Buffet
Vietnamese
Non-veg

Serves meat, vegan options available. Hostel offering dinner service for staying guest but is open to the public as well. It's buffet style with many vegan items, priced per person. Kitchen reported to close earlier than stated times, check ahead. Reported open February 2023. Open Mon-Sun 7:00pm-8:00pm.


Venue map for Secret Garden
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31 Reviews

First Review by DimitrisGiotis

SHHHH

Points +122

Vegan
28 Nov 2024

Good vibes with vegan food

Really nice vibe to hang out, didn’t go there for the food as it was just where we were staying, but it was nice they had options.

Were able to have the chickpea burger for dinner, and a granola bowl for breakfast - the staff were able to substitute out the yoghurt on request.

12munchies

Points +2825

Vegan
05 Apr 2024

ok for evenings with friends

If you want to hang out and drink a beer or listen to music, then you can also order food there. I wouldn’t go there especially for the food.
I stayed in the hostel for a few days so on one evening I tried the Chickpea Burger. It was not my favorite but eatable.
The iced americano was really nice. The espresso was very bitter and not nice at all.
Staff there is mainly very nice and helpful.
As said, if you want to have a nice evening with friends, drinks and people celebrating around, then it’s recommendable as they have some vegan options.

Updated from previous review on 2024-04-05

Pros: vegan options , animals around , iced americano

Cons: bitter espresso

NedaArmour

Points +19

Vegetarian
10 Mar 2024

Awful customer service from Manager

Their policy is to give burnt microwaved coffee to customers as the owner ( not Vietnamese guy) said to us!!!!
We're travelling in Vietnam for the last 3 months, and we've had amazing coffee all over the country as you know how great Vietnamese coffee is.
We received the bitter burnt black coffee in a hot cup which was not drinkable. After eating in this restaurant many times we thought it must be a mistake we asked owner is it possible that their coffee is warmed in the microwave. To our astonishmant he said YES THAT'S OUR POLICY TO MAKE COFFEE IN THE MORNING AND THEN WARM IT UP IN THE MAICROWAVE BECAUSE VIETNAMESE COFFEE TAKES A LONG TIME!!!!!!
He didn't say sorry or give us another option or remove the coffee from the bill even though we ate there many times.
Obviously he doesn't know how to manage the restaurant and how to keep customers happy or how to make coffee. So we won't be back.
I have to add that the Vietnamese waiters were all kind and hospitable unlike him.
The atmosphere was lively and the vegetarian food was OK.

Pros: Atmosphere

Cons: Burnt coffee , Bad behaviour of Manager or owner

Plantos

Points +3269

Vegan
09 Mar 2024

Chill atmosphere | Soso Food

Had the Chickpea Burger with fries (95k | 3.8$)
There is not much vegan things to choose from. Really relaxed and nice atmosphere with music and lots of young people.

Food:

🍔 Patty was quite dry and fall apart
🍟 Fries were soaked in oil and not so nice
🍞 Buns were nice
🍅 Vegetables fresh and good
⌛ Waiting time was long

DanielMáčovský

Points +51

Vegetarian
19 Feb 2024

Chill and beautiful restaurant

I had veggie burger with fries.
Food was so good even that fries.
They have so good dip.
Personal is also friendly
Many choices

Pros: Place and vibe, Fries , Dip

TopGearSpecial

Points +493

Vegan
22 Dec 2023

Vegan friendly and diverse menu

A nice airy venue with friendly pets wondering around. The Vegan burger was delicious and massive. They also served us delicious vegan coconut coffee. Honestly all the food we had here was really tasty, definitely a good place for breakfast/lunch. The staff were friendly and accomodating but in the evening it was a lot busier and therefore slower service. Would definitely recommend if you are in Cat Ba.

LeanderSchrijver

Points +537

Vegan
10 Nov 2023

Good vegan options + hostel!

This restaurant also is a hostel which is really nice for vegans. We had dinner and breakfast at this place. Would definitely recommend.

SophievanderKooi

Points +384

Vegan
09 Nov 2023

Good burger

The burger and curry were nice. They don't have a lot of options but they have some vegan options for breakfast and diner.

adivi

Points +116

Vegan
26 Aug 2023

Made every mistake possible

Came for the food, stayed for the vibe. Tiny dishes which were not very good sadly. There were problems with the electricity and the service was bad. They kept bring us not vegan food even tho i was very specific. You have!! to double check them. The alcohol made us feel bad, we also got the wrong bill and just gave up and paid it at the end. A lot of young people and pretty place tho

Updated from previous review on 2023-08-26

Orlaeloiselemans

Points +48

Vegan
17 Jul 2023

Orla lemans

A yummy vegan burger but not many options for vegan/vegetarian food if you want to eat local Vietnamese dishes

Pros: The chickpea burger yum

LuckyPig

Points +321

Vegan
29 Mar 2023

So tasty and healthy

My favorite was the coconut cofe

Pros: Healthy, Tasty, Beautiful garden

GabiBlue

Points +761

Vegan
03 Feb 2023

okay burger but small portion

nice place seems like a nice hostel very quiet when we went but it’s off season and raining so makes sense. had the veggie burger which was okay not much veg and really weird sweet ketchup and a tiny portion of chips but still tasty and satisfied the craving for a burger. forgot one of our drinks and couldn’t give us the right change but it was okay.

Lordjack26

Points +120

Vegan
09 Jan 2023

Would give 5* if it allowed

Stayed here and ate here a few times.
Very nice chilled hostel/ quirky/ stands out to the rest.
Staff was very friendly even with the language barrier.
Food was nice with plenty of options.

The app wouldn't allow me to give this place a 5* so gave it the highest rating possible.

Pricing for food was fair and they gave me a free room upgrade

Also had a puppy called Lille who was a gem 💎

RotemMozes

Points +354

Vegan
26 Feb 2020

Closed one week ago

Closed...
We went there ant its all brok dawn

LoveAnimalLoveNature

Points +1521

Vegan
01 Feb 2020

Very delicious breakfast

Cozy outside seating with nice paintings everywhere. Awesome breakfast with Vegan and Veggie Sandwich. They were filled with lots of fresh veggies and delicious hummus, avocado cream. The bread was fresh baked and toasted, really tasty. We also had nice wedges, with herbs, salt and vegan mayo. The papaya salad is perfect.

Pros: Lots of vegan options

deadendjob

Points +2586

Vegan
25 Jan 2020

Great Food

Really tasty food, good price & portions. The only issue we had was service was a little slow

nimsajnala

Points +99

Vegan
14 Jan 2020

Very nice atmosphere

The food is quite alright (good smoothie bowls, very nice hash browns, burger was ok) and the Vietnamese coffee is really good. Very nice atmosphere and people. We went here several times.

Pros: Very nice relaxed atmosphere , Good coffee

Cons: There could be more vegan choices

MirtillaLaResdòra

Points +1086

Vegan
14 Dec 2019

very cozy place, mediocre food

The place is beautiful and the atmosphere is very cozy and warm.
We've ordered our food and it took veery long to get our dishes.
We had a vegan burger and something like a buddha bowl. Both the dishes were average, nothing exceptional. The prices are high to be Vietnam, European standard.

Pros: Very nice location

Cons: Slow service, Pricy, Average food

ontbijtjezondereitje

Points +864

Vegan
10 Dec 2019

Good food but a lot of rats

We ate at secret garden and ordered a vegan burger. Then we got a meat burger with egg and cheese (fortunately) because otherwise we didn't saw it was meat.... We send it back and they were angry at first because we should ordered wrong in their eyes. Why would we order a meat burger if we are vegan????? We got a new one and it was good but not really much. The sweet potato chips was really good! Overall nice experience with a good ambience but... A lot of rats there.

Pros: Good food, Sweet potato fries

Cons: Rats, Staff

sarinapr

Points +57

Vegetarian
27 Nov 2019

Absolutely delicious

Had the vegan buddha bowl and the portion was really big. One of the best buddha bowls i‘ve ever had. The peanut sauce was just sooo yumm! Highly recommended!!
My boyfriend who eats meat also enjoyed his meal A LOT

Pros: Lots of vegan options

Cons: Nothing

EdenTsubery

Points +560

Vegan
24 Nov 2019

Great vibe

The vibe in this place was really good and looks like they had many options but the kitchen was closed a lot earlier so we couldnt try it.
We were thinking about what to order and made our order just to find out the woman there didn't know they closed the kitchen long ago.

sibatshenko

Points +262

Vegan
20 Nov 2019

Atmospheric place with good and pricy food

Healthy food, but bit pricey. For food and place I would give 5 stars. Afterwards I realized that they charged 40k too much. I was super tired so I didn’t realize at the moment so partly my fault...

amartin_01

Points +45

Vegan
05 Nov 2019

Vegetarian paradise on Cat Ba!

Almost entirely vegetarian menu. Daily vegetarian family style dinner at 7pm for 70,000 dong. Family dinner is free if you stay at the Secret Garden Hostel! Delicious coconut coffee and sandwiches. More expensive than some other local restaurants but still reasonably priced in my opinion.

kelseyjaynex

Points +2953

Vegan
24 Oct 2019

Family dinner was decent

We came for the “family dinner” after hearing good things. I messaged them on Facebook and was told you have to book on the day in person, so we stopped in at the hostel to book and pay. The price has gone up to 70,000 dong per person.
Dinner starts at 7pm and it was... okay. I just was expecting more for a place that’s highly rated as having great vegetarian & vegan food. The family dinner was all vegan except a scrambled egg thing. But the dishes were the same as we’ve had everywhere else, like on the Ha Long boat trip and at our own hotel’s family dinner (which was also cheaper). Tofu in tomato sauce, stir fried greens, salad and rice. Everything tasted fine but was just expecting some more variety.
On a positive note the family dinners are always a good way to meet people, happy hour margaritas were pretty good, and they had live music that night which was nice.

SabCelli7

Points +403

Vegan
19 Sep 2019

Yummy healthy family dinner

I did not stay here but I ate the family dinner here and it was a fully vegetarian dinner! The reason it was not fully vegan was because they used mayo on one of the dishes. Besides that one dish, it was all vegan. The family dinner only cost 50k which is pretty cheap for a family dinner! The menu also had so many veggie/vegan options with reasonable prices. The food was very tasty and the atmosphere was great. Such a chill welcoming vibe!

Pros: Lots of vegan options , Good atmosphere , Nice staff

Cons: Meat on menu

ToriFisher

Points +60

Vegan
14 Aug 2019

wow

seriously recommend secret gardens family dinner! 50k for a buffet and amazing company! the hostel has such amazing vibes, and the food is healthy and filling! we got to know the owners and hung out here regularly as we loved it so much! they also have lots of food on the menu that’s vegan!

lucy.manly

Points +58

Vegetarian
21 Jul 2019

Good western food and family meal

Stayed at this hostel and really enjoyed the family meal (which you can also pay for if not staying). The meal consisted of lots of delicious Vietnamese food and the atmosphere was really nice. Their actual menu was also yummy although most of the options were more Western style food.




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