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Hi folks,

I am new to VN, however dating strategies and planning has been around for thousands of years...is all the same )
Listen to your date and try to read between the lines on where she wants to meet. Hotel restaurant is always a safe place to go to for both parties, not intimidating or scuzzy and a touch of class; you can go to the lobby bar, casual restaurant or the fine dining. Try Hyatt or the InterCont. Fast food is for a year later..haha.
By the way, wear a nice genuine smile and do a lot of listening !!
Good luck. :-))

MIA2013 wrote:

By the way, I like your pic and I bet SaigonMonkey does too. 

Yes, you would be correct, and I already told her so a few days ago!   

First of all, you take her to the Rex hotel roof garden for drinks. After that head for Bobby Chinns restarant. You will be able to eat great food, in a cool place. If that dont impress, i dont know what will. Have a good eveing.

yes Shri is very romantic. i highly recommend it although i prefer a restaurant next to the river like the deck )

Right on OBB. A Vietnamese girl would be happy with rubbery boiled chicken with lots of Chili in nuoc tuong on the side.

The Deck is overpriced and the food is poor. It looks pretty but is not good. IFor really great French food, try Papagayo in District 2. Lovely garden setting, and some of the best French food I've had and I used to live in France. Ty Coz is equally great in Dist 1.

Cuc Gach Quan is lovely, but it is basically really good Vietnamese home cooking.

Monsoon is very pretty and quiet. It does SE Asian cuisine from, VN, Laos and Cambodia. The Cambodian fish stew is amazing.

These are all intimate, good restaurants, but not too flashy so you can still build up from there.

Good luck.

saigonmonkey wrote:

MIA2013 wrote:

By the way, I like your pic and I bet SaigonMonkey does too. 

Yes, you would be correct, and I already told her so a few days ago!   

@@@ : SaigonMonkey: I think MIA2013 can understand you very well.. 

@@@ MIA 2013; waiting you back VN again. Inbox me when you will be here. We will enjoy nice restaurants here. 

Yuli

If you wanna impress, take your date to SHRI, its one of the best restaurants in HCMC. It's on "Nguyen Thi Minh Khai" street, about under 10 minutes from the heart of the city. Absolutely lovely city views on the roof top, and delicious cocktails at the bar aswell. I always take all my friends to SHRI whenever I return to VN. Trust me, you will love it. Ciao

I do believe wrote:

Right on OBB. A Vietnamese girl would be happy with rubbery boiled chicken with lots of Chili in nuoc tuong on the side.

If you need help finding a good restaurant, whatever "good" means in this context, use FourSquare.  Get the opinions and reviews of hundreds of people. 

But I think it's more important in making a good first impression to have a decent personality and a polite manner than try to wow your date with an expensive setting.  In my experience in Saigon the fancier the restaurant, the lousier the food.  We ate in one place payed two mill for small portions of lousy food, drive back to Cần Thơ and had lẩu mắm for 50,000, much better and more than we could eat, three of us.  On a date I'd rather have had the hotpot.

I can also recommend Trip Advisor and I second ChrisFox opinion on expensive but lousy food restaurants. People tend to pay more for the setting than the menu. However if you have the money waste it on Michelin Star Restaurants. Do we have any here? Back in my town we have 3* Restaurants in one street lol:)

BTW McDonalds is opening soon. Who's going to join me to watch the drive thruxD

You should try at Espy Pizza 154 Cống Quỳnh, Pham Ngu Lao ward. they sell NY style pizza by the slice. It's so incredible.

definitely need to take her to el gaucho argentinian steakhouse! probably one of my favorite restaurants here in hcmc. i also like quan ngon on pasteur street in district 1, its inexpensive and the food ain't that bad. the people are friendly and i enjoy the atmosphere. then take her to chill skybar in the AB towers on Le Lai street in district 1 as well. If she doesn't get impressed then she probably has a problem.

VungTauDon wrote:

My wife (Vietnamese) and I had our first date at a nice cafe with her friend and we were able to talk and get to know each other, while we were at the cafe we made plans for going out later that evening to get something to eat and we were able to not bring her friend along. So we ended up having 2 dates on the first day.

This ^^

A fancy restaurant to impress a lady on a first date is a huge mistake, in my opinion.  If that's what impresses her (rather than, say, you and your personality), you've got the wrong woman.  If it doesn't impress her, you've wasted your money and she probably thinks you're trying to buy her with fancy meals and/or you're insecure.  I.e., you can't win with this approach.

I suggest you KISS (keep it simple stupid  ).  Meet in a cafe and chat and see if you want to do more.  If she's the right one, she'll recognize you're in it for the right reasons, and vice versa.  That should leave plenty of time to wine and dine later.  Good luck!

anguyenpham-
You're the dude who's been in HCM for 2 years but you don't like living here.
Now you're saying if a girl isn't impressed with the sleazy effort you put into taking her to a few'show off' spots,she has a problem.
Is that how Viet Khieu impress the poor impoverished HCM girls?

jimbream wrote:

anguyenpham-
You're the dude who's been in HCM for 2 years but you don't like living here.
Now you're saying if a girl isn't impressed with the sleazy effort you put into taking her to a few'show off' spots,she has a problem.
Is that how Viet Khieu impress the poor impoverished HCM girls?

Jimmy aka Mr. iknoweverythingaboutvietnam,

Lol, yes you're correct I've been living here for a little bit over 2 years and I really don't like it here. based on personal reasons such as the humidity in the weather, but not sure why thats any of your concern????..I'm just here since I have a sucessful job offer which makes me stay in HCMC. I'm sure its pretty much the same for you. I've taken quite a few of my foreigner friends to places I've mentioned above and they were quite impressed and amazed w/ the outcome. also when did I EVER imply that I take out "POOR IMPOVERISHED HCM GIRLS?".. not sure where you got that from..and are you trying to say that all HCM girls are poor? hmmmm..i think you need to becareful with the things you say in regards to vietnamese girls and VK in general.

look on tripadvisor website loads of recommendations for good places to eat in HCMC.

One thing I learned about eating out, expensive to impress does not always work. I took a nice young lady to a nice place. She wanted me to order first. Then she order only a tea. She said the food was too expensive. Now I encourage them to pick the places, handle the bill after I give them my wallet. Food is always good, my date is comfortable being there and she enjoys reviewing the bill.

Jquinoq wrote:

What are some impressive restaurant to take a first date in HCM? Any other advice for first dates? 

There is a really cool little bistro right below DIA Projects.  The address is

M2C Bistro & cafe
103 Dong Khoi

and is pretty enjoyable.  First date shouldn't be too flashy, but this place is really nice.  Good place to have a conversation.  Their food is delicious and if you're into art, or maybe she is, take her upstairs to look at whatever exhibit they're featuring . Trust me.  Then afterwards you can walk over one street and walk Nguyen Hue. 

Here's some reviews on tripAdvisor that'll help your decision making. 

Geez, so many of the posts on this topic seem so (pardon the pun) 'dated'. How old are the male contributors?? I have dated or just 'gone around' with a good few VN girls and they were all pretty laid back about the whole thing. I didn't 'take her out' rather just 2 people 'went out'...