A TAKEAWAY and restaurant owner has hit back over claims a customer received 'raw chicken' in his curry.

The irate customer, Jack Green, claimed he was served 'raw chicken' from Incredible India in St John's on Saturday evening.

Mr Green said: "You need to know how bad the food is. They got the wrong order for a start, it was then over an hour late. The food was cold, all the chicken was raw and pink, and the curry was just a pool of oil and grease! When the replacement meal came it was completely the wrong order and the chicken was raw again."

The owner of the restaurant, Suman Prasad, denies the chicken was raw and claims the customer in question was aggressive and rude to his staff.

Mr Prasad said: " Saturday was a very busy evening for the restaurant. We are aware of the complaints made by this customer and felt the situation had been rectified. He called us and told us there was a problem with the food and we sent him out a replacement meal along with two complimentary bottles of beer as a way of apology.

"He then called us again and demanded we send him more beer, he was very rude to the driver and the team at the shop. We tried our best to sort the situation out and make the customer happy, but he was very very rude."

Mr Prasad admitted that the head chef, working that weekend had been fired for 'other reasons.'

He said: "We have had problems with our head chef, he would panic when it was busy and therefore I gave him his two weeks notice. However, this was before the incident on Saturday and the chef in question did not prepare the meal that was sent out to the customer.

"I do not believe the chicken could have been raw, the ovens are at a set temperature and these are checked regularly. There is no blood, the chicken can sometimes be coloured due to seasonings and sauces used in the dishes."

Mr Prasad also said he would not give the customer a refund as the meal was replaced.

He said: "We sent out the replacement meal plus the two bottles of beer and the customer still tried to claim a refund via Just Eat. We are a small local restaurant and are struggling to survive during these difficult times. Like many others we have been closed for eat in and rely on our takeaway to stay open.

"I have staff members relying on me to pay their wages. We are fighting for survival."