RESTAURANT ROUNDUP: Two Colorado Springs restaurants caught with cockroaches
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Two restaurants were recently caught with cockroaches and dirty kitchens in Colorado Springs. Meanwhile, one pizza franchise says its hardworking team makes staying clean easy as pie!
Pho Hancock on S Academy Boulevard failed its recent routine health inspection with nine violations – including live and dead cockroaches, and a significant amount of grease and food debris on walls, ceiling and floors.
When we stopped by, the manager told us they just passed their re-inspection.
We asked if we could come back and check out the kitchen.
His response: “Can you give me just five minutes?”
We heard some clanking around in the kitchen for a few minutes - we’re not sure what they were doing back there.
When we eventually walked in, we noticed the broken tiles hadn’t been fixed.
However, the ceilings and walls just looked stained, not necessarily soiled.
The manager said pest control came through and cleared up the cockroach problem.
One regular customer waved us over and said she loves the place, and doesn’t care that there were roaches at one point.
“My perspective is I travel all over the world,” Jayma said. She told us she’s seen worse.
2 Lucho’s on S Academy Boulevard recently failed its routine health inspection, too. They had 11 violations.
The health department found dead roaches there, as well as dirt, grime and grease in the bar area, missing floor and ceiling tiles, and damaged walls.
The manager showed us the cleaning they've done and gave us the owner’s number.
“[The inspector] found like a bucket of dirty water and she saw like a little animal in there,” the owner explained over the phone. “Pest control checked but everything was fine.”
We assumed the owner was talking about the cockroaches since they were noted in the inspection report. No little animals were noted.
We asked if she had any idea where the roaches came from, and she said no.
We’re told pest control sprayed, that there's been no sign of roaches since, and they’re ready for re-inspection.
To the high scores!
Tokyo Joe’s on Barnes Road and The Kitchen in Manitou Springs.
How about a perfect score?! Mountain Mike's Pizza on Spectrum Loop!
“Mountains of toppings,” owner Isaac Brandon boasted about his pizzas.
Isaac doesn’t mean to sound cheesy, but says his team is the reason they meet peak standards.
“Sanitizer buckets replaced every couple hours, wash your hands, change your gloves,” employee Macrae False listed off some examples of what they do to stay so clean.
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.
