A customer in Sylhet has alleged that she received a half-eaten portion of beef biryani after ordering the meal through Foodpanda. Although the restaurant replaced the food following her complaint, she later claimed that the replacement packet also appeared to contain less food than expected and was unsatisfactory in quality.
The incident reportedly took place at around 10:30am on Sunday (August 16) in the Zindabazar area of Sylhet.
The customer, Hena Momo, is a resident of Zindabazar and works as a teacher at a corporate institution.
According to her, she ordered beef biryani through the online food delivery platform Foodpanda shortly after arriving at her office on Sunday morning. About 30 minutes later, she received the order from Foodpanda delivery rider Swachh Talukdar and paid the bill.
After opening the package, however, she found that part of the biryani appeared to have already been eaten, she alleged.
Hena said she immediately informed Foodpanda about the matter but claimed that her complaint was not properly addressed. She then contacted the Rajbari Restaurant, which told her to communicate with Foodpanda regarding the issue. She also tried to contact the delivery rider, but he allegedly told her that he did not know her.
Hena said she regularly orders food from restaurants through Foodpanda. She claimed that when she informed the delivery rider about the half-eaten food and asked him to take the package back, he later stopped answering her calls.
She said the restaurant did not offer a direct refund but agreed to provide a replacement meal. After receiving the replacement package, she claimed that the amount of biryani was lower than before and that the quality was also unsatisfactory. According to her, the restaurant authorities acknowledged that the quantity of the replacement food was insufficient.
“Both the restaurant and the delivery rider should be more responsible for ensuring food safety and quality throughout the preparation, packaging, sealing and delivery process,” Hena said.
When contacted over the phone regarding the allegation, Foodpanda delivery rider Swachh Talukdar reportedly cut the call. He did not answer subsequent calls.
Shakil Ahmed, supervisor of Rajbari Restaurant, said an order for biryani had been received through the Foodpanda app that morning and the rider had taken the food for delivery.
“Later, the customer called and told us that the biryani packet was half-eaten. We asked her to return the packet and provided another packet as a replacement. After the rider took the replacement, we received another call saying that the new packet was also in a similar condition,” he said.
Shakil added that they repeatedly tried to contact the rider afterward but he did not answer their calls. He said the restaurant would lodge a complaint with the Foodpanda manager over the matter.
