Rodents in a Domino’s, roaches at Outback, tires in the john: bad restaurant inspections
A Domino’s on the Sick and Shut Down List? Had that. An Outback Steakhouse on the Sick and Shut Down List? Had that.
A violation involving car tires? That’s some new stuff right there.
(By the way, check on your local sick and shut in neighbors to see if there’s anything they need, especially if they’re older, fearful of going out during this pandemic and not terribly tech savvy to order food delivery.)
This week’s list of South Florida restaurants failing inspection is short, but definitely not sweet and has three of the four South Florida counties represented. So, let’s get to it.
What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. If you see a problem and want a place inspected, do not email us. Go to the DBPR website and file a complaint.
In alphabetical order:
Domino’s Pizza, 1012 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach: This is a corporate-owned store so don’t be surprised if some folks don’t disappear at the finger snap by a regional vice president Thanos.
Of the over 28 pieces of rodent poop, the majority were by the back door, but there were two behind the Coke machine along with two dead roaches. Wonder if that’s the rodents getting a little extreme in marking their territory for the roaches.
Flies landing on cheese and pepperoni containers in a reach-in cooler, which also had standing water, got those hit with Stop Sales.
Speaking of coolers, they exist to keep food under 41 degrees, the maximum safe temperature for food you keep refrigerated. So, ham, cheese, baby spinach, cooked chicken, and sausage being kept at 58 degrees wound up in the trash instead of on pizzas, as they would have if the inspector hadn’t dropped by Wednesday.
Not a lot of wiping down going on around here with “Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust;” “walk-in cooler and/or walk-in freezer gaskets soiled with slimy/mold-like build-up;” and “reach-in cooler shelves soiled with food debris.”
Domino’s passed Thursday’s re-inspection.
Outback Steakhouse, 14830 Griffin Rd., Davie: You didn’t jump to this point to see “scoop handle touching shredded cheese in salad cooler on cookline.”
You wanted to see where those 20 live roaches were located.
The inspector said they were in the gaskets of an unused reach-in cooler, but location, location, location. The cooler was “located under prep table next to cookline where uncovered tomatoes, honey butter, shredded cheese and green onions are held cold.”
This was Friday. The inspector did the restaurant a favor by coming back for a same day re-inspection that Outback passed, thus keeping the onions blooming during Friday night dinner rush.
Presto Pizza & Deli, 505 25th St., West Palm Beach: The Presto people told the inspector last Tuesday an early morning electrical problem took the cool out of their coolers.
The inspector was sympathetic enough to note this on the report, but still had to have a Stop Sale storm on sliced deli meat, tuna salad, cooked pasta, shredded cheese, turkey, cooked chicken, raw chicken, shredded cheese, pizza sauce, sausage (at a very dangerous 67 degrees), ham (even more dangerous at 70 degrees), sliced tomatoes, and raw beef (68 degrees — uh-oh).
Also, some of that would’ve been tossed anyway because they’d been fixed more than a day before, but weren’t date marked.
Can’t blame the power outage for the 10 live roaches, though, especially the three on an oil container.
When the inspector cuts you some slack by listing what’s normally three violations as one: “Cutting board(s) stained/soiled. Can opener soiled. Interior of reach in cooler at cook line soiled.”
Presto regained its cool and clean enough to pass Friday’s re-inspection.
Taco Joint, 1000 Broadwalk, Hollywood: Is this a taco place with a uniquely-placed pop-up Goodyear stand?
“Dirty mop bucket and car tires stored inside the bathroom.”
That wasn’t taco meat on the ground. Taco meat doesn’t move. Or have legs.
Two of the 18 live roaches spotted were crawling on a wall behind a kitchen cooler. Another 10 squatted in a non-working cooler. The inspector counted 20 dead roaches under a handwash sink and 25 under the dishwashing machine.
That’s the malfunctioning dishwashing machine.
Did you want something to drink? Ice in the drink came from an ice machine that had an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior” and the soda came out of nozzles that had an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance on/around” them.
Somebody grab a mop or a Swiffer. “Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Entire kitchen area.”
Taco Joint was folding tortillas again after passing Wednesday’s re-inspection.
