Spoiled Lettuce, Expired Milk: What Kitchen Inspections Found

CHARLOTTE, NC — Four area restaurant kitchens saw their health ratings drop to a “B” after inspectors found infractions ranging from an employee rinsing their hands off over raw pork, to flies in the kitchen and expired milk, according to a recent report by county health officials.

Do you truly know how clean your favorite coffee shop or restaurant is? Find out with the most recent restaurant and food service inspections in Charlotte, Huntersville, Davidson, and elsewhere in Mecklenburg County, performed by the Mecklenburg County Health Department.

Some of the lowest health inspection ratings for recently inspected Charlotte-area restaurants were given to the following restaurants, include four area kitchens that saw their ratings drop to a "B."

Those restaurants downgraded to a “B” include:

• Carniceria Y Taqueria Jalisco Restaurant, 6127 Albemarle Road
• Bojangles # 446, 6915 Albemarle Road
• Hibachi Express, 2908 Oak Lake Boulevard
• Sithara, 9609 N. Tryon Street

At Carniceria Y Taqueria Jalisco Restaurant, employees were spotted rinsing their hands instead of washing them with soap, with one “rinsing hands off after handling raw pork in the same sink of the rinsed pork.” It was just one of a dozen violations found in the kitchen during a July 12 inspection that also found expired milk and spoiled lettuce in a walk-in cooler, among other infractions.

An inspection found flies in the kitchen of Bojangles, as well as cashiers handling food and plating food for to-go orders without washing their hands. A food thermometer probe was dirty with buildup, and a food employee with painted long fingernails working with food without gloves.

At Hibachi Express, 14 violations were found, including an employee washing their hands without soap, raw chicken stored above ready-to-eat food, food kept at improper temperatures and floors “in need of cleaning throughout establishment.

At Sithara, several food items, such as fried chicken bites, lamb and rice and onion sauce, were found to be improperly dated and some had to be discarded. It was one of 11 violations found in the kitchen that also included raw fish, chicken and lamb stored above ready-to-eat veggies and walls and floors “needing better cleaning.”

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Results from the Mecklenburg County Health Department inspections done July 11 — July 17, 2018 are listed below. You may look up your favorite restaurant or find more detailed information about this latest batch of inspections here.

Photo via kondor83/ Shutterstock