McDonald's Reopens After Replacing Water Heater

The restaurant in El Cerrito is back open today, Feb. 25, after having been shut down for a day to replace a failing water heater, the manager said.

A would-be customer, Lanette Jimerson, alerted El Cerrito Patch Thursday that she found the restaurant at 11821 San Pablo Ave. closed and a health-inspection sign saying the restaurant's license to serve food had been suspended.

The manager of the El Cerrito McDonald's, Hai Tran, said the restaurant had to close about 3:48 p.m. Wednesday because the old water heater could heat water only to 97 degrees and not the required 100 degrees.

"We ended up replacing the water heater," he said. The restaurant reopened around 4:45 p.m. Thursday, he said.

Kate Fowlie, communications officer for the county health department, Contra Costa Health Services, said the restaurant was closed Wednesday after a routine inspection found that the water was not heated to a sufficiently high temperature and that the restaurant was allowed to reopen Thursday when a county re-inspection found that the problem had been fixed.

She said hot water is particularly important for proper cleaning.

The public can see inspection reports for restaurants and other food facilities in Contra Costa County on the health department's Food Facility Inspection Search webpage. This week's report on McDonald's has not been posted yet because it can take up to a week for an report to be entered into the online database, Fowlie said.