JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In this week's Restaurant Report Card, a health inspector orders a Vietnamese restaurant on Jacksonville’s Southside to close for the first time in its history after roaches were found.
Nex4Jax found out how the restaurant cleaned up its act to re-open for business.
It took some time for Pho Today on Deer Lake Court by Tinseltown to exterminate properly. News4Jax talked with a manager who said they get pest control to come out every week, so it was no surprise they had roaches.
“It cannot be totally perfectly but now (there’s) definitely no more,” manager Lisa Ly said.
The inspector found nearly a dozen roaches. The bugs were around the cooler and preparation table but most were found inside a cabinet in the front of the cook line service window. The inspector also discovered roach spray and roach bait stored on the preparation table next to the microwave. That's another high priority violation because of the potential for the chemical to contaminate food.
Ly said they've been exterminated every week lately.
“We do our best. We try the best that we can,” Ly said.
But the inspector came back the next day and still found roaches, not many, but the rule is the restaurant has to be roach-free in order to open back up.
Later that same, day the inspector gave Pho Today another check and this time it was cleared with zero violations. Ly said she wants to apologize to her customers.
“We have to apologize, but that's just how it (is). We try to fix the most that we can. It's clearly fixed,” Ly said.
It was the first closure for Pho Today. The latest inspection was just a routine inspection.