A Vietnamese mother-of-two has vowed never to return to a York Chinese buffet restaurant after waiters took away plates of food from in front of her children because of a misunderstanding.

Nguyen Thi Huong, 31, who uses the English name Amy Keenleyside, said staff at the Jumbo Restaurant, in George Hudson Street, took away the children's dishes because she was not eating.

The restaurant has a rule that all customers must eat, but Mrs Keenleyside said she wanted to wait ten minutes for fresh food to be put out on the buffet and that waiters refused to listen to her.

She said she was shocked by the actions of the staff who made her feel embarrassed and humiliated in front of other customers and caused her children to cry.

"I don't want another person to have these problems. My daughter was crying and calling for her daddy because she felt ashamed.

"I could never believe it. They kicked me and my two children out of the restaurant. I have never seen people take food away from my children in my country or anywhere else," she added.

Mrs Keenleyside's husband, Tom, 46, said he had visited the restaurant three times since the incident at the weekend and managers had offered his family a complimentary meal and had apologised.

He said that staff blamed the situation on a misunderstanding between two people who spoke English as a second language.

Susan Chu, a director at Jumbo Restaurant, confirmed that the family had been offered a complimentary meal and that staff had apologised.

But she said she did not wish to make any further comment and the restaurant considered that the matter was closed.

Updated: 10:12 Friday, July 18, 2003