JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The Ramada Inn's restaurant, The Front Page Grille and Bar on Baymeadows Road was shut down because of roaches and a live rodent seen running across the prep area in the kitchen.
We talked with the Ramada Inn's general manager about the closure.
Recommended Videos
"We identified that the rodent was coming from the area behind the hotel and did enter the hotel and unfortunately there was a live rodent in the kitchen when the inspector got here," said Celnick.
The inspector found dozens of rodent droppings in the kitchen and dining area. They even found shredded paper and foil behind the cook-line that they believe was the rodent's nest. Workers had to throw out a potato with gnaw marks.
"We have a lot equipment that is glued to the wall and since then we have since pulled it aside and we found lots of crumbs and stuff that had accumulated and with a flashlight the inspector was able to identify that," says Celnick.
Celnick showed us equipment that he said after the inspection they pulled from the wall.
"You can see underneath here that everything is clean," says Celnick.
He said since the closure they've been doing cleaning and upgrading the kitchen.
"In addition we're painting areas over here and making sure and re-tiling areas and making sure there are no areas here were there can be any kind of accumulation of food areas at all," says Celnick.
He said they also called their pest control company right away. Celnick says Orkin comes out twice month and they even had traps set for rodents and never caught anything.
"Orkin has been here on a daily basis checking and rechecking and making sure that we're ok and they've given us a clean bill of health immediately," says Celnick.
The next day the inspector came back and a pest control technician had exterminated and cleaned up the droppings. The kitchen at the Ramada on Baymeadows was back open.
Woodys BBQ in Orange Park on Blanding Boulevard was closed for the night last week because of eight high priority violations involving live and dead roaches. The inspector found more than 50 live roaches in the dishwash room. 30 roaches were on the wall under the triple sink, and 20 were on the sides and bottom of the water heater. The room shares walls with the dry storage room and drink prep area. The next day Woodys on Blanding was cleared and allowed to open back up when the inspector rechecked and found no roaches.
IBEX Ethiopian Kitchen was cited with seven high priority violations. They had to throw out herb butter. A cup of it had a white and green fuzzy growth on it. They also had to throw out beef because it was not at a safe temperature. The inspector also found dead roaches and roach cases which appeared to be old according to the report. IBEX is due for another inspection in a couple of months.