Dak Lak restaurant has "strange rules" to avoid fighting over paying when meeting acquaintances

"The owner let me pay for 3 portions. Mine is 50,000 VND. The remaining 100,000 VND is for the two friends sitting at table number 6," said Mr. Thien Phong, a customer from Ho Chi Minh City, after finishing his meal.

However, Mr. Phong was surprised to see that the restaurant owner only collected money for his meal. Thinking there was a mistake, he asked again and was explained that this was the restaurant's own rule, which had been in place for about 20 years.

Rules of beefsteak restaurant in Dak Lak (Photo: Character provided).

"I was in Buon Ho for work and my friends recommended a famous beefsteak restaurant, so I stopped by to try it. But this is the first time I've seen such a strange rule at a restaurant," said the 36-year-old customer.

Not only Mr. Phong, but also first-time customers were surprised by the signs posted on the wall that read, "Our restaurant does not collect invitations when customers meet acquaintances for dinner. Thank you very much!"

This regulation also attracts many opposing views. Besides the supportive opinions that "it is best to be fair when eating, everyone pays their own money", there are also comments that this is "a somewhat rigid regulation".

"When I go out to eat, if I meet someone I know, I'm still willing to pay extra for their meal as a polite way of inviting them. The cost of the meal is not worth much, the feelings are what are precious," said an account named Tuan Tran.

Meanwhile, some people think that the restaurant owner might not want to see customers fighting over who to pay when paying. If one person accepts the money, it might upset the other person. Therefore, to make everyone feel comfortable, each person will pay for their own meal.

According to research, this is a separate rule of a restaurant specializing in serving beefsteak located in Buon Ho town, Dak Lak province.

Talking to Dan Tri reporter, Ms. H., the shop owner, said that this regulation might seem strange to many people, but the shop has applied it for a long time and is supported by many local customers.

Ms. H. said that her mother opened the beefsteak restaurant in the 90s. At that time, Buon Ho did not have many restaurants, so there were quite a lot of people coming to support. The local people are inherently simple and rustic, so inviting each other to a meal was a normal thing.

The restaurant specializes in beefsteak (Photo: Character provided).

By the mid-2000s, Ms. H. began taking over her mother's shop. However, there was an incident that she would never forget and decided to make a change.

There were two customers at the restaurant. One of them stood up first and paid for the other. At that time, the price of a beefsteak was 25,000 VND per portion. Ms. H. happily collected the money because she did not know their relationship.

When the other person stood up to pay, the customer found out that the other person paid for her and got angry at the owner. The customer scolded her for taking the money without asking first.

"You took 25,000 VND from someone, which means I owe that amount of money," the customer complained.

The customer's criticism made Ms. H. think for a long time. Then, another similar incident happened, making Ms. H. decide to change.

One time a customer who was the director of a local company came in for a meal. After finishing his meal, he found out that the staff had paid for him. This made him unhappy.

"The customer also politely advised me not to do that. His employees' salaries were meager while he was much better off than them. Because he often came to the restaurant, he did not want the same thing to happen again," Ms. H. recalled.

After that, she decided to put up a sign at the tables in the restaurant. Since then, the restaurant has not had any problems with customers trying to pay for each other.

It is known that the restaurant only sells from morning until about 12 noon every day. The price of meals ranges from 30,000 VND to 50,000 VND. The special meal is 100,000 VND.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/quan-an-dak-lak-quy-dinh-la-tranh-tranh-nhau-tra-tien-khi-gap-nguoi-quen-20240801112005770.htm