A restaurant in good standing that was unfairly hit with an erroneous D grade for hygiene has been given an apology by the Ministry of Health.

The Rotisserie Grill on South Road in Smith’s, which had been awarded a favourable grade B after its inspection by health officials, was “incorrectly listed as receiving a grade D” owing to what the ministry called “an administrative error”.

The establishment’s B rating equates to 80 to 89 points on the health department’s 100-point scale.

A and B grades can be displayed publicly on a restaurant’s annual licence.

Wilmont Simmons, who emphasised that he had been in the restaurant business for 25 years and had never had a D grade or been told that his restaurants were unfit for business, said: “This has been one of the worst days of my life. Just imagine the irreparable damage this could have done to the Rotisserie Grill.”

Mr Simmons, who co-owns the restaurant, said they had had some supportive calls since the initial news broke, but also some negative ones, leading him to fear that they had lost business.

“Bacardi International, which I had a catering contract with, called to cancel when they saw the story in the newspaper, but I am fortunate that someone there called the Health Department to verify and they gave them the correct grade,” he said.

“Bacardi reinstated the contract and also sent out a memo to all their staff to say a mistake had been made.”

The restaurant ranks among 127 food businesses with a B rating, out of the 319 evaluated by health officials in the latest annual report.

The retraction came after the Rotisserie Grill posted on its Facebook page: “Our current certificate, posted for all to see on our wall, is graded B.

“We have not even had our annual inspection yet, which will apply to the new licensing period: April 2026 to March 2027.”

A ministry spokeswoman said: “We sincerely apologise to the establishment, its staff and the public for this mistake.

“Ensuring the accuracy of all published information is a priority, and we regret any concern or reputational impact this error may have caused.”

She added that the mistake, published yesterday on the ministry’s 2025 Food Establishment Grades via the government portal, had been “updated to reflect the accurate grade”.

Grades, introduced in 2017, have been issued in most years since.

The spokeswoman said: “The ministry has reviewed its internal verification process and is implementing additional checks to prevent similar errors in the future.”

The business, which opened in 2007 by Collectors Hill, has built a loyal following as a family-style restaurant.

The ministry added: “We thank the Rotisserie Grill for its understanding and remain committed to maintaining transparency and public confidence in Bermuda’s food safety system.”