Ate here on a whim one night, because I was interested in watching the kitchen across the road work their magic. Indifferent service doesn't really bother me but the waitress was almost hostile, slamming my food and drinks down on the table and grimacing when I asked her (in Vietnamese) for the bill, etc.

Had the banh xeo and a tofu/ mushroom hotpot. Both were extremely bland and poorly cooked - the hotpot was pretty much tofu pieces in tomato ketchup out of a bottle. Was rather ill after the meal, too, and I consider myself fairly immune to culinary nasties - I eat from busy street food stalls most days and have never had a problem otherwise in a month here. Avoid.

I booked here (I forget which it was - Bi or Bee, but i stayed in the one closer to the park, but had to go to the other one to check in - they are a few doors away from each other) due to the excellent web site with plentiful pictures and information, plus it was cheap. Reserved for two nights and let them know I was arriving late in the evening. When I got there, the room I got was the only one left and it was at the very top of the building and they told me the A/C did not work. Having pre-paid, I was in no position to argue, but they assured me that I'd get a different room he next night with AC,

Hence, it was extremely hot and I was tossing and turning most of the night. The next couple of nights were in a second floor room which was better due to AC. This one didn't have windows, but it did have a couple of good books which I ended up "borrowing". Unique decor is nothing special, but okay for the price. Had to shift the bed over to pick up something I dropped and noticed that they probably hadn't swept behind/under the bed in quite a while. it was not a pleasant sight. Staff were adequate, not warm and friendly, but not scary or hostile either. Also, wifi was a bit iffy most of the time.

I think I've outgrown the Pham Ngo Lau scene and probably won't be staying there on future trips to Saigon (I come once a year roughly to pick up supplies for a small side business). It's more out of habit that I always ended up in PNL, but really, there cheap places everywhere in town. For the latter part of my trip, I ended up staying at a place right near Ben Thanh Market. Kind of just randomly went in to different places to ask about prices, and picked one which felt right.

I have eaten number of times at Bee and Bi Saigon restaurants because they are convenient and have reasonable prices. The service is never good or friendly but I ignored that because the food was tasty. My last time eating at Bee however, they served me a garden salad that had 3 small roaches crawling around in it. When I pointed this out to the manager, he took the plate away without apology and a few minutes later brought me a much smaller plate of salad, which I told him I did not want. He left it on the table anyway and when my bill came I saw that they had charged me full price for the salad. I determined never to eat there again. My last experience at Bi was similarly awful. I ordered my food on first arriving but after I had waited thirty minutes and saw later comers eating I asked why my food was taking so long and the waitress said that I had never ordered, although she was the very same waitress who had taken my order. I complained to the manager and she ignored me altogether without offering any apology. There are too many decent and cheap restaurants in this area to put up with such service. I don't know why these people are so rude to customers, but they certainly are, and Bee has a major roach problem.

I have eaten at Bi and Bee Saigon many times. One time I found a small cock roach in my soup at Bee Saigon. They did not make me pay, but it was still disgusting to know that I had been eating something with a coach roach floating in it. Another time, I ordered an avocado and vegetable sandwich, but they decided to bring me fried egg instead. I tried to return it but they told me I would have to pay, even if I didn't want it, because I had picked at the egg with my fork when I was trying to decide whether or not I could eat it. (I hate fried eggs.) They were really rude, and I did not want to stay and drink the iced drink I had ordered, because I didn't have the money to order a second meal to go with it. They followed me down the street and told me I had to pay for the drink, even though I couldn't stay there and eat the eggs I hadn't ordered and refused to pay for. Now I'm banned from Bi and Bee.