Ermita, as well as most of Manila, is fairly safe as far as street crime, in fact much safer than many US cities. There are many scams, which can actually be kind of amusing if you don't take the bait. Taxi scams can be annoying, just have them use the meter or use Grab. Check out Cowboy Bar & Grill on Mabini for decent pizza, beer and other food, and different sorts of (mostly loud) music. Girl bands, OPM, metal, even an occasional punk band. If you don't like the music, just wait and another band will come on. Enjoy!