Restaurant Report Card for July 5: Lots of roaches

HOUSTON – Maybe you've heard that the best time to eat at a restaurant is just after the health inspector visits. The idea is that the owner will have cleaned up the place, but that theory doesn't hold up in this week's Restaurant Report Card.

Health inspectors said they found roaches inside a container of sliced onions at Taqueria Elyse's at 7675 Clarewood. Back in March, investigators said they saw a live roach on the wall at the front service counter. When Local 2 consumer investigator Amy Davis dropped in, employees agreed to show her around the kitchen. At the end of the tour, Davis spotted a roach crawling on the floor. An employee quickly stepped on it.

Inside the food court at Willowbrook Mall, inspectors said they saw roaches crawling inside Kelly's Cajun Grill. They were in the cabinets, on equipment and there was a dead roach in the ice bin.

There were more roaches at Top of Flight at 9819 South Kirkwood. At the panaderia (bakery) inside the Nortenita Meat Market at 10880 Bissonnet, there were roaches inside cardboard boxes, on storage racks and inside the metal shelf brackets on a wall in the kitchen. 

On the southeast side at Pho Hai Van at 12730 Scarsdale, inspectors said they saw dead roaches and droppings on the surfaces of equipment in the kitchen.

At the Alabama Food Store at 2706 Alabama, inspectors said they found various food items on store shelves that were past expiration. The inspector recommended that employees discard the expired items he found, but there's nothing that legally requires stores to toss packaged food that is past the expiration date. The date is only a recommendation by the food manufacturer.

For this week's perfect inspection, you'll have to head up to Kingwood at 24551 Loop 494, where we're giving an A+ to Subway.


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Passionate consumer advocate, mom of 3, addicted to coffee, hairspray and pastries.