UES Golf Club Reopens After Health Dept. Shutdown Over Mice

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side indoor golf club's bar and restaurant has bounced back after the city officials ordered it to close for racking up 43 points in health code violations earlier this month, according to city records.

Five Iron Golf, located at East 94th Street and Third Avenue, shut down its restaurant on April 15 after inspectors reported evidence of mice and food-safety hazards, according to publicly available city records.

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Five Iron Golf, which opened its Upper East Side location in 2023, is an indoor golf chain known for its high-tech golf simulators as well as its bar and restaurant.

In the days following the health department shutdown, multiple extermination and cleaning crews were brought in to meet the city’s requirements and to tackle a persistent mouse issue tied to neighboring buildings, Five Iron Golf's general manager on the Upper East Side, Holden Boger, told Patch.

"On Wednesday night, I was here until 7 a.m. the next day with the exterminating team and the cleaning team, and we were just getting everything taken care of," Boger said.

Management also added heavy-duty door sweeps and tightened cleaning and communication protocols between the front-of-house, kitchen and corporate teams, Boger said.

The team reopened the restaurant on April 22 after getting clearance from the health department.

"Obviously, anything like that is stressful in the moment, but it ended up being a really positive learning experience for a young manager like myself and a young team and a young company," Boger, who became the site's general manager at the beginning of the year, said.

While the bar and kitchen were shut down, the golf simulators stayed open, allowing business to continue. Regulars also checked in and offered help, Boger said, turning a stressful situation into a neighborhood show of support.

"It kind of became like a community coming together, which is partially what makes the Upper East Side location a special one," he said.

Now fully reopened, Five Iron Golf is again serving food and drinks alongside its indoor golf bays.

"The place is sparkling clean now," Boger said. "It really, I think, elevated our space, so it’s been a positive process in the long run."

Here's the full list of Five Iron Golf's violations from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:

• Food Protection Certificate (FPC) not held by manager or supervisor of food operations.
• Evidence of mice or live mice in establishment's food or non-food areas.
• Personal cleanliness is inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn where required. Jewelry worn on hands or arms. Fingernail polish worn or fingernails not kept clean and trimmed.
• Establishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
• Anti-siphonage or back-flow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly. Condensation or liquid waste improperly disposed of.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.