Nha Trang restaurant fined $3,780 for gouging Chinese tourists

A view of a seafood restaurant on Nguyen Thien Thuat street in Nha Trang where a group of Chinese tourists are charged at high prices for a meal duirng the Lunar New Year holiday 2025.

A restaurant in the central beach city of Nha Trang has been fined VND96.5 million (US$3,780) for overcharging a group of Chinese tourists during the Lunar New Year holidays.

The restaurant on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street was also ordered to refund the VND5.8 million it had overcharged them.

On Feb. 3, just after the holidays, a Chinese tourist posted on her Xiaohongshu account that the restaurant had charged her group of 15 over VND20 million for a meal.

In the check she uploaded, it can be seen that they were charged VND1.89 million for a plate of eggplant grilled with scallion oil, VND500,000 for a plate of stir-fried water spinach with garlic, at VND325,000 for a bowl of pho (beef or chicken noodle soup), and VND200,000 for two cans of Coca-Cola.

The restaurant also slapped a "Tet holiday surcharge" of more than VND4.7 million.

The tourists saw the check and objected to the excessive prices, and, after negotiating with the restaurant, were told to pay VND15.6 million instead.

The post quickly gained widespread attention on social media, with netizens panning the restaurant for the "unreasonably expensive and unacceptable" prices.

Local authorities investigated and found that the restaurant had indeed gouged them, leading to the fine and refund order.