Verifying information about TikToker being kicked out of pho restaurant for being in a wheelchair

On January 15th, responding to a VTC News reporter, a representative from the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications Inspectorate stated that the unit is verifying information shared on social media by a TikToker about being kicked out of a pho restaurant for… sitting in a wheelchair.

Previously, social media shared the story of TikToker VML being "kicked out of a restaurant for… sitting in a wheelchair." L. said that on January 12th, he and his girlfriend went to a pho restaurant in Hanoi. When his girlfriend asked a staff member to help him up the steps, she was refused with the reply, "Our restaurant doesn't have staff to carry people like you."

At the second pho restaurant, L. said it was a regular spot where the two of them ate. The seating was small, so L. squeezed slightly into the owner's area. “She immediately stood up and yelled at the staff, ‘Who lets this kind of person eat here?’ The staff replied, ‘He eats here often, he usually sits like this.’ She became even more emboldened, ‘If I can’t sell to him, then I’ll stand…’ ,” L. wrote.

He said, "The meal felt like it was stuck in my throat - it was hard to swallow." He's used to this feeling, while his girlfriend "started crying."

The article is causing controversy on social media. (Screenshot)

Below the post, L. shared a story about unexpectedly meeting foreign tourists who were visiting Hanoi for the first time and being comforted when they learned about what had happened before.

The post received mixed reactions after it was published, with over 47,000 likes, more than 20,000 comments and shares. Many people were outraged by the actions of the two pho restaurants that showed discriminatory attitudes towards people with disabilities.

In addition, many people doubted the authenticity of the post, requesting L. to name the two pho restaurants to clarify the information. In the video VML posted on TikTok with the caption "Goodbye Hanoi," netizens discovered that the familiar pho restaurant L. mentioned in the Facebook post was a chicken pho restaurant on Nam Ngu Street (Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi).

A representative from the pho restaurant confirmed that L. was a regular customer who often ate pho in the evenings. On the morning of January 12th, L. and his girlfriend came to the restaurant. Due to the narrow entrance and the rain, the owner invited them to sit at the coffee shop across the street and said a staff member would bring the pho over later.

"But she still wanted to come into the restaurant, so we welcomed her normally," a representative of the restaurant said. L. and his girlfriend sat at the first table, behind the owner, next to the chicken weighing area. The owner reminded L. not to sit in that position next time, as it made it difficult for the staff to sell the chicken.

"She smiled and ate normally afterward, but then posted on social media implying that we had insulted her, which is incorrect," the owner said. The restaurant owner affirmed that they would never use vulgar language to drive away customers, especially people with disabilities.

Minh Tue

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