A RESTAURANT manager has been blasted after a woman claims she was fed frozen chicken in Ellesmere Port.

Stephanie Gilmore, 34, was in the town visiting her family during a week holiday as she now lives in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates where she works.

When she visits, the family always go for a meal together.

But Stephanie’s 64-year-old dad Patrick Gilmore said the evening on Tuesday, October 24 was ruined by the blunder at the Harvester on Stanney Lane, Little Stanney.

Mr Gilmore, of Chester Road, Ellesmere Port, said: “Once a year she gets one week off and we look forward to it every year.

“Five minutes into our meal, my daughter started coughing and spluttering.

“She had her hand over her mouth and ran out. She was going to be sick. She came back and she was so embarrassed.”

Stephanie had ordered chicken skewers.

Mr Gilmore added: “The chicken was frozen solid in the middle. You could see the water and ice inside. If you get E. coli, that chicken is just ruthless.

“We asked to speak to the manager. The assistant manager came and said ‘we are very, very sorry, we’ve made an awful mess of your meal’.

“He said ‘this is my first night on as assistant manager.”

Mr Gilmore returned to the restaurant the next morning and again asked to speak to the manager.

“It took 15 minutes, then he came back and said the manager’s not in. Then he said he was at a meeting.

“He said he would ring at 4pm. When 4.30pm came and I got onto Harvester and they said he was still in a meeting.

“I gave them good time to get this sorted out.

“That fella shouldn’t be a manager. he is hoping it is going to go away.”

Harvester eventually offered the family meals and drinks for four people.

A company spokesperson said: “We were deeply disappointed to hear of Patrick and Stephanie Gilmore’s poor experience.

“We needed to investigate what went wrong and, thanks to the Ellesmere Port Pioneer, we were able to make contact with Mr Gilmore to formally apologise and offer a resolution.”