The owner of Sticky Walnut in Hoole has slammed a diner's 'lack of grace and good manners' after they left a negative review on TripAdvisor.

Gary Usher, who broke crowdfunding records earlier this year by raising more than £200,000 to open Wreckfish in Liverpool, hit back to the review with a withering reply.

The disgruntled customer claimed the sea bream they ordered had an ‘extremely strong odour and awful strong taste’ and suggested it wasn’t fresh.

Gary Usher owners of Sticky Walnut, Burnt Truffle and Hispi is opening a new restaurant in Liverpool city centre called Wreckfish.
Gary Usher

They went on to explain that the Charles Street restaurant arranged for a replacement dish and it was ‘cooked nicely and quite enjoyable’, reports the Liverpool Echo .

But the review didn’t stop there, as they went on to add: “Time to settle the bill – oops!

“Was this an error? A little surprised that the restaurant charged for fish dish at all, but rather than charge for the original sea bream, they charged for the more expensive replacement dish!

“Oh, but restaurant manager said we should be happy with that arrangement as she had given me a 'free serving of chips!' (I don't eat chips!!).

“Manageress was then content to argue extensively that her billing arrangement was reasonable (with 'free chips' a bigger bill, and a race to finish my replacement meal, what more could I ask for)."

The reviewer went on to add that they will be back ‘when staffing reviewed.’

Unhappy with the review and the fact that the diner left without paying for his replacement meal, restaurant manager Gary Usher hit penned his own version of events.

He replied: “ I don’t need to explain to you how fresh our produce is. We have based our whole business around it…

“We sent out 16 “smelly” bream that night. The other 15 were apparently surprisingly odourless – and fresh.

“We cooked your second choice in record time and sent it with complimentary truffle chips and sticky walnuts. “I don’t like chips”. You’re missing out big time on that one.

“The manager politely explained that you were being charged as normal for the £24 halibut that you had said was cooked nicely and quite enjoyable...

“The £18 bream that was not to your liking went in the bin with no charge to you. You then proceeded to argue in front of our other guests and refused to pay for your main course.

“The one that you said you enjoyed. You then left without paying for it.

“I HAVE reviewed the staffing and as a result I bought the general manager a lovely bottle of Riesling to compensate for having to deal with your lack of grace and good manners.

“The way I see it you still owe us £24. It doesn’t look as if we’ll ever see it though as you’re no longer welcome in any of our bistros again. Pity!”

Chef and owner Gary also posted the full reply on his social media and others replied to condemn the reviewer.

Mat Simpson Tweeted: “So what the person actually did was steal from your restaurant. Don't let them get away with it. Massively out of order”

Natalie Brereton commented: “People can do such damage posting untrue accounts like this, it’s outrageous. Riesling was a great shout.”

Sarah Tweeted: “It angers me that people will sign up JUST to write a bad review. If they'd had a fabulous meal, would they have bothered to share or write a 4/5* review? I'm not sure…”