Stretch the truth to avoid going out to dinner

Just tell them what you've said here.

Can't be bothered with friends who won't just ge honest. We are adult women not teenagers.

Where are these ratings from re: hygiene op?

how immature. She's doing you a favour by showing you who she is.

Id be tempted to send her a response such as "just to be clear, my decision has no bearing on the fact that you organised it. It is on the basis that I prioritise my health. It's ridiculous that you've taken offence but that's your decision"

If I were your friend I'd be thanking you for warning us all!

Seems perfectly normal to me - if I looked up a restaurant a friend had booked to see the food they do and saw some negative reviews about the food quality, I’d then want to see what a recent inspection said. Your friend should be thanking you!

Oh I totally agree with you, not on my radar and that’s not going to change now!!

But yes, with a group size as large as ours and ordering the type of food we did, discovering the food hygiene rating was 1 we had expected some repercussions and there were none! We actually went back there later on that week 😂

I’ve seen schools fail their ofsted reports on careless approaches to paperwork filing, not a reflection on the quality or content of teaching so I suppose I tend to take all these ‘very important and serious reports’ somewhat casually.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER and @OneFineDay13 - your local council or here:

ratings.food.gov.uk

@TheChosenTwo - I suspect there is a strong correlation between those of us who have worked in catering/hospitality and the people who check food hygiene ratings!

Going through the inspection process and knowing the sort of things that give you a rating as low as a 1 or 2 certainly makes a strong impression.

Getting a 1 doesn’t mean everyone who eats there will be ill, obviously. It just increases the odds. A lot.

Me either! How do we check ?

I'm shocked you'd consider bowling out and knowingly let your friends eat there without warning them. Are they actual friends??

Take some screenshots of those reviews and send to your friend with something like

’ooft maybe this isn’t the best idea for a place to eat tomorrow? How about x or y instead?’

Im afraid nothing is worth risk food poisoning, especially not fear of offending a tricky friend!

For a rating of 1 it must be a burger van on a rat-infested industrial estate.

no way would I spend a penny piece on a restaurant with that low a rating,

and I'd question the friends you're hanging out with if (a) they choose skanky places for their friends and (b) you don't feel comfortable being honest with them about how grossed out that is,

correct

You can have all the procedures in place but if the paperwork is not up to date or incomplete, you will be marked down

No way would I eat at such a place! Suggest somewhere else or ditch the idea. Your stomach will thank you.

You’ve done the right thing OP. I’m fairly relaxed about these things but a 1 is terrible.

Nothing is closed because it scores 1 - just look online, there's plenty of places open and operating despite being scored 1 months and months ago.

@MoistVonL im someone who has never looked up a food hygiene rating! I’m surprised so many do.
we once piled into a restaurant down on the coast, end of December and 24 of us on holiday. Right towards the end of lunchtime service, was pretty full but people were clearing out and they said they’d feed us. Lovely warm pub, staff friendly and welcoming etc. 24 of us ate mostly Seafood, mussels, vongole sort of stuff. Really tasty. Went outside and spotted the food hygiene rating in the window - it was a 1!!!! No one was ill, perhaps they’d already addressed the issue but we had no problems.
I’ve never checked a rating in advance but glad op has spoken up instead of going along with it unhappily.

I just tell people, “sorry, guys, it’s got a food hygiene rating of 1 so that’s a no from me.”

Lots of people never look up hygiene ratings, especially for takeaways, and are obvious. My best friend uses her local Thai place and had no idea is was a 2. She didn’t realise they were listed on the council’s website.

I’ve voted YABU as you were thinking of lying to get out of it. No need to lie - just be up front! It’s a disgusting pit! If you friend “goes off” then possibly not really a friendship worth cultivating

No need to stretch the truth.

Hi Friend, I was checking Chez Skank on-line to have a look at the menu and I see it has some pretty grim reviews and a very poor hygiene rating. Is this definitely the place you meant, as I don't want to go.

How about Chez Not-So-Skank down the road?

I'd just say 'I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys, but I looked up this place and it has a terrible hygiene rating, can we look at somewhere else instead? Don't want anyone to get food poisoning!'

jesus Christ this is such an overreaction 😂 the friend who booked might not even be aware of the rating. Surely to god a simple ‘just spotted the restaurant has only a 1 star hygiene rating 😬 yikes, shall we book somewhere else’s’ if the others still want to go, crack on and join the next outing