Disclaimer: The August 2007 list is what Contact 5 used to craft their investigation. The "Disciplinary Activity Report" contains the restaurants on the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s list.
Read China Tokyo's Statement
This an unscripted, raw look at restaurant sanitation locally...Contact 5 merely let the cameras roll and let the story tell itself.
Reported by: Shannon Cake
Photographer: Jim Sitton
Producer: Israel Perez
Shannon: Ni How Ma “Wo shing Shannon Cake—Channel 5…(SHANNON) “Do you speak English?
Man: No.
Shannon: Woshing Shannon Cake Channel 5, Nida low ban—zai bu zai? wo yo jiga one tia how bu how? “Do you speak English?
Man: A little bit.
Shannon: We’re here to speak to you about 32 critical violations that have occurred in your restaurant within the last year…on one of your recent inspections…we see 30-to-50 dead roaches near container lids live roaches at your wait station---30 live roaches on glue trap. Live roaches at your prep table. Do you have a roach problem—it appears you do?
Man: Labae, labae uh the owner is, uh not coming yet.
Shannon: Ok... but your back door here. It’s open with the screen. But down below you can see.
Man: Uhh we just got…a change here.
Roy: The door does not meet up with the thresh hold. And you got some holes in the screen there where roaches or flies can get in.
Man: So uhh, just gimme, can you wait for owners come back?
Shannon: when is your owner gonna be here?
Man: let me get a call?
Shannon: okay.
Shannon and roy:
Shannon: 32 criticals in a year's time…that’s?
Roy: “That’s pretty indicative of an out of control operation.”
Owner pulls up
Shannon: Hello—I’m Shannon Cake with Channel 5… hello what's your name?
Owner: my name's Lin.
Shannon: Lin? This is Roy Costa he’s with Environmental Health Solution…a former inspector in the state of Florida.
Showed him what we found in state records
We're reviewing some of your safety and sanitation reports with DBPR. Uhh their inspectors came in. And found multiple roaches…30-50 dead roaches.
Owner: Oh this was a long time ago
Shannon: This was not a long time ago—this was just two months ago in June I believe…..so that wasn't very long ago.
Owner: Yesterday the health department came, and check everything ok.
If everything is clean—can we come in and take a look?”
Owner: Yeah.
Shannon: Thank you…roaches, you've said that's all clean now?
Owner: yeah all clean now.
Shannon: Ok. I was here last week and I saw a roach going up your wall here. I was out side, I was walking to the back room. And there is one right here, see do you see it right there? You have uhh...
Owner moves trays to cover roach
Shannon: Did you get it Jim?
Jim: Yeah.You still have roaches..live roaches in your kitchen
Owner: I got everything o.k.
Shannon: Ok, but how do you explain you said you’re all clean now?”
Owner: Yeah I all clean.
Shannon: You're all clean? Excuse me sir…Lin…right here…see….No no but you just stepped on it…you just stepped on the roach right in front of our camera. So how do you say that your roach problem is cleaned up?
Owner: I got the company coming today.
Shannon: You just stepped on roach in front of our camera.
Shannon: You still have roaches in your kitchen---
Owner: That was one piece that you see there.
Shannon: That was one…but then we saw another one over there”
Shannon: you have customers, is it okay for them to eat here? Are you clean?
Owner: I keep cleaning that.
Shannon: But we just saw two roaches in your kitchen, in 30 seconds.
Owner: Every week...the uhh the company coming...
Shannon: Every week?
Owner: Yeah.
Cut to Garbage can
Shannon: What behind there?
Shannon: Is that o.k?
Owner: Yeah ok there.
Shannon: That's o.k.?
Owner: Yeah that's ok no problem.
Shannon: We just pulled these out and he says uhh, this is no problem, is that no problem?
Roy: Yeah…that has to be cleaned up…you actually have a dead roach right there.
Owner: Yeah I try.
Picture of dead roach
Shannon: Do you see back here—there is a dead roach right there?
Roy: Yeah that’s a dead palmetto bug there. Well you got a bunch of dead roaches under here…quite a few dead roaches…that’s indicative of poor sanitation and poor control over that back door.
Shannon: Your screen door has a hole at the bottom. And then you have all these roaches, under your steamer, in bulk container lids at your dishwasher found at the shelves, at the weight station…..uhh all over.Okay, Okay, Roy I think we are being asked...Roy, I think we are being asked to leave. OKay. Uhh we are being asked to leave guys. So in terms of cleaning up your establishment…the state has asked you to do it several times…why do you still have roaches?
Owner: I I I….I call company every week…I clean I clean I clean like that."
Owner: I keep clean, I do everything.
Shannon: But you don't do everything clean, we just saw you have a roach infestation. You have a lot of roaches still.
Owner: Na na le.
Shannon: you didn't see the roaches, we were just inside, we all saw the roaches. A lot of roach problems still exist.
Owner: Nah.
Shannon: No?
Owner: No, no not.
Shannon: But the state said that you had all these problems before...yet when we went it. It’s still filthy. Roaches, live roaches in your kitchen. That's a problem, do you know?
Owner: I keep clean, dat.
Roy talking to Lin
Roy: You really need a very thorough cleaning. There’s still a lot of areas that need to be cleaned.
Shannon: Will you call us and let us know when you've cleaned it up?
Owner: when you finish I call.
Shannon: Thank you Frankie.
Roy: All right good luck to you. That’s unacceptable—totally unacceptable. And you gotta ask yourself why an establishment like this can just keep continuing to operate that way.—either we’re just giving up and saying well you know there’s' nothing we can do about it or else you know we're just turning the other way and not doing our jobs as far as regulation goes.”
