JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Closed again! An Italian restaurant on Baymeadows has another run-in with roaches. It had to close for just a few hours after the inspector found live roaches in the kitchen.
We've been to Bella Vita on Baymeadows before because they had a closure in October because of roaches. They showed me pest control receipts and also said they recently changed companies. But again nearly two weeks ago Bella Vita had another closure. The inspector found live roaches in a cooler at the pizza station and more inside a metal pizza pan behind the oven. The inspector came back that same day and cleared Bella Vita with no violations involving roaches.
Hurricane Patty's Restaurant in St. Augustine had to shut down for a few hours also because of roaches. 30-35 mostly hard rodent droppings were found under the shelf in the dry goods room. More were found in other areas of the kitchen. That same day the inspector came back and cleared Hurricane Patty's with no high priority violations.
"These are glue traps that we set out in the restaurant when we leave to make sure we don't have any problem since then have you found anything in there no they're all clean traps I pick them up this morning when I got in about 5:30 and no signs of anything on it," says Miles.
Jeff Miles took over Hurricane Patty's this past summer and he's been working to improve the place. He said last week's inspection made him pick up the pace in areas that really needed addressing.
"We've used our foam and foamed all the openings. We're putting some screen mesh we have a company coming out to take a look at the building to see if they can seal it up any better than we have and we also put traps out for us all around the perimeter and on our property," says Miles.
Miles says pest comes with the territory because the restaurant is surrounded by water. It's also a very old building that requires a lot of upkeep but he says they're on top of food safety.
"We are very conscious of how we handle our food all of our employees are trained very well everything is sealed in containers and here we take it out if there's anything on it we wipe it off," says Miles.
This dry goods room is where the inspector found 30-35 mostly hard rodent droppings. He said they've figured out the source of the pests and invite people to take a look for themselves.
"What would you say to viewers who see this and question whether it's a clean safe place to eat. Come on down and take a look for yourself if you have any complaints or comments come and talk to me I love to hear from you," says Miles.
This inspection was prompted by a customer complaint and Miles says he wishes the customer had come to him first so he could have addressed the problem up front.
"We're in the business of serving people and we want to make sure the people feel safe and have a good time when they come and eat with us," says Miles.
Hurricane Patty's was able to open up that same day after proving to the inspector they had the rodent problem under control, the last inspection found no high priority violations. Miles says they're still making improvements to prevent anymore problems period.
