Asian Restaurant Shutdown: A popular Asian restaurant with an excellent reputation had to close without warning because of roaches and a lack of hot water. Investigative reporter Tim Gerber went to the place now run by different people to see if the health problems had been fixed.
After a routine health check in late July, Pei Wei Asian Diner in the 900 block of East Basse had to close for a while. The most critical problems were that no hot water and roaches were everywhere. The Metro Health inspection report showed the sad truth: bugs had been living on food-contact surfaces, such as tools and to-go plates. The ice machine was dirty, and the kitchen’s walls, floors, and ceilings had yet to be cleaned. The inspector gave it a score of 84 and said to call the health department about reopening after the problems were fixed.
On a recent visit, Manager Kover Hernandez said that the problems with cleanliness had been fixed. Even though he wasn’t there for the inspection, he took over his job to handle the cleanup after the accident. Hernandez was sure that the problem with roaches had been solved since the restaurant reopened.
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When they got to T. Jin’s China Diner in the 100 block of SW Loop 410, they scored 79. Alarming problems included raw meat that wasn’t kept cold enough, a broken cold hold unit that affected all the food, and lettuce that was dangerously put on the more extraordinary floor. Notably, they were told to stop using the wrong pest control chemicals and to clean up the grease on the wall next to the grill.
The last restaurant, Spice Grill and Bar at 220 Broadway, scored 74. Food had to be thrown away because it wasn’t kept cool enough, staff didn’t have food worker certificates, and finding dead roaches in a storage area was scary. The business also had to clean the insides of the coolers and replace any missing tiles on the walls and roof of the kitchen.
Score Breakdown: – 100 to 90 = A (Very Good to Acceptable)
– 89 to 80 = B (Acceptable to Poor)
– A score of 79 or less is a C (Middle to Poor).