Heavily pregnant barmaid 'munched on dead mosquito' in Archie's takeaway

Kirsti Smith gave in to her pregnancy cravings and ordered from restaurant chain Archie's last month. But halfway through her meal the 24-year-old says she spotted legs emerging from some mac and cheese bites.

She claims to have inspected the side dish further and discovered it was actually half of a dead mosquito, with the other half chewed up in her mouth. The barmaid says two more were lurking at the bottom of her food bag.

Disgusting' images show the leggy bugs lying dead on Kirsti's kitchen counter next to pieces of her mac and cheese bites. Horrified Kirsti, who was eight months pregnant, quickly binned the bug-infested dish and contacted Uber Eats and Archie's to inform them of her discovery.

The mum-to-be says she felt nauseous minutes after scoffing the takeaway and even called her triage clinic for advice. Despite forwarding images of the bugs to Uber Eats, the bartender says the delivery service refused to refund Kirsti for the £29 meal.

After being contacted by reporters the delivery firm apologised for Kirsti's experience and confirmed they have issued a full refund.

Archie's insisted they take reports of this nature extremely seriously and called in an environmental health officer who was happy with the cleanliness and safety standards of the premises.

Kirsti, from Manchester, Greater Manchester, said: "I don't really get Archie's often but I did because I was hungry and I was having a bit of a pregnancy craving, so it was a last-minute meal.

"I ate about half the meal and was eating the mac and cheese bites. I'd had about two of them and as I was taking a bite, I looked down at the food I was eating and saw what I thought was a spider. I just saw legs. I started inspecting them and realised they were mosquitoes.

"It was inside the bites and I'd actually eaten half of it. Half of the mosquito was in the bite and the other half was chewed up in my mouth.

"I immediately started checking the rest of the food and tipped out the rest of the food. I saw at the bottom of the bag there were two more dead mosquitoes. I threw the rest of the meal in the bin. I didn't get to see if there was anything in the wrap and drink.

"I was scared of finding anything else. I suspect there could've been more. I felt sick and actually rang triage to let them know I'd ingested dead bugs and they told me to keep an eye on myself. I felt a bit nauseous and started to feel a bit ill."

Kirsti ordered a chicken mayo wrap, mac and cheese bites, a waffle and a milkshake from Archie's Manchester's Oxford Road store via Uber Eats.

Kirsti claims Archie's apologised on the phone after informing them of her discovery but that Uber Eats initially refused to refund the disgusting meal.

Kirsti said: "As a customer it's just not something you expect and I wanted to let them know to have a deep clean of their store. I'll never order from Uber Eats again. It was disgusting.

"I have emetophobia and was panicking for the rest of the night. I was scared for my baby. You just don't know what these bugs are carrying. I kept on thinking how many people would've ordered from Archie's that night.

"I'm still waiting for a refund. I think that's the bare minimum for eating bugs."

An Archie's spokesperson said: "At Archie's, the health and safety of our customers is our absolute priority, and we take all reports of this nature extremely seriously.

"Once brought to our attention, we investigated the matter and there were no findings during our internal audits that supported the issue raised, and no similar complaints were identified.

"We consulted the local Environmental Health Officer, who visited the store, reviewed our record-keeping, and was happy with the cleanliness and safety standards of the premises.

"We were really sorry to hear about Kirsti's experience, so as a goodwill gesture, we refunded the order and issued an additional credit so that she could return on another occasion, which the customer accepted.

An Uber Eats spokesperson said: "We are very sorry for Kirsti's experience with this order and we've provided a full refund and good will gesture."

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