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A romantic meal ended in misery for a couple after being branded “riff raff” by the restaurant.

Fuming Jason and Jo Savage complained about the prawns at The Oven - only to get a Facebook message saying they almost weren’t served “based on their appearance”.

Bosses have refused to apologise for the Facebook message, but 46-year-old Jo fumed: “It has shocked me to my core - I felt degraded and disgusted.

“We lived in Dubai for five years - we are not riff raff.”

The Teesville pair visited the Middlesbrough restaurant for a ‘date night’ on Wednesday.

“We liked the Darlington branch so we thought we would give this one a go,” said mum-of-one Jo.

Businessman Jason ordered a parmo, but Jo was disappointed not to see a prawn main course.

“I’m a big prawn connoisseur and love seafood so I asked the waiter if anything could be done,” said mum-of-one Jo.

(Image: Ian McIntyre/The Gazette)

That’s when the drama unfolded.

“Our salad never arrived and I thought the prawns were rubbery and my husband said he could see the grease on the parmo,” claimed Jo.

After complaining, staff refunded her.

But still upset after leaving, she complained via Facebook of their “disaster date night”.

It sparked a response from the restaurant’s account stating: “When you arrived at 9.15pm, the waiter didn’t want to serve you based on your appearance, against our better judgement we did!

“You received eight prawns, ate six of them and then sent two back and complained they were disgusting after you’ve eaten the majority and some of your husbands parmo, no wonder you couldn’t fit in the last two prawns!”

It ends: “Lesson learned, always trust your better judgement, next time we will protect our customers from riff raff.”

A manager said staff at the Linthorpe Road restaurant were simply fighting back to comments he feels “nobody would accept” in the restaurant trade.

But Jo feels the comments about their appearance overstepped the line.

“I had a peach jumper with pull-up sleeves, which was brand new and some shiny black leather pants and boots which were also brand new as they were my Christmas clothes,” said Jo.

“(Jason) had a Henri Lloyd top, which cost £70 and isn’t cheap or scruffy - we were dressed smartly.

“We are in the home fragrance business, so we are very clean people.

“I’ve never ever been called riff raff in my life.

“For someone to say that, I can’t put into words how sick I felt.”

(Image: Ian McIntyre/The Gazette)

A restaurant spokesman said, however, he wouldn’t be in a rush to invite them back.

“We took a meal off their bill but they still criticised us on Facebook - we bent over backwards for them,” he said.

“It is normal for people to make complaints in this industry, where we usually return that with a voucher or an apology.

“We are very happy about what we do, we work 14-hour-days to deliver a good product for the town.

”We respect everyone who comes to see us and usually they respect us back.

“Would I accept them back as customers - why should I?”

However, the Cranford Avenue couple say they wouldn’t be in a rush to return.

“We will stay away,” added Jo.