HOUSTON – Inspectors say they found rodent droppings in a bag of open rice at Maria's Tacos N More at 5127 Ella. They told employees to discard the whole bag. Maria told us she did toss it, but she said the black specks are not what inspectors thought they were.
"You don't think that was rat poop?" Davis asked the owner. "No," she answered.
"What would the little black pieces be in the rice?"
"I don't know," said Maria. "I know there's the other animals, the small animals."
"Like weevils?" Davis offered. "Yeah," she answered. "You think that there were bugs in there?"
"Yeah," Maria said. She explained that she thinks the rice was already contaminated when she bought it at the store.
At May's Ice Cream at 9260 Bellaire, inspectors observed mice droppings on the floor in a storage room.
They saw roaches on the drink machine pipes at the McDonald's at 9555 South Post Oak Road.
Hartz Crispy Chicken at 9418 Almeda Genoa Road was written up for several violations including black residue in the ice machine, no hot water and cockroaches in the kitchen.
They also noted roaches in the food preparation area of Los Tios Mexican Restaurant at 4840 Beechnut.
Our A+ this week goes to Pinewood Cafe at 6104 Hermann Park Drive. The cafe that shares the parking lot with the Houston Zoo had a spotless inspection.
To see a complete list of restaurant violations in the Houston area, visit www.click2houston.com/restaurantinspections.How To File Restaurant ComplaintWe get our information from the city of Houston Health Department, but many of you have complaints about restaurants in other cities and counties.Refer to the following list to find out which agency to contact depending on the location of the restaurant:* For all complaints about restaurants located in the city of Houston, call 311 or file the complaint online.* Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services inspects and permits all retail food establishments in the unincorporated areas of Harris County as well as in the cities of Tomball, Katy, Jacinto City, Galena Park, La Porte, Morgan's Point, South Houston, Seabrook, El Lago, Southside Place, Hunter's Creek, Piney Point, Bunker Hill, Jersey Village, Spring Valley, Deer Park, Humble, Waller, and West University Place. If you believe you have become ill from ingesting food from an establishment in unincorporated Harris County or in a city inspected by Harris County, please file a complaint at http://www.hcphes.org/eph/foodcomplaint.ht or call them at 713-274-6300. If you are concerned about a food establishment's operations such as cleanliness, food handling procedures, etc., please file a complaint at http://www.hcphes.org/eph/complaints.htm.* To file a complaint about a restaurant in Montgomery County, call the Montgomery County Health Department at 936-539-7839.* To file a complaint about a restaurant Galveston County, call the Galveston County Health Department at 409-938-2300. Use this link to speed the process and file your complaint electronically, or send an email to mentringer@gchd.org.* To file a complaint about a restaurant in Brazoria County, contact the Brazoria County Health Department.* To file a complaint about a restaurant Fort Bend County, contact the Fort Bend County Health Department.* To file a complaint about a restaurant in Sugar Land use this link or contact the Senior Sanitarian at 281-275-2278 or email foodinspection@sugarlandtx.gov.If you have a news tip or question for KPRC Local 2 Investigates, drop them an e-mail or call their tipline at (713) 223-TIPS (8477). Copyright 2012 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.