A restaurant waiter in a coastal resort city in south-central Vietnam has been fired for hurling food at diners after they expressed their disappointment with a dish.

The waiter, working for Nhat Trang, which is a seafood restaurant in Nha Trang, the capital city of Khanh Hoa Province, splashed leftovers onto diners since they complained about the dish’s quality, Tran Huu Ly, a marketplace management official, said.

On Tuesday morning, officials were sent to the restaurant to investigate the case, Ly added.

The waiter was fired the same day, according to Nguyen Minh Trong, who owns the restaurant.

Trong then apologized to Luu Phuong Mai and her friend, the two diners who were treated badly by the staff.

The incident was reported by the two on Monday evening, Ly said.

According to Ly, Mai, a visitor from Hanoi, and her friend had a meal at the restaurant that evening.

“Everything was fine until we ordered a dish of rice fried with seafood,” Mai recounted.

“It cost VND150,000 [$6.7], but what they brought us was just a cool dish of fried rice with only a few pieces of squid and some herbs.”

Nhat Trang seafood restaurant, located in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

She said to a waiter that the dish was not worth the price and it was then withdrawn for being warmed up, she said.

After finishing their meal, Mai and her friend paid the bill of VND526,000 ($23.5), which had excluded the price of the fried rice.

“We then paid VND606,000 [$27] to ease the cash change, but the waiter, instead of giving us back VND80,000 [$3.6], forced us to eat and pay for the fried rice dish, which had been warmed up,” she added.

“The manager has resigned,” shouted the staff when the two requested to meet the head of the restaurant to complain.

“When seeing us taking pictures for evidence, the waiter shouted and hurled the leftover food at us and rudely told us to leave the place,” Mai said.

Mai and her friend then reported the issue to local authorities.

Mai said that she accepted the restaurateur’s apology and felt pleased seeing immediate actions taken by local authorities.

“What I really hope to see is politeness and hospitality, the fundamental values that all businesses in Nha Trang should exhibit instead of just increasing prices or what I have experienced,” she said.

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