CUSTOMERS of Tamarind Indian Restaurant, Newport, have been invited to take a look around the kitchen after staff have made improvements following a zero-star hygiene rating.

The discovery of rodents in a food storage area, alongside a few minor points, resulted in the zero-star rating.

Managers at the restaurant have spoken out and publicly apologised to their customers.

A spokesperson for Tamarind said: “We can wholeheartedly understand the concern that our obtaining such a low score causes to our customers and the wider public.

“We take this matter extremely seriously and apologise most sincerely for the concern this has caused.

“As our historically high scores demonstrate, our standards are usually very high, which we pride ourselves in.

“We want to reassure our customers that our low score is not representative of long-term deterioration or generally low standards.

“The main issue resulting in our low score was an isolated problem that coincidently and unfortunately for us fell on the day of our visit.

“Should you still have any reservations, we welcome you to come along during our opening hours and view our kitchen for yourself.”

Tamarind said all potentially contaminated food was disposed of immediately, a deep clean had been carried out and maintenance had been done to remove pest-access points.

A follow-up visit by the environmental health officer signed off the remedial work carried out as satisfactory.