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Chef slams customer who complained her salad was "cold". Becomes global sass icon.

Generally speaking, when you order a salad, you expect it to be served cold.

Well, not if you’re “Liz from Dorset”, apparently.

A British chef has hit back at an angry customer who left a negative review of his restaurant on TripAdvisor recently.

Liz had been a patron at JOL restaurant in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales – and despite the eatery’s overwhelmingly positive reviews – decided she wasn’t too keen on the cold salad.

This criticism bugged the restaurant’s chef and owner, Jamie O’Leary, who branded the woman a “gutless keyboard warrior”.

“She moaned in her first review that her Cucumber Kachmber salad was cold,” he told The Mirror.

“I had to point out there’s a clue on the menu she should have spotted – the word salad. We don’t serve them hot.”

Chef
Image: Getty Images.
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Jamie, 36, then took it up with TripAdvisor, who removed her unfair comment, only for "Liz from Dorset" to come back with yet another negative review of his restaurant.

Amongst other things, old mate Liz complained the crab balls were "rock-hard", the lamb was "tough", the salmon was "undercooked", the swede was "over-caramelised", the ice cream was "a melted blob", oh, and her friend "caught her lip" on a chipped glass.

"We went here expecting to eat well but the word disappointed doesn’t even come near to the dreadful and overpriced lunch we had," she finished.

Taking offence, Jamie responded directly to her comment.

"What a pleasure it is to hear from you again after the first review from your current smear campaign was removed by the Tripadvisor powers that be. However your persistence has grabbed our attention here at JOL’s," he began.

After pointing out a few problems with Liz's review, Jamie ended by complimenting his hard-working staff and praising TripAdvisor as a "fantastic tool" for businesses and their customers.

"However there is always the risk of it falling into the wrong hands, gutless keyboard warriors who simply have nothing better to do that [sic] try to damage hardworking businesses’ reputations," he wrote.

The secret to the perfect roast chook. Post continues below.

Speaking to The Mirror, Jamie said that while he's completely open to negative reviews from customers, Liz's complaints proved to be false and, well... personal.

"TripAdvisor took Liz’s first review down because it was wholly inaccurate but she went to the trouble of writing another one," he said.

"I don’t usually bite back but it was hurtful to me and my hard-working staff."