'A disgrace' - Food reviewer shredded for 'worst chicken' comment about Offaly Chinese

A social media food reviewer who labelled chicken served at an Offaly Chinese takeaway as "the worst ever" has been tackled by other local businesses.

The Paul Isitworthit TikTok account visited Offaly and sampled the Xi Visitors Chinese in Birr on its travels. The page dedicates itself to "honest" reviews around the country and goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure they "get the same food as everybody else."

The reviewers ring in their order, never take offers of freebies with the unknown cameraman collecting the food to ensure the takeaways deliver the same food to the reviewer as an ordinary customer. Paul's take on Xi Visitors in Birr did not go down well with some other local businesses in Birr. 

In his review of the Chinese takeaway and its shredded chicken, Paul said: "There's like minus chicken in that. That is rotten. That's the worst chicken I've ever had. That has blown my off the smokes."

He then tasted the chicken curry dish and declared: "I hate the chicken; it's like rubber. It's boiled chicken. I actually hate this place."

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Before scoring, he said: "I think this might be the lowest ever. That chicken is rancid." He then gave Xi Visitors a score of 2.1 out of ten and against said it was "the worst chicken I've had."

Responding to the video, which now has almost 350,000 views on TikTok, the Aaron's Barbershop page commented: "Never like posting on social media and Crizting [sic] anyone. But you are nothing short of a disgrace. This is a family run business in my town who work very hard to make ends meet and you think you have the right to tear there business to shreds. What satisfaction do you get from doing this. You’re nothing short of a disgrace if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything atal."

Some others agreed that the Isitworthit reviews can be tough to take but another user focused on the "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all" comment and wrote, "unfortunately that’s not how a review works mate." 

Another added: "So you're saying no matter the quality just give these people your money. They would want to add chicken to the batter."

A third said: "He's giving an honest review as an outsider. Just because it's your local and your comfort food doesn't mean it's any good! you're entitled to your opinion and so are these creators."

The reaction was enough for the reviewer to post a video addressing the comment from Aaron's Barbershop. Paul said: "We're getting these sort of comments on a daily basis. I don't really like making content on stuff like this because that's what trolls want but this is for anybody that's new around here...our aim is to give honest unbiased reviews in every place we go to. I started this because I was so sick of seeing everywhere get 10/10 on social media.

"I'm fully aware my content isn't suited to everyone. It's very raw and unfiltered. We've had multiple abusive and threatening messages from business owners who we've given a bad score to. If my main aim was to tear down and tarnish businesses, I would literally just share these screenshots with you at home. I've never done this because I understand people are passionate about their food.

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"We now have over 100,000 followers and 40 million views in the last six months. I understand the way this world works and a lot of creators take money to say things they don't believe in when they reach a certain level. I'm just here to let you know that's never going to happen with us. Whether we have ten people and ten million people watching, honesty will always be our only policy, and if you don't like how it works around here, no one's forcing you to watch."

Paul Isitworthit has also visited a number of other outlets in Offaly. He gave Pizzeria Del Capitano in Tullamore a 7.9/10 after describing their pizza as "banging." He rated the breakfast bap from the Big Black Box in Killeigh as 5.4/10 and Angelo's chipper in Banagher an 8/10.