A mother of five from the Wirral says she was left feeling cheated after a £17.99 chicken skewer meal at a Harvester restaurant in Wallasey, Merseyside arrived looking nothing like the dish shown on the chain's menu.
Louise Reecejones, 48, had brought her family to the Harvester Derby Pool restaurant on September 6 to celebrate her daughter Becca's 19th birthday. According to EXPRESS, which first reported the dispute on October 22, she and her son Harrison both ordered the chicken skewer dish, which the menu photograph showed as two generous skewers.
What the customer says happened
When her plate arrived, Reecejones says she received one skewer rather than two, and the chicken was burnt, hard and chewy. A photograph of the meal shows a single charred skewer on a plate with a pot of coleslaw, tomato ketchup and a cup of chips.
It was £17.99 but when you look at the picture, it was very different to what you got, she said. The actual skewer was really thick so you hardly got any chicken on it.
There certainly wasn't enough protein on that plate. It was awful. My son was fuming. He was left starving, and I had to pick up some more food for him on the way home.
Reecejones says she paid more than £200 for the birthday gathering and ate her skewer despite its condition. Her son, she said, remained hungry after the meal, and she bought him extra food on the journey home.
Why the word 'catfished' is doing the work here
Reecejones did not mince words about the gap between the advertised meal and the plate in front of her.
I feel totally ripped off. We were catfished by the Harvester photo of the meal, 100 per cent. It showed two skewers and I only got one.
The phrase has spread far beyond dating apps and online frauds. As Wikipedia's catalog of internet phenomena notes, catchphrases of this kind travel fast online and become shorthand for a shared grievance. In this case, a mother dining out for a family birthday found the one word that captured the sense of being sold one thing and handed another.
The Liverpool Echo also covered the dispute, reporting that Reecejones felt ripped off after paying £17.99 for a meal that looked nothing like the food advertised by the restaurant.
Harvester's response
Harvester said it takes all guest complaints seriously and works to resolve them promptly.
We take guest complaints very seriously and endeavour to resolve all our guest complaints directed to us within a reasonable time frame.
The chain also maintained that the menu image depicts a double skewer rather than a single one. Yet the menu itself lists skewers in the plural as standard, and the option to add an extra skewer only appears when the item is placed in the online basket. That detail matters. If the photograph and the printed description do not match what lands on the table, the customer is not the one at fault.
An honest plate is part of an honest business
There is a simple principle at stake in this story, and it is one that applies as much to a restaurant in Wallasey as to any business serving families in Gaborone. A price on a menu is a promise. When a photograph shows two skewers and the plate carries one, the promise has been broken, and no corporate statement about complaint procedures repairs it.
Reecejones said she wanted to warn other customers after the experience.
I felt robbed. I wanted to warn other people. It was a lot of money and to pay £18 for a meal and this is what you got, is awful. You expect a lovely experience and food that's going to fill you up.
She has since posted an image of the meal on social media to caution others. She also says she will not return to the chain, having been a regular customer before the incident.
Her reaction is the correct one. The most effective discipline in any market is not a regulator or a hashtag. It is a customer who pays full price, receives less than what was advertised, and then quietly takes her family's business elsewhere while telling her neighbours exactly why. That is accountability in its oldest and most reliable form.
What this means for diners
The dispute is a reminder to check the menu description against the photograph before ordering, and to raise problems on the spot rather than after the bill is paid. It is also a reminder to restaurant chains that a birthday table spending £200 is worth more than a saved skewer. Word of mouth built the family restaurant trade, and word of mouth can unbuild a chain that treats portion sizes as a place to cut corners.
Harvester has not said whether it will adjust the menu image or the listing. For now, the photograph of one burnt skewer, a pot of coleslaw and a cup of chips is doing the rounds online, and a family in Merseyside is celebrating its birthdays elsewhere.
FAQ
How much did the Harvester chicken skewer meal cost?
Louise Reecejones says the chicken skewer dish cost £17.99 at the Harvester Derby Pool restaurant in Wallasey, Merseyside.
What did the customer claim was wrong with the meal?
She says the menu photograph showed two skewers but her plate arrived with one, and she described the chicken as burnt, hard and chewy.
What did Harvester say about the complaint?
A spokesperson said the chain takes guest complaints very seriously and endeavours to resolve all complaints directed to it within a reasonable time frame, adding that the menu image depicts a double skewer.
When did the incident take place?
The family visited the restaurant on September 6, 2026, to mark Reecejones's daughter Becca's 19th birthday.