Wing It Restaurant on Old St Augustine Road closed overnight when an inspector found roaches

Popular Mandarin sports bar back open after a surprise inspection finds bugs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A popular sports bar in Mandarin was closed one night after an inspector found dead and live roaches.  Channel 4 talked with the manager at Wing It who said he's committed to making sure this never happens again.

Wing It owner Dave Morency was quick to take us to the area in the kitchen where the inspector found about a dozen live roaches. Morency says his pest control company comes whenever he calls and it's scheduled every two weeks.  But somehow the bugs were overlooked last week but quickly spotted by a state inspector.  I asked Morency if he knew he had a bug issue.

"When we had citings this is where they would be and this is where the pest control company would always concentrate," says Morency

He said exterminators used a white powder to kill and track the bugs and he's keeping his eye on this area.

"It's incumbent on us to always make sure we stay on top of that, keep it fresh and clean," says Morency

Morency has owned Wing It for more than 20 years and has been in the restaurant business for almost 40.  So last week when an inspector shut him down he was embarrassed.

"It is embarrassing particularly because we're not a dirty restaurant we have customers that have been coming here for ever and ever. Now we're going to have to answer to them," says Morency

He wants those customers to know that he's on top of the problems and they can trust Wing It doesn't have a roach infestation.

"It's my responsibility to make sure those issues don't happen and I have to stay on top of them to make sure they don't happen again," says Morency.


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