Roaches, temperature violations, and raw sewage plague three different restaurants

Restaurant Report Card

JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Ruby Thai Kitchen in the Orange Park Mall was closed for the night  because of roaches. The inspector found more than 30 live roaches.  They were under soda boxes, behind the grill, and the most, at least 20 were crawling on the underside of the wok station.  That same day the inspector came back and wrote the exterminator was on site.  The inspector did not open the restaurant back up until the next day when he was sure Ruby Thai in Orange Park was roach free.

Ruby Thai Kitchen is also at the Avenues Mall.  It had an inspection last week.  It wasn't forced to temporarily shutdown but the inspector found three high priority violations that raised a red flag.   The manager had to throw out chicken water because the inspector found a fly in it. There was also raw shrimp and eggs stored behind ready to eat sauce and vegetables.  The inspector came back for a second check and Ruby Thai didn't pass that one either because of temperature violations. The third time was the charm though Ruby Thai in the Avenues mall final passed on the May 12th with zero violations.

Mr. Taco on Bowden Road was shut down for the night because the inspector found raw sewage on the ground of the establishment.  The inspector wrote about a strong sewage odor outside the back door.  When he asked a worker to drain water from one of the compartments of the triple sink he said the water started to overflow out of the floor drain.  The floor was still wet when went to check out the kitchen but manager Natalie Lopez said the problem was fixed the same day the inspector did his check.

"It was the same day  we had the problem, but for some reason they came and they find that.  But we fix it," says Lopez.

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There is a wall separating this room and the kitchen where they handle food but the inspector wrote the water had traveled all the way out the back door.

"The food is there and we wash the dishes right there and it was the problem," says Lopez.

 It was also noted that the dirty water was underneath the triple sink, ice machine, and the clean dish storage rack.

"None of the clean dishes got in the water, you can see everything is on the top," says Lopez.

Lopez said they do their best to keep the restaurant clean.

"We try to clean like every day, we clean," says Lopez.

Lopez said the restaurant was only closed for a few hours that day.  In the morning the inspector came back and the drain was fixed and Mr. Taco was back open.


About the Author:

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