A Toby Carvery chef was sacked after images emerged showing a blood-stained plate that had been handed to a customer.
The kitchen worker had cut his hand while carving meat at one of the chain's restaurants in Redhill, Surrey on Friday 11 December.
Daniella Maria posted the photos of the plate on Facebook, which was given to her at the Redstone Hill branch.
The images show the white plate splattered with a dark red liquid, which looks like blood, with fingerprints visible.
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One of the photos shows a slice of meat soaked in gravy with the blood around the outside of the rim.
Alongside the image, Daniella wrote: "The chef cut his finger when he was carving the meat, but didn't say anything. He just carried on serving my food while his finger was dripping blood all over my plate.
"He knew his finger was bleeding and didn't say anything and still served the food to me. Fuming. Absolutely f***ing disgusting - will never eat in here again."
A spokesperson for Toby Carvery Redhill said: "The server involved has since left the business.
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"We will be providing our team with full refresher training and working closely with local environmental health officials to review our procedures to ensure this does not happen again.
"We would like to reassure our guests that we take hygiene and the quality standards of the food we serve very seriously. We would like to apologise to Daniella for her experience. "
Social media users were disgusted by the photos.
One person wrote under the post: "That is vile."
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Another added: "What the f***. I hope you don't just settle with an apology and get a refund."
A third replied: "That is disgusting and to actually hand you the same plate too."
Daniella added: "It's absolutely disgusting. I was taking my disabled client for her Christmas dinner and they ruined it - so angry.
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"I didn't touch it. The chef kept looking over at me to see if I was going to eat it as well, and still didn't say anything."
A spokeswoman for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council said: "We take all allegations like this seriously and our Environmental Health team, who are responsible for food safety issues, are in the process of investigating.
"Surrey County Council's Trading Standards team have made us aware of this incident, although we haven't received a complaint directly."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: UK News