A PENSIONER was thrown out of a restaurant on her birthday after her family complained about insects in her food, according to her daughter-in-law.

Tracey Martin, of Calcot, visited Harvester restaurant Mansion House in Prospect Park on May 1 with her family to celebrate her mother-in-law Mary Winn turning 87.

But she was shocked to find ants scurrying in Ms Winn’s salmon dinner — and even more horrified at the reaction of the bistro manager who threw the whole party out following Mrs Martin’s complaint and subsequently banned them all from the venue for life.

Mrs Martin, 49, said: “We were absolutely gobsmacked and to be honest, lost for words is a huge understatement. The way the manager handled it was just abysmal and so unprofessional.

“We went there for a nice meal and it started quite badly with the ants in our food but the way she treated us was just awful.”

She added: “It was not just the food, it was the whole service. We can’t go back there anyway as they’ve banned us but even if we could I definitely wouldn’t.”

Mrs Martin said the manager, who threatened to call the police if they did not vacate the eatery, also told her she was not allowed to present her mother-in-law with a surprise birthday cake.

She said: “Out of everything that happened I just can’t believe the manager took it upon herself to throw an 87-year-old woman out of the restaurant.

“It was really quite embarrassing for us as a family and also very humiliating. And on top of all that they wouldn’t even let us bring out her birthday cake to sing happy birthday.”

She added: “It’s almost as if they were doing all they could to make our lives as miserable as possible for the time we were there, just because I wanted an apology from the manager.”

Mrs Martin, who made a formal complaint to the restaurant chain following the incident, said the event left Ms Winn “distressed”.

She said: “My mother in law was just absolutely mortified. I know older people tend to hide their feelings a bit and keep things to themselves but she was very quiet afterwards so she was clearly distressed about everything.”

A Mansion House spokesman said: “We take all guest feedback very seriously and will fully investigate the Martin family complaint. At the time of their visit our manager and team believed they had worked with the family to resolve any issues they had. We’ve had no further contact from the guest to date and will of course now contact them to ensure we resolve the matter.”