OWNERS of a popular Ellesmere restaurant says they will be working hard to restore its five-star rating from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), and blamed a drop in its rating on paperwork issues.

Last month, an inspection of Meze Greek Restaurant, in Cross Street, led to a one-star rating being given to the establishment, a drop from a previous five rating.

Usually, a low rating is because hygiene standards at a place serving food are ‘in need of major improvement’ while a five reflects ‘very good’.

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Bosses at Meze said the drop in rating is down to misplaced paperwork that meant records could not be viewed by inspectors, and that they expect to back at their ‘usual high standards’ when inspected again.

A spokesman said: “We just wanted to make everyone aware of the reasons behind our latest official recorded rating of one that we received by the Food Standards Agency.

“It has actually nothing to with the hygiene standards and quality or integrity of our food processes.

“The first official assessment resulted to a one due to documentation record availability that has now been restored as it was misplaced.

“Once we put things back into place and on their second visit the unofficial rating was a four. 

“However in order to document the latest rating we would need to pay a council a fee for the four to become official.

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“Since we are also making changes to the kitchen we have decided to pay for the re-evaluation when the work is complete and aim for the five.

“We invite any customer to check the kitchen on their visit, just ask a member of staff.”

Meze serves traditional Greek/Cypriot food and is open from Thursday to Sunday.