Restaurant Roundup: Taco shop gets 20+ health inspection violations
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Health inspectors reported a cockroach sighting at a taco shop on the east side of Colorado Springs in addition to twenty other violations. Meanwhile, a gastropub is serving up ambiance and award-winning food!
Low scores:
El Rey Del Taco on S Academy Boulevard recently failed its routine health inspection with a whopping 21 violations.
The inspector caught an employee touching raw steak, then cooked shrimp – AKA cross-contamination. Chicken and pork were at unsafe temperatures. The inspector also noticed old food in the kitchen, a dirty ice machine and grease dripping from storage shelves!
In addition to all this, the inspector found evidence of cockroach activity.
We stopped by, but the manager didn’t want to talk.
When we asked for the owner’s contact information, we were shooed away.
El Taco Del Rey passed its re-inspection.
We have two perfect scores this week:
In-N-Out on Interquest Parkway and MOD Pizza on North Gate Boulevard.
Our featured high score of the week is Atmosphere Gastropub on Interquest Parkway.
“I love how eclectic our menu is,” Sous Chef Calvin Mertens said in an interview with KRDO. “[we] love worldly foods.”
One fan-favorite at Atmosphere? The Taste of Pikes Peak award-winning tuna tartare!
The tuna tartare has been on the menu for years. If it ain't broke, don’t fix it, right?
Atmosphere also strives to be the best when it comes to food safety and cleanliness.
As many of our previous high-scoring restaurants have noted, Chef Mertens urges struggling restaurant owners to do what they can to hire good people, and life will be much easier.
“I know in the restaurant industry a lot of times we focus on money, percentages, and making sure you’re meeting goals and quotas, etc.,” he acknowledged. “But sometimes it just takes a little more investment in your staff to ensure your business runs smoothly.”
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.
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