The owner of a Southampton kebab shop handed a one-out-of-five food hygiene rating by the Food Standards Agency has issues have now been resolved.

Shawarma Xpress at 114 Portswood Road, was given the rating after an assessment on February 10, as it was concluded that “major improvement” was necessary.

A full report on the inspection released by Southampton City Council revealed that amongst the findings the food hygiene inspector “was not satisfied that adequate cooking procedures were in place in partially cooked chicken pieces which were bloody in the middle”.

Responding to the hygiene rating, wholesaler and distributor for the restaurant, JW Foods said: “One-star isn't good, and we've reapplied for a second visit.

“The few issues we had are now resolved and we're hoping for a five-star rating upon second inspection.

“We have chicken on display, which is cooked at time of order, that’s the chicken, which is referred to as bloody in the middle, but we don’t serve it in that way at all. 

“We’re closing this weekend for the improvements, but as mentioned our utmost priority is to have this sorted as soon as possible and are confident we'll get a five-star rating.”

The food hygiene report from the initial inspection also noted that cardboard needed to be removed from the floor of the cooking area, “refrigerators in the kitchen/cooking area were not clean” and “the layout and design of the premises as currently operated does not allow proper and adequate working space for staff.”

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One Google review of the kebab shop submitted by an unhappy customer around the time of the inspection wrote: “Avoid this place at all costs.

“The food was horrible, dry and tasteless.

“I literally had to smother the dry chicken shawarma with BBQ sauce to make it fit for consumption, it was hardly edible without it.

“Without exaggerating, I can confidently say that I would not feed this to my dog.”

Another reviewer wrote: “The chicken shawarma was dry.

“The food itself had very little flavour with almost no veg or sauce with mostly air pockets and dry chicken.

“There’s not much difference between regular or large-sized wraps, won't be coming back.”