Restaurant Roundup: Local pub unaware of health inspection failure, ice cream empire dominates high score list
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - A local pub manager wasn’t aware they failed their recent routine health inspection until we showed up. Meanwhile, a Colorado Springs ice cream classic is racking up the high scores!
Low scores:
The Public House at The Alexander on N Nevada Avenue failed its recent routine health inspection with half a dozen violations.
An employee wiped their hands on a cloth towel covered in food debris, a wet cloth was stored on a cutting board (potentially breeding bacteria), and the inspector noted the pot roast was at an unsafe temp!
When we confronted the manager, Stephanie, she appeared unaware that they had failed their inspection.
“We didn’t fail. We’re due for a re-inspection,” she insisted. “A lot of the things were corrected on-site. He should be coming in today for a re-inspection, actually.”
We explained that when a re-inspection is required, you technically failed the initial routine health inspection.
“Definitely eye-opening, we definitely did some more training on our staff,” Stephanie assured when we asked what the pub was doing to fix the problems.
Stephanie suggested we get a video of the sanitizer bucket in the kitchen, but while we got those shots, we noticed two dirty rags sitting out on a table right in front of us.
According to the El Paso County Health Department’s website, The Public House at The Alexander is still awaiting its re-inspection.
We have three high scores this week:
Pandaz Boba Tea on Briargate Boulevard, Subway on Mclaughlin Road in Peyton, and Josh & John’s on E Cheyenne Road.
No rocky roads in sight for Josh and John’s lately - The popular ice cream empire also recently took home a perfect score at its North Gate Boulevard location!
“We continually try to improve and make things better,” co-owner John Krakauer said in an interview with KRDO.
Employees tell us Josh & John’s is the cleanest place they’ve ever worked! John says that’s because they’re not just leveling up their flavors, but also their health inspections.
“They’re not always perfect,” he admitted. “[There are] usually one or two minor things that we need to fix, but we take that as feedback, and then we distribute that [information] to the other stores.”
They’re clean, and they serve the kind of ice cream you won’t want to wait until you get home to dig into! Check out the tasty new chai flavor next time you stop in.
Also, some exciting news: Josh & John's is set to open its first drive-thru location on Friday, April 17, on W Garden of the Gods Road.
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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