaving a good amout of change for a tip without even recieving a great big thankyou,just a small stare.....

so please tell me,what the hell is wrong with whites"westerners" coming in and eating in your places,being really freindly and leaving big tips,do you still think we are all neo nazi racists or something

I don't think we would know, since I don't think any of us works in a Pho Restaurant. But if it is true you are getting being prejudice then I wouldn't bother to come back and look for anohter Pho restaurant that is more friendly.

so it is true then,that vietnamese can be prejudice?

You obviously have never met jayson.

just thinking about all this prejudice stuff now makes me think how the african amercans felt in the states during the 50s and 60s,now i know how they felt,i think i had the same feeliing when walking in and ordering a big bowl of hot steaming pho in a mosty asain neighbourhood

who is jayson?

If I were you I would just go to another Pho restaurant that is more friendly then.

This is not true. As long as you're there to eat and pay the money, they're happy to serve you. There are so many pho restaurants where I live of which the frequent patrons are westerners. They are in fact very happy and surprised to have westerners as their customers.

I think that pho place is wrong by the way that you desribe it.

south australia=arrogant

What do you mean?

BTW I'm from Sydney

i am from south australia adelaide,peopel here are rude and arrogant,but i always thought vietnamese were beterthan that,maybe they are adopting the austraoian way of life"to be rude and arrogant"

Hello, pho bo eater!
I am from SA adelaide and eat pho quite a lot. I think the problem is that most of the waiter/waitress do not speak much english and does not know what to say so it is easier for them just to turn away. I doubt they mean anything bad by it. I am sure that they are absolutely happy to have you as a customer.

lOls..i`m not putting asians down buh our parents generation are not that polite..i dunnoe why ..i work at mc donalds and when asian people drive thru to get their food, they never say thankyou or ne thing just snatch the food off my hand before i could even go 'hi how are you' ..and drive off..buh then agen its not all of them .

hopefully these people are just shy and not just plain rude

hi asian invasion,this name could be rather offensive to others,anyway,where do you eat pho on adelaide?

yes hope their just shy ..lols
by the way i`m from melb lOls

you are from melbourne kimmie,so you must visit victoria street often,that was the first place i ever tried pho,but i did feel a bit strange walking down victoria street being the only white guy,but all in all,i love the vietnamese culture and most vietnamese are friendly

Sorry, about your experience. I'm not sure if your experience is unique, however. It migh in fact be cultural misunderstanding. Vietnamese waiters tends to be less smiley and talkative even to Vietnamese unless you go to a really upscale restaurant, but that doesn't mean they don't like you. These waiters have not been trained like French waiters who actually go to school.

The Vietnamese restaurant owners I know try to attract people of all races; it's better for business. It's seems really strange to me then that these people would act this way. Don't leave them a "big tip" if the service is bad. Tipping is a reward for quality service, not mediocre.

I suggest you go looking for another Pho restaurant..

I noticed that when I return to Vietnam again for a long vacation everyone seems to stare at me even know Im Vietnamese.. I dont get it.. anyone looking for bling bling or im different?

Hehheeh... sucks to be you pho_bo_eater. But not all Vietnamese restaurants are like that, most of them are very opened to customers, especially whites, because they need those customers in order to survive, since they are the majority.

But anyhow, if you encounter that kind of stuffs again, complain to them, go straight to the manager or something, and don't even pay, just do what they did to you. LOL.

LOL. True Kimmie, so true. But then again, not all of them are like that though.

Definitely go to another restaurant.

You don't have to take that. There are other Vietnamese restaurants.

But also, it is possible that they might be shy. Cultural differences could lead to misunderstandings.

Like in some Asian cultures it is considered rude to look directly at someone's face. You are supposed to keep your head bowed in deference.

Also, I heard that some Korean store owner got into trouble because he gave change to this black guy buy putting coins on the counter instead of in the black guy's hands.

The black guy thought the Korean guy was was being racist. In this country, its considered really disrespectful to put coins on the counter instead of someone's hands.

So then, the black guy got really pissed and this big huge argument evolved. Eventually, the black guy got a gun and shot the Korean guy.


Chicago race riots, look it up. That's how they said it started.
(with small stuff like that)


I say let it go. Be a bigger person. Go to a different restaurant. They are the ones loosing money anyways. Gotta learn to be nice to get along in this world.

i think they dont speak much english and are shy to speak when they know their English are not that great !! and the guy/girl who say people in Vietnam stare at you and you are Vietnamese is because you dress different and the influence u got from the US or wherever u live !

Reallies!. .kool most of the asians here are quite friendly ...buh usually when i like see white person eating in a restraurant, it think its good cuz their actually appreciating our culture and our yummy yummy food...and thats why most people look cuz they want to see what you like eating..lOLs [if you get wat i mean]

no offence to anywhite people buh i hate *some* of them when they go *yuck * to some of our vietnamese food..if you dun like it keep it to yourself!
=]

$hit, any race can be prejudice & racist. You just happened to have a bad experience. And it might not be he's prejudice against your race, there could be a number of reasons for their attitude.

Stop generalizing the entire race based on one or two bad experience.

^ word

I think the reason why they server viets first, it maybe they think you still choosing your choice of foods and it faster to server viet it might be because viets people know wat they want to eat before they enter the Restaurant.... Not All RestAurant pho taste good.... i think the reason why they don't smile at you, i think they just to 'busy'

Even though I work at the world class Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre (www.scec.com.au), When I'm busy and tired, I do give people $hits whether they like it or not. LOL

is that a good thing or a bad thing..... just allway remember be this not this... happy happy... i think i going crazy...

I just thought the name sounded good because it ryhmes, didn't mean to offend anyone. I registered before with a different username but screwed up the registration so I had to come up with a new name.

I eat mostly at the pho place on Hanson road, next to Arndale. I must admit that I sometimes do have a problem with one of the waiter there. He seems rude. Maybe just the way he looks.

I am glad that you like eating pho. Most westerners that I heard of do not like eating it because it is rather bland.

Have you ever thought that maybe you are just expecting too much?

A lot of White guys have this "White Hero" mentality...They walk in, show a little interest and knowledge of Asian culture...and expect to be fawned on by Asians...with Asian girls fainting and Asian guys dazed by the superior masculinity of the White male...

Maybe you were just expecting too much...Maybe they were just gving you normal treatment

Expecting too much? I think you're assuming too much.

He said nothing about wanting to be fawned over, or of expecting women to faint or men to be dazed. The service he wanted is what one would expect at any dining establishment.

The behavior displayed by the restaurant staff was clearly discourteous by his cultural standards, and I would think this would be unbecoming behavior by any kind of cultural standard. At best, it is a cultural difference issue. At worst, it is plain rudeness.

I don't think all Vietnamese restaurants are like this...

I do notice that most caucasian customers of Vietnamese pho restaurants are working class/lower than middle class types. They kinda of expecting a lot of services from a pho place not realizing that it is a fast food establishment.

Seriously, what do they expect from a place that charges $5.50 for a meal?

He expects little Viets in conical hats to massage his feet and neck for $5.50...
Like the "sucki sucki 5 dolla" stereotype from Vietnam war movies...Very reasonable...

A two dollar tip is suppose to impress the Viet waitress who isn't even a "waitress"...very reasonable

SO DON"T MOCK HIM!

I think you went to the wrong restaurant man. Vietnamese are very guest-friendly. Usually when I go to a Vietnamese restaurant, I see people serving foreigner very politely. Maybe it's just the food you ordered took a bit longer to prepare than others. But believe me there are racists in every race, but Vietnamese would be the least of that. We are very open-minded people, interact with other races fine. We stereotype a lot, but we don't discriminate.

Hahaha!!! YOu got it right my brotha.

And how do you know he went to a cheap pho shop and not a proper sit-down restaurant?

I am not mocking pho bo eater, just stating facts. I live in San Francisco and have seen a lot of white tourists coming into Chinese restaurants and telling Chinese chefs what to do...like don't handle this thing like this or like that...

Last week, I was eating at my favorite local won ton place when I saw this big white woman telling the old Chinese meat cutter at the BBQ window not to handle her char siu or she would report him to the health department. How the heck is the guy going to chop the char siu without handling it? She was giving him all sorts of lecture for about $5 worth of char siu. The old Chinese guy unfortunately couldn't understand a word she said (or fortunately because he would get very mad if he could). For the little money that she spent, she acted as though she owned the whole damn place. If she doesn't accept the way the meat is prepared, then why buy it at all?

I guess He expects the same when he goes to the Chinese Restaurant

I don't but pho is being commercially exploited as quick lunches and fast foods nowadays.

Most proper sit-down Vietnamese restaurants don't serve pho, except when they have to cater to the number of folks at nearby business parks during lunch hours.
You don't go to Anh Hong Seven courses of beef restaurant http://ae.bayarea.com/entertainment/ui/bay...&reviewId=10451, Crustacean Restaurant http://www.seeing-stars.com/ImagePages/CrustaceanPhoto.shtml, the Slanted Door http://www.theslanteddoor.com or Anamandara http://www.anamandara.com to eat pho.

He expects the ladies to give him a wink atleast...
The White man has worked so hard to be enlightened enough to enjoy Asian culture and smile at the Vietnamese waitress...the least she could've done was to wink

White men are not interested in Asian culture, only in Asian kitty cats.

Here is my opinion, first we only hear from the "accuser", be fair we should hear from the "defendant" as well.. But from this line .. I started questioning to myself. Why did They stare at him? Is he just a normal customer? ... Go figure

this forum just proves there are really idiots everywhere,well judging by the posts i would say they are the minority thank god

this comment is really judgemental,so what do lower working class really look like anyway?

I apologize if I came across as being judgemental. I am not.

I have nothing against working class American people but merely tried to make a point using the delineation. Most working class Americans don't travel abroad and therefore are very unfamiliar with the cultures of other lands. Mixing them with the number of immigrants crowding the inner cities can cause conflicts, and surely in your case, misunderstanding.

[SIZE=1]
You asked for opinions.. we gave you opinions then you attack us Idiots..no surprise that you was treated that way in the restaurant... ... In your own words, pal


"having Asian people turn around on their chairs and stare at me like i am a freak,doing this all throughout my meal"
You may be right unless these Asians NEVER see a white men BEFORE. I doubt that they don't. The question here... what was your behavior in that restaurant that cause people TURN AROUND ON THEIR CHAIRS AND STARE AT YOU...
DOING THIS THROUGHOUT YOUR MEAL.

Regardless of the racial issue, don't you ever see a sign in a number restaurants
which says " We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" go figure, pal

IF THEY ARE SO DISGUSTED IN YOU, MAYBE THEY ALSO PUT SPIT IN YOUR SOUP..... I WOULD NOT EAT FROM SOMEONE WHO LOOKS AT ME WITH CONTEMPT SO BLATANTLY!!!!