35 roaches on a counter. Rodent gnawed into pasta. Miami to Palm Beach restaurant woes
Roaches dead and alive, rodents dead and gnawing and other problems with basic cleanliness and food safety put five restaurants on this week’s Sick and Shut Down List.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are represented on the only list that regularly covers the Keys to the Palm Beaches.
Some reminders because we’ve been away for a few weeks: we don’t decide who gets inspected. We don’t do the inspections. We merely report what Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspectors found. If you have a complaint about a restaurant, let them know about it. Do not email us.
We present this without passion or prejudice, but with a little bit of humor and a dash of judgment.
In alphabetical order...
China Town, 649 NW 62nd St., Miami: Routine inspection, 22 total violations, two High Priority violations.
The day the inspector cleared the Wingstop next door (see below), China Town got a once over. To sum up this inspection...forget it, Jake. It’s China Town.
There was a “strong odor by the ware-washing and mop sink area.”
“Observed one dead rodent under preparation table front of the walk-in cooler.”
After that, the rest of the inspection is pretty much garbage time (literally), but there were also live roaches walking solo under a kitchen wok, in front of a walk-in freezer, on racks next to the back door and on a wall above the three-compartment sink. Under kitchen prep tables — boy, prep tables must be the killing fields in this place — lay 11 dead roaches.
Clean knives were stored on a dirty knife magnet holder.
“Soiled” described the door handles on the walk-in coolers and freezer.
“Employee handling food without a hair restraint.”
Even if you don’t have rodents and roaches running around, storing food directly on the floor isn’t smart and these folks had pork ribs , raw pork, raw chicken, boxes with cabbage and soy source on the floors of their walk-in coolers.
Frozen pork ribs were thawing in standing water (a no-no, you should fridge thaw) in a part of the three-compartment sink (used for hand washing, rinsing and sanitizing).
A can opener was “soiled with grease.” What are they opening, a can of Quaker State?
China Town passed inspection the next day.
READ MORE: Unclean hands, unclean equipment at a Miami Latin American Bakery
Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders, 9216 Wiles Rd., Coral Springs: Complaint inspection, two total violations, one High Priority violation.
The only High Priority violation was “10 live roaches on the floor and the wall across from the mop sink in the kitchen.”
That was enough. Huey Magoo’s was out of action until passing re-inspection the next day.
Panda Express, 970 N. Congress Ave., Unincorporated Palm Beach: Complaint inspection, three total violations, two High Priority violations.
Body blow! The vent cover over soy sauce and pineapple on a shelf was “dusty.”
Body blow! “Approximately 10 live flies sitting on soda machine boxes in the back of the kitchen.”
Knock him out! “Approximately 35 live roaches crawling on the counter at the food service display station,” and five live roaches on a dining room wall.
No Kung Fu Panda, this place went down like Glass Joe. It passed re-inspection the next day.
READ MORE: 449 people sick in 2 salmonella outbreaks and another Florida link
Wilton Wings, 1428 NE Fourth Ave., Fort Lauderdale: Complaint inspection, 13 total violations, five High Priority violations.
Savages these rodents be, leaving four pieces of poop on boxes of Oreos and Twinkies. Another eight were on a dry storage shelf with spices, sugar, containers of fruit. There were 17 droppings on top of the dishwasher and 20 in a corner of dry storage.
Wonder if the same rodents who did that put the gnaw marks on two 10-pound bags of dry pasta. Stop Sales dropped on those.
About 15 flies darted around the kitchen and food prep areas.
The floor was “soiled or had an accumulation of debris” under the three-compartment sink, around and under all cooking equipment, and under all dry storage shelving.”
When the inspector returned the following day, “10 rodent droppings on a dry storage shelf” and 13 flies, including five on a tea brewer,” meant another Wilton Wings stayed grounded.
But, the inspector came back later for one of those same-day re-inspections. Apparently, all the flies and very regular rodents were gone because Wilton Wings passed enough to re-open.
Wingstop, 651 NW 62nd St., Miami: Complaint inspection, 15 total violations, three High Priority violations.
Old Reliable’s later than expected, but still makes the list...”Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
Three roaches “crawled on the floor under the front counter.” Two live ones were under paper bags on a rack next to the manager’s desk. Another three were on a sanitizer box under a desk.
Under the counter near the cash register, there were five dead roaches. Another 15 roach corpses were on a plastic container under the soda machine.
A hole interrupted the wall across from the restroom used by customers.
“No soap provided at handwash sink” which led to “Observed employees washing hands with no soap.” As Jules Winfield might note, that’s just employees getting their hands wet.
Wingstop restarted the next day after passing re-inspection.
