A woman was shocked to find a small cockroach in her Bolognese pasta while dining at Saizeriya in Somerset on the evening of September 22. Despite informing the store manager and being assured that her order would be voided, she was still charged for the meal and had to request a refund.
Background
Apple Maglalang, a 31-year-old import and export executive, was dining with friends and their children at the Saizeriya outlet around 7:30 pm. She had ordered Bolognese with egg and was halfway through her meal when she noticed a dark object in her dish. Initially thinking it was burnt meat, she was horrified to discover it was a small cockroach. Her friends also stopped eating to check their food.
Staff did not apologise
Apple reported the issue to a waiter, who took the food to the kitchen without saying a word. The waiter offered her a new dish, but Apple had already lost her appetite and was feeling unwell. She escalated the matter to the branch manager, who offered to replace the dish or void her order. She chose to void the order but later found that the meal was still included in the bill. After showing the receipt to the branch manager again, she was refunded. Apple noted that if she had not checked the receipt, she would not have known she was charged.
“Very disappointed, very angry”
Apple expressed her frustration over the lack of an apology and poor service recovery. “I was very disappointed, very angry and mad about it,” she told Fathership. As a regular patron of Saizeriya, she stated she would no longer dine at the Somerset outlet. A friend in the food and beverage industry encouraged her to write a review on Google, where she discovered another diner had a similar experience with cockroaches in their food. Fathership has reached out to Saizeriya for comment.
Previous incidents and future implications
This incident is not isolated. Another Saizeriya outlet in Hongkou District faced a similar scandal, leading to an investigation and the suspension of all its beverage machines. The suspension followed complaints from two diners who found a cockroach in a cup of milk and a cockroach leg in a cup of orange juice. These recurring issues raise concerns about the chain’s hygiene standards and could impact its reputation and customer trust.
