Bang Bang, they shot her down

Wow, this is a first: having a server blame you for your shitty food.

I met my friend at Pho Bang for lunch — we usually frequent Da Vang — and her order of catfish came out smelling very, very wrong. She told me to taste it to see if I agreed, and luckily, I could tell it was bad before I took an unfortunate bite like she did. (She couldn’t get the taste out of her mouth, then, either.) My parents owned a seafood shop, and I grew up with a firsthand knowledge of fish. Sorry, it’s not supposed to make you gag.

When we finally got our waitress to bring a much needed drink refill, my friend very politely explained that there was something wrong with her dish, and that she couldn’t eat it. The stern old lady replied, “It’s not my fault,” and, “You ordered it, and you still have to pay for it.”

Uh-unh, no she di-iiiin’t!

Then she sends the manager over, who doesn’t apologize, doesn’t try to be helpful. Instead, the woman tells my friend, “It’s Vietnamese food, you just don’t know how to eat it.” Like it’s her fault for ordering it.

Are you kidding me? My friend loves Southeast Asian food so much she probably has fish sauce running through her veins.

As gracious as my friend was, she wouldn’t back down, and I kept chiming in that the fish isn’t fresh. Finally, the lady took the offending plate away and offered to bring something else. Of course, when it came time to pay our check, we got charged for my friend’s nasty catfish — the woman acted like she did us a favor for not charging for another bowl of noodles (like I ordered) so my friend didn’t go hungry.

I’m still amazed at the piss poor treatment we got. And to think — it was our fault that the fish tasted bad! Well, there really is a first time for everything…