Highland's Coffee - No Pictures Allowed

This one surprised me today.  I was at Highlands Coffee at the Big C in the Phu Nhuan District to meet a friend this morning.  As I was about to take a picture of the coffee shop for a blog entry, one the waitresses came up to me and informed me that I could not take a picture there.

Yeah, really!!!

I thought she was joking and informed her that I have been taking pictures inside Highlands Coffee for over 4 years now.  She again told me that I could not take the picture and walked away.  She said a sign outside the coffeeshop says I cannot.

Very funny since you can find many pictures taken at Highlands Coffee online and in my blog.  My friend laughed when I told her.

Highlands Coffee may be reacting to some of the bad reviews they are getting from Expats and Vietnamese alike the last couple of months.  Some complaints include low quality coffee and bad service (Saigon Centre's Highlands has one of the worst service in the city now.).

Anyway, my original posting for this blog focussed on the raise of prices starting September 1st.  Highlands Coffee stated that to keep the current high level of quality for their customers, they needed to raise the prices.  Trung Nguyen Coffee used the same excuse 3-4 years ago and looked what happened to them...

Anyway, my review of this particular coffeeshop was that it was a good central location to meet up.  The coffee and service is acceptable but not like it was when it first opened up.

Has Highlands Coffee peaked in Saigon?  Who will be the next coffeeshop King/Queen of Saigon?