Central Auckland's dirtiest eating establishments were named by the Herald a month ago.
Food grades in the former Auckland City region show 10 restaurants and cafes have received E grades, with 29 given a D grade.
The New Zealand Herald online asked readers if they were influenced bythe food grading system. Nearly 13,500 readers responded and just over half said they used the rating to make a call about whether to dine there. Or not.
But to the every day diner, how do these places really stack up?
A few brave members of the online team have decided to put their bellies on the line and review all 29 of the D listers, revealing one a day for the month of September. D grade eateries are reviewed twice a year, according to Auckland City Council. While they are subject to change, our list is correct as of the last week of August, 2013. If the grade is changed at the time of publication this will be made clear in the review.
So join us on our journey eating through the D list. Check in at lunch each day, read our review, and let us know in the poll if you have - or would - eat at the outlet.
Check out the full Dirty Dining Diary wrap up in tomorrow's New Zealand Herald and in Life & Style online. We'll share our favourite places, the most heinous incidents and answer the most asked question, have you been sick?
We ordered: A 'fresh pork bun' ($2.50) wrapped in cling film and as hard as a rock. We also bought what was described to us as banana in coconut milk ($5). We picked these from a bunch of unrefrigerated, unattractive looking foodstuffs with no expiration dates by the checkout.
The vibe was: A bleak supermarket.
The décor looked: Messy and grubby.
The service was: Disinterested.
We left feeling: Like we didn't want to try what we had purchased. We gave both a small sample, but they tasted stale and not good. We couldn't finish them.
We could see their D grade: Wasn't anywhere to be seen amongst the random papers pinned to the wall.
The most D-grade thing about it: This place reeked of D.
