Roach spotted crawling on the wall at a local Thai restaurant

Restaurant Report Card

JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Mai Thai Restaurant on San Jose Boulevard in the Publix shopping center was shut down for two days because of roaches.  It was actually one of two Thai restaurants that had a bug related closure.  We went by to talk with someone and I ended seeing a roach crawling on the wall during the interview.

Edward Sitticha the cook at Mai Thai Restaurant was talking to us when I spotted a roach crawling on the wall at the entrance of the kitchen.  He immediately went over grabbed the bug and walked to the back of the kitchen.  After dumping it in the garbage he came back up visibly exhausted.

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I asked if he was working on it and he replied," yeah."

When we first arrived Sitticha said the closure was a bad experience and he's been working night and day to get a handle on the roach problem.

"Look at me my skin is so yellow and I haven't slept at all I just want to make sure that everything is ok," says Sitticha.

 A week ago an inspector came to check for bugs after a customer filed a compliant.  He said he found a roach in the dining room.  The inspector found more than a dozen live roaches in the kitchen.  Some were in the cooler gasket and on the hinges. The next day the inspector came back for a re-check and still found live roaches and would not open Mai Thai Restaurant back up.  It took a third inspection to rid the restaurant of bugs.  During this check there were no roaches in sight.

Thai Spice Kitchen on Bowden Road had a brief closure after an inspector saw gray and black water with a very strong rotten egg odor coming out of the floor drain under the table they prepare food on.  The inspector wrote workers were we walking on this water. The manager explained the water was coming from both hand wash sinks and they had talked with the landlord for a week to try to get it fixed.

That same day the landlord must have responded because the problem was fixed just hours later. Thai Spice Kitchen was re-inspected that same day and allowed to open back up with zero violations that could put your health at risk.


About the Author:

Anchor on The Morning Show team and reporter specializing on health issues.