Beloved Colorado Springs cafe fails health inspection with 25 violations
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A beloved cafe was temporarily shut down after failing its recent routine health inspection with over two dozen violations. Meanwhile, one restaurant on the southeast side of Colorado Springs is beating already sky-high expectations!
Low Scores:
Mimi's Cafe on N Academy Boulevard failed its recent routine health inspection so badly that it was temporarily closed.
Some of the 25 violations include: spoiled beans found in the cooler, eggs at an unsafe temperature, and “heavily soiled” floors and walls. An employee was also caught wrapping silverware while eating lunch!
When we stopped by, the restaurant was back open after passing its re-inspection.
The manager didn’t want to go on camera. Instead, he offered to take our contact information and said the corporate team would reach out to tell us what they’re doing to be better. We’re still waiting to hear from them.
High Scores:
Well, there’s one restaurant this week that couldn’t be any better if they tried; we’re talking about a perfect score: Monse's Pupuseria in Old Colorado City!
Other high scores were Yeyo Will off S Academy Boulevard, Overtime Sports Bar & Grill on Dublin Boulevard, and The Airplane Restaurant at E Fountain Boulevard and Aviation Way.
“This is a Boeing KC-97,” The Airplane Restaurant owner, Steve Kanatzar, said while giving KRDO13’s Julia Donovan a tour. “This was the first plane built with an elevator and upper and lower decks pressurized.”
We asked Steve how people reacted when he first told them you wanted to build a restaurant inside a gutted airplane he won in an auction.
“Some were really excited and thought it was going to be the coolest thing on the planet,” he said. “And one person in particular who had restaurants said, ‘You won’t be in business a year.’”
24 years later, you could say he proved that guy wrong.
The Airplane Restaurant is a place where aviation meets taste bud celebration! We tried the blackened salmon Caesar salad - delicious.
As you can imagine, safety is a pretty big deal for pilots. After decades in the sky, Steve now takes those extra precautions at the restaurant.
His motto is - why have one food safety certified employee on shift, when you can have five?!
“It’s not me just telling them what is safe; they go to class,” Steve explained.
Keep an eye out for the KRDO13 Restaurant Roundup awards at your favorite restaurant to know the kitchen inside is clean.
Reminder: all of our high and low-scoring restaurants are based on routine health inspections conducted by the El Paso County Health Department.
Click here for a look at all the most recent health inspection scores.
Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.
