JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two local restaurants were closed because of pests. Inspectors found enough roaches and rodent droppings to warrant a shutdown from the state.
New Palatka Buffet on Reid Street was shut down for the night after an inspector found more than a dozen rodent droppings in the kitchen and dining room.
The inspector found dry droppings between rice cookers, under the dish machine and sink. They were also found in the dining room. The inspector wrote dry droppings were under the preparation table and ice machine. Semi-hard droppings, which means they were left more recently, were on shelves in the dry storage area at the entrance to the walk-in-cooler, according to the report. The inspector also noted this was a repeat violation.
The next day, the inspector came back and reopened New Palatka Buffet with zero high-priority violations.
In Jacksonville, Wasabi Grill and Sushi on San Pablo Road was closed for several days last week. More than a dozen roaches were the culprits, an inspector said.
According to the inspection report, the most were found inside the freezer in the kitchen. More than a dozen were found inside the rubber gasket of the freezer, which means they had the potential to get on food in the freezer. Other roaches were found near the hand-wash sink, sushi station and underneath the dish machine.
The next day, the inspector came back and there were still five live roaches on the sink and one on a wall at the sushi station. Wasabi Grill and Sushi was forced to stay closed another day.
Three days later, the restaurant was allowed to reopen after a third inspection. This time, the inspector found zero high-priority violations and no bugs.
A manager at Wasabi Grill and Sushi was not available when News4Jax stopped by, but a worker named Tye reluctantly talked because he was there at the time of the inspection.
"We had some violations," Tye said. "We're all fixed now and we're all clear to open back up."
Tye said the restaurant has kept with the same pest control company, and he didn't know anyone who had seen roaches since the restaurant opened back up.