Restaurant Roundup: Vietnamese restaurant fails with double-digit violations, French bakery super clean & tasty

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A Vietnamese restaurant failed its recent health inspection with over a dozen violations. Meanwhile, one French bakery is getting praised for its spotless kitchen and endless menu!

Low scores:

House of Saigon on S 21st Street failed its recent routine health inspection with 14 violations.

An employee reportedly handled trash, then cleaned dishware without washing their hands. 

The inspector also found moldy lemon slices in the kitchen, and noted food contact surfaces, walls, and ceilings were soiled with grease and food debris!

We stopped by, and the manager took us out back immediately, where food debris lingered, and dirty rags sat out.

The manager told us they’re actively working on the cleanup, hiring outside help for deep cleans.

“[We’re] waiting on the second one scheduled to do it one more time, and we’ll be done, yeah,” she said.

The manager later contradicted her original statement and said these periodic deep cleanings will continue for the foreseeable future.

She also told us the moldy lemon violation was a bit of a misunderstanding, explaining how they belonged to an employee, were placed in the “employees only” fridge, and then forgotten about.

We asked if there was a chance those lemons could have been mistakenly served to a customer.

“Totally not,” the manager assured. “If you see our [menu], we don’t sell lemons at all. Every time a customer wants one, we just give them a lime.”

Limes are much more common in authentic Vietnamese cuisine. 

House of Saigon passed its re-inspection the day after we visited with a perfect score.

Let’s get to our high scores:

Carlos’ Bistro on S 21st Street, Cogstone Brewing Company at N Academy and North Carefree, and The French Kitchen on N Academy Boulevard.

The French Kitchen is an entrepreneurial dream come true for the owner, Blandine Mazéran, whose French home-cooking classes created demand for more!

“Instead of just moving the cooking classes out of the home – I did a bakery, a cafe, a little boutique,” Blandine giggled at her wild ambition.

That kind of business growth takes a meticulous person – a trait that translates to kitchen cleanliness!

“In the end, you are affecting the client,” Blandine explained the responsibility she feels to keep things in tip-top shape so her customers don't get sick.

The French Kitchen offers quiche, French baguettes, sandwiches and fresh pastries. 

The boutique inside the bakery also features rare French pantry items and a whole array of frozen homemade soups.

You can try all of that authentic French cuisine without the ten-hour, thousand-dollar flight to Paris!

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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