Flies in pulled pork here, 466 rodent droppings there: bad restaurant inspections
Who invited the mice to the chili cook off? Rampant rodent regularity put five restaurants on this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants that failed state inspection.
It wasn’t pretty. So, let’s not tarry in getting to the scorecards.
What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. We don’t control who gets inspected or how strictly. If you have a complaint and want a place inspected, don’t email us. Click here and file a complaint. We report without passion or prejudice, but with a dressing of humor.
And we go in alphabetical order:
China Wok, 4636 W. Forest Hill Blvd., West Palm Beach: By the standards of this week’s list, China Wok wasn’t in deep doo-doo. Just 21 droppings, but 15 of them in dry storage under shelves and the inspector noted, “No doors between dry storage and kitchen.”
Four dead roaches dotted the floor.
“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation.”
The Wok was cooking again after passing Wednesday’s re-inspection.
Del Vecchio Pizzeria Davie, 2060 S. University Dr., Davie: “Lack of toilet tissue at each toilet. At handicap women’s bathroom.”
Good thing the inspector pointed this out and not somebody who needed another woman to spare a square.
Of the 21 pieces of rodent poop, 20 were “by the front counter next to the glass door drink cooler in the pizza station.”
And what do you not want to see after the rodent turds tell you you’ve got furry friends running? “Container of pizza sauce on floor...Cases of tomatoes in dry storage area” (also on the floor).
Raw chicken got hit with a Stop Sale because the Maxx fliptop cooler did a minimal job of proper cooling overnight.
Want a Coke? “Accumulation of black mold-like substance around soda dispensing nozzles.”
Look between your stove and the counter. Now, read this: “In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment at cookline.”
Del Vecchio passed re-inspection Friday to be open for the Friday night pizza rush.
Grio Express, 4308 N. State Rd. 7, Lauderdale Lakes: This week’s Wayne Gretzky Award winner didn’t only fail a hat trick of inspections and re-inspections, but threw in a fourth on Monday.
Four live roaches with two egg casings were spotted. A Stop Sale smashed the goat meat cooked the previous day, but now stored at 71 degrees, more than a hot flash above the 41-degree maximum for safe storage.
But this place’s main problem could be summed up with “466 rodent droppings.”
To be fair, numbers decreased daily after the at least 274 pieces of poo counted Wednesday.
We don’t have space and you don’t have the time for a full accounting of all of them.
But, let’s start with over 50 under one prep table. Over 10 were “under a steam table, on a shelf where cooked meat is being thawed.” Two “on top of the steam table where cooked green plantains are kept.” About 20 were “on top of the flour container under the steam table.” Over 10 were under a counter, “where containers with single serve utensils are stored.”
“No paper towels at the employee hand wash sink.” Shirt dry, pants dry or flap-like-you-can-fly dry?
“Interior of microwave soiled with encrusted food debris...Two doors, glass reach-in cooler soiled in ware wash area...Interior of both chest freezers soiled.”
“Observed old food debris in a blender.” That’ll make your pina colada taste funny.
The inspector swung back by on Thursday to find there were still no paper towels at the employee hand wash sink. Clearly, nobody thought to just grab a roll of store brand on the way in to work that morning. But, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered as the inspector still spotted 102 pieces of rodent ca-ca about the place and a live roach on a steam table.
They had a chance Friday to get it together in time for the weekend takeout rush, but 83 rodent droppings slapped that idea down. Oh, and the exterior of the microwave, first seen as filthy on Wednesday, was still filthy on Friday.
The inspector took the weekend off. The rodents didn’t, leaving seven territory markers for the inspector to see Monday, including three pellets found underneath the front counter and two under a food preparation table.
Lakeside Anchor Inn, 2412 Floral Rd., Lantana: A Stop Sale landed on the pulled pork because of “approximately five flying insects in pulled pork.”
Not “on,” but “in.”
Of 66 rodent droppings, 50 were on top of the dishwasher, six were in the men’s restroom and 10 were in the dry storage area.
Makes the two live roaches in the broken flip top refrigerator seem picayune, doesn’t it?
“Dishmachine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength.” Or, any strength, as the sanitizer came in at 0 parts per million.
“Garbage not placed in a receptacle for storage until pick up to make the garbage inaccessible to insects and rodents. Observed approximately 10 bags of garbage next to dumpster.” Can’t imagine why they have rodent issues.
“Build-up of mold-like substance on a non-food contact surface. At the hand wash sink next to the hot box in the kitchen and on the walk-in refrigerator ceiling.”
“In-use ice scoop stored on soiled surface between uses.” The soiled surface was the top of the ice machine.
Handwash sink had a spray bottle and plastic lids in it and no way to dry hands next to it.
These folks passed Wednesday’s re-inspection.
The Oaks at Boca Raton POA, 9950 Bridgebrook Dr., Boca Raton: The inspector found 128 pieces of rodent dung.
That includes 75 “under a pots-and-pans storage rack in the kitchen” and about 50 “under soda dispenser boxes across from the reach-in freezer in the kitchen.”
Eight live roaches were seen, seven of them under a reach-in freezer in the kitchen.
The Oaks came strong enough to pass Saturday’s re-inspection.
This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 2:36 PM.
