A peri-peri chicken takeaway has hit back at what its called "damaging" accusations suggesting it has a rodent problem and serves undercooked food.

Munchies Peri Peri, in Gravesend, has been slammed by customers who say they have seen mice on the premises and claim to have been served raw meat.

Customer Jimmy Babalola, the founder of GTown Talents, had popped into the chicken shop at 10.30pm last Saturday to grab a bite to eat.

However, after paying £16 and sitting down to enjoy a meal with his friend the 32-year-old saw two mice going in and out of the premises through the front door.

The community worker claimed staff turned a blind-eye but bosses said pest control firms have confirmed there are no rodents living at the premises.

Mr Bablola said: "I was really disgusted. As soon as we saw them we told the shop staff many times and they ignored us, it was like they knew it was happening.

"What is worse is that customers are eating there food and have no clue.

"The mice were running in and out of the entrance into spots that went under in the shop.

"To me it clearly looked like they lived there and it’s not right."

Jimmy claimed he told the owner of the shop at least five times but felt like he was purposely ignored.

He added: "In the end they closed the shop and the staff were being rude."

The Gravesend resident complained directly to shop and at first received no reply to his message.

He then got in touch with the council and posted about his visit on social media.

Following his post many others began speaking out about their own experiences.

One woman, who did not wish to be named, captured a mouse on film inside the premises four months ago.

She said: "The video was taken on July 23.

"I was walking past the shop when it was shut and there were four mice running around the store floor."

Speaking on the claims about the mice, a spokesman for Munchies Peri Peri said: "On Saturday between 10.30pm and 11pm, we had two customers notice that mice had entered our premises from outside.

"They reported it to our staff member who reported this to the manager.

"Staff members are not trained to catch mice and neither is it their job to do this, at the time the customer had already scared the mouse and it had ran away outside."

The spokesman explained that on the night Mr Babalola visited and the mouse was seen, the manager asked staff to make sure the floor was cleaned from where the animal had been.

They added: "Because it was the weekend and pest control contractors only work during the week we arranged for them to visit us during this week."

Munchies states that it has a regular pest control contractor, Monitor Pest, visit the premises every four to six weeks.

The spokesman said: "We have reported this incident to them already and are currently pending a visit by them."

This was due to take place on Wednesday and while waiting for this visit, the company confirmed that they had called another independent pest control contractor called Ebbsfleet Pest Control.

The contractor visited the shop on Tuesday and filed a report, which Munchies has provided a copy of to KentOnline.

The spokesman added: "The contractor ruled out any sign of mice or rats living within our premises, this includes the basement.

"However they have mentioned that they found signs of the rodents outside the shop in the alleyways - these are not managed by us, nor do they come under our premises.

"Following this incident we have concluded a deep cleaning of our shop and closed earlier on October 10 to complete this.

"We have also put extra checks in place to be completed every three hours until we are satisfied that no mice are near the premises."

Munchies have said that the next Independent Pest Control visit is scheduled to be done next week.

The spokesman said: "We didn’t initially reply to the customer who made the complaint about the mice as it was sent during out of office hours."

'We have concluded a deep cleaning of our shop'

Other complaints relating to allegedly undercooked food had also been made about the restaurant in February.

A woman, who also did not wish to be named, posted about Munchies sharing pictures of the burger she was served.

She posted pictures of an apparently undercooked burger and urged others not to go to the restaurant.

She said: "I got a burger from them in February and when I complained they told me that it was supposed to look like that.

"I continued to tell them otherwise and said that I wanted a refund.

"I did get one in the end but then got messages from a couple of people from the company asking me to take down my post and that I was wrong.

"I was pregnant at the time and I did actually eat some of the burger obviously not realising, it could have ended up being much worse."

In a response to the lady's post Munchies acknowledged there was a problem and the food was not up to standard but says after contacting the woman, they never heard back from them.

The post said: "We can assure you there is definitely something wrong here. We're on it and we will get back to you soon.

"Apologies inconvenience, we need to do some checks before we let you know what went wrong here."

Munchies opened in March 2021 despite the negative claims the takeaway holds the highest food hygiene rating of five, which came a month after it opened.

Gravesham Borough Council, the authority responsible for environmental health and food safety ratings, has confirmed officers have received a complaint and are in contact with the establishment.

Some comments in online reviews by customers suggested that the food served by Munchies was allegedly undercooked and pink.

The takeaway defended its cooking methods, adding: "We have proved our cooking methods to the council a number of times.

"Our marination process contains food colouring and due to this sometimes our chicken looks pink, we have emails of proof from the council confirming this."

'Both the people that ate the meal have now got food poisoning,,,'

One Google Review gave the takeaway one star.

Becca Higgins posted: "Bought a meal last night it was awful. Wasted £35 on two meals, the food tasted like cardboard it wasn’t even hot, tasted like it had been heated up.

"Both the people that ate the meal have now got food poisoning. Not good and will never come back again!"

Another reviewer, Ajay Bunger, said: "Food was horrible, wings were pink, under cooked and weren’t suitable to eat.

"The burgers were not cooked properly and I've tried to contact Munchies on their telephone number but no one seems to answer the phone still waiting for my refund from Just Eat."

On the delivering app JustEat, Munchies is rated four out of six stars - with critical reviews focusing on delivery issues.

Charlotte rated the food six stars, saying: "Food arrived quick and hot. Delish! Will defo order again."

Ryan rated the food at four stars, he said: "The half chicken wasn’t very nice and pretty inedible, wings on the other hand were unreal."

There were several other six star reviews with no comments attatched.

The Munchies spokesman added: "False claim about any business, especially the food business, ruins their reputation and during this tough time when all the small businesses are worried about bills and the rising cost of food, this is the last thing we wanted to happen.

"Clearly, mice came into our store from the street and the proceeded to run out as well, we keep the doors open to let customers know we’re open.

"We do understand it is important to raise concerns if something is wrong but the intentions behind this should be good.

"Hopefully, following all the work we've done, the customers who complained about us on social media will also post an appreciation about our efforts as well."