The owner of BBQ King in Albany says she's devastated to see her business suffering after two recent Auckland community COVID-19 cases visited.
Amy Li told Newshub her business has gone down 70 percent since the cases visited.
A father and daughter from Auckland's North Shore tested positive for the virus on January 28 - days after completing managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel.
When the Ministry of Health said the infected case visited the Albany restaurant six times before testing positive, its popularity blew up on social media.
Searches for BBQ King spiked on January 28, according to Google Trends.
"I told you, food must be epic. 14-day isolation then spend 6 evenings at BBQ King... we're going," one person commented on Facebook.
"Are they that good? Four visits in two days, I mean surely..." another wrote.
But when Newshub got in touch with the restaurant owner, she said her business actually got "quite bad".
"If that [COVID-19] case did not come to our place, we would be very good because our place is always busy. But now it's very quiet."
Li says despite the restaurant having done a deep clean, people are still too scared to come in.
"We are completely safe and all the staff have tested negative" she said.
The infected case visited BBQ King on January 15, January 16, twice on January 17 and twice on January 18, according to the Ministry of Health's location of interest.
But Li says CCTV footage records show they only visited once.
After reviewing its CCTV footage, the owner informed MoH the infected family had only visited the restaurant on January 17 between 12:25 and 1:14pm.
MoH was then told by the partner of the infected case the family had also visited on January 15 but were seated outside, so it would not have been picked up on camera.
The Ministry of Health told Newshub on Thursday the visits on January 16 and 18 on its locations of interest page may not have been accurate.
"Regarding visits on the 16 and 18 January, the case's partner was not 100 percent sure on whether they visited during those days," a MoH spokesperson said.
"But as there was some recollection of this, the public health advice was to take a more cautious approach which is why these dates and the advice remained listed on the locations of interest page.
"It is very difficult for anyone to accurately remember where they were at a given date and time even a few days after an event (and particularly if they COVID Tracer App has not been used)."
The owner says because of this, their restaurant received unwanted attention.
"They didn't check exactly what time the case came, they just asked the person, who said it by their memory.
"I don't think they care. They only care about the public health, but what about our business?
"Hopefully our business gets back to normal."
