Adver reporter Tom Seaward dined out at the Swindon and Highworth takeaways and restaurants currently with a zero hygiene rating. Here's his verdict...

Banquet

40-42 Regent Street, town centre

Date of inspection: December 13, 2018

What the inspectors said

Hygienic food handling: major improvement necessary

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: improvement necessary

Management of food safety (including checks to make sure food served is safe to eat): urgent improvement necessary

This Is Wiltshire:

The Banquet is your typical Chinese buffet. Metal trays of food lined up under heat lamps. Give the polite server stood behind the dark bar your £5 note and she will hand you a plastic takeaway box - which you can pack as full as you like.

It’s a cheap meal. I try and avoid the meat, opting for noodles with mushrooms slathered in a brown, viscous sauce.

This Is Wiltshire:

But ignoring my own advice I add in a load of chicken. Strips in sweet and sour sauce and fried chicken balls.

I eat it in the Granville Street short stay car park, overlooked by the David Murray John Tower. The food is warm and tasty, if blandly flavoured. I discard a brown, greasy gloop left in the bottom of the takeaway box.

Adver rating: 2/5

Istanbul Restaurant and Takeaway

52 Manchester Road, Broadgreen

Date of inspection: September 27, 2018

What the inspectors said

Hygienic food handling: improvement necessary

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: major improvement necessary

Management of food safety: urgent improvement necessary

This Is Wiltshire:

There’s a steady stream of people walking in and out of the Istanbul Restaurant. It’s barely eight o’clock on a Friday night and no one’s drunk.

I order a quarter pounder cheeseburger. I’m offered a choice of salad and sauce - not a service available in a High Street burger joint.

I go for red cabbage, ketchup and garlic mayo. I’ve never had cabbage on a burger before and it’s a revelation. There’s an acidity from vegetable and the ketchup that’s tempered by the saltiness of the plasticy cheese, and which is delicious.

Adver rating: 3/5

Sammy’s

27 Swindon Street, Highworth

Date of inspection: September 13, 2018

What the inspectors said

Hygienic food handling: urgent improvement necessary

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: improvement necessary

Management of food safety: urgent improvement necessary

This Is Wiltshire:

The restaurant is popular. As I’m waiting 15 minutes for my food there are at least half a dozen people coming in and out ordering or collecting their Saturday night takeaways.

My vegetable noodles are hot and salty. But they leave me feeling a little cold. While the broccoli has bite, the dish just feels a little bland. I forget to ask for a fork and am forced to eat my noodles with a pen.

This Is Wiltshire:

The spring roll again leaves something to be desired. The batter is crisp and delicious, but the roll feels overfilled and lacks flavour.

Adver rating: 2/5

Oriental Express

8 Clive Parade, Pinehurst

Date of inspection: February 19, 2018

What the inspectors said

Hygienic food handling: urgent improvement necessary

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: generally satisfactory

Management of food safety: urgent improvement necessary

This Is Wiltshire:

There’s an old school feel to Oriental Express. It’s like the Chinese restaurants you see on 1980s sitcoms, albeit with wooden benches stuffed into the front of the shop.

I order salt and pepper pork ribs and two crispy vegetarian spring rolls. The ribs, eaten in the mild spring air in the Clive Parade car park, are genuinely delicious. There’s a spicy heft to them that’s been missing in the meals from the other restaurants I’ve tried. The spring rolls are boring by comparison.

This Is Wiltshire:

Adver rating: 3.5/5

Damascus Restaurant

24-26 Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill

Date of inspection: January 23, 2018

What the inspectors said

Hygienic food handling: major improvement necessary

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: improvement necessary

Management of food safety: urgent improvement necessary

This Is Wiltshire:

I don’t know what the smell is in this place, but I’m not a fan. It hit me as soon as I opened the door - and almost made me turn on my heel and head home.

I order a shish kebab, plucked from a glass counter and taken into a back kitchen to be cooked. When it arrives, on a lemony flatbread similar in texture to a damp flannel, I’m offered my choice of tired-looking salad.

This Is Wiltshire:

I take it back to the car. Never a big fan of a kebab, I manage a few bites before giving up. Flavour-wise it’s not the worst kebab I’ve ever eaten. There’s a herb-rich spiciness to the meat that could be appealing, if I were 10 pints down. But I’m not drunk. I’ve drunk nothing for 24 hours - but I wish I had.

Adver rating: 0.5/5

Manchester Road's Newroz Takeaway, inspected last October, was shut for refurbishment when the Advertiser visited.

This Is Wiltshire:

Jehovah Jireli House Of Preyer, Penhill Food And Wine, Melisa Trading Ltd have also been zero rated by Swindon Borough Council. As they are not restaurants or takeaways, but stores or "other catering businesses" they were not covered in this review.

All details were correct as of April 18, 2019.