A customer has sued a Los Gatos restaurant, alleging that an appetizer was so spicy that it gave her chemical burns on her vocal cords, nostril and esophagus, requiring her to seek medical attention.
The lawsuit, which was filed at the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County on July 3, asserts that the customer has had ongoing health issues and loss of earnings since visiting Coup de Thai restaurant back in July 2021. At the time of her visit, the customer says she ate “Dragon Balls” — a spicy chicken appetizer prepared with dried Thai peppers — and instantly “felt her entire mouth, the roof of her mouth, her tongue, her throat and her nose burn like fire,” the lawsuit reads.
Thai chilis, which are also known as bird’s eye chilis, can range from 50,000 to 250,000 heat units on the Scoville scale, according to Thrillist. For reference, jalapeños range between 2,500 and 5,000 heat units.
“Harjasleen Walia was poisoned, made ill and burned necessitating medical care,” the lawsuit, which was first reported on by Bay Area News Group and reviewed by SFGATE, said. “Her throat and voice has been damaged. She incurred permanent injuries and will forever be damaged to her body.”
Walia is suing more than two dozen people, including the Coup de Thai owner, the chef, the server and anyone else who “influenced, designed, prepared, or participated in creating the Dragon Ball dish,” the lawsuit says. Coup de Thai declined to comment to SFGATE on the lawsuit, but a supervisor at the restaurant told Bay Area News Group, “We do not use too much chili spice in Dragon Balls,” and that the restaurant had no previous reports of the dish causing someone to seek medical attention.
The lawsuit uses a grab bag of unflattering terms to describe the dish, including “dangerous to life,” “unfit for human consumption,” “likely to cause injury to a reasonable person who came upon the premises seeking a dinner appetizer” and “should not be given to, or eaten by, people.”
According to the lawsuit, when Walia ordered the “Dragon Balls” — which were advertised as spicy — she asked the server if the dish could be made less spicy due to her low spice tolerance. The server allegedly said they would ask the chef to make it less spicy. The supervisor who spoke to Bay Area News Group, however, said that the dish cannot be made less spicy, and typically if a customer says they don’t handle spicy foods well, they are encouraged to order something else.
The supervisor did not directly speak to Walia’s allegations other than to say the customer came in the next day complaining of having to see a doctor. Walia’s attorney did not immediately return an SFGATE request for comment.
The lawsuit says that after Walia ate the dish and began to cough, she asked for yogurt to ease the heat. The server purportedly said that the restaurant had none. Even after Walia “drank an entire glass of coconut water and more water … the burning did not subside,” the lawsuit says.
Walia is seeking restitution for her medical expenses, her loss of income and the cost of the lawsuit, among other damages.