What a pain it is to keep seeing that.
If it's not good, tell them it's not... treat the dish like the answer to a confession, straightforward and honest.
It's the least painful route, for BOTH parties.
MC probably has food poisoning... now this will be even harder on her than if he was just upfront about it from the start...
Sorry folks, I couldn't help but rant about it. I'm sure everyone's familiar with this trope already.