Penn State icon Canyon Pizza reopens, shows off renovations after failed health inspection
After a two-week closure following a failed health inspection, Canyon Pizza has finally reopened — and showed off its renovations on social media.
Penn State students’ beloved late-night pizzeria was forced to closed Nov. 15 after committing more than a dozen health code violations, one of which characterized the kitchen and other areas as “extremely dirty.” The restaurant passed its follow-up inspection Monday and reopened Tuesday.
On its Facebook page, Canyon Pizza included several photos of its kitchen and highlighted a new sink, cleaned pizza ovens, a new pizza toppings table and a “totally redone” walk-in cooler.
“All of our renovations are complete! We are open for business!!” Canyon Pizza’s Facebook page said. “Thanks everyone for your patience!!!!”
The restaurant had just one violation Monday — missing tiles in the kitchen area. But the health inspector noted that the tiles were ordered, the receipt was viewed, and the tiles would be installed when they arrived.
According to the publicly available inspection report, all other violations were fixed. Those past violations included — but weren’t limited to — standing water, mold and food debris in the interior of the pizza prep cooler; food not being marked with the date it was opened or the date it should be discarded; and a hood system “in need of professional cleaning” with grease collecting on the walls, ceilings and fixtures.
Canyon Pizza first opened in 2001 and fast became a Penn State student favorite with its late-night hours and cheap slices.
It was not forced to close during its 2020 or 2021 inspections, when it had two and four violations, respectively.
