Gross Out: Dirty Fingernails at Efes Turkish Cuisine

If you eat at Efes Turkish Cuisine in Tempe (in the same strip mall as Changing Hands Bookstore, southwest corner of Guadalupe and McClintock), chances are, you’ll be doing some naval gazing. The restaurant often features belly dancing.

But you might be better off checking out the cooks’ fingernails. A recent Maricopa County restaurant inspection resulted in a failing grade for Efes, and along with other problems — including broken pans, lids and spatulas; a soiled catch basket in the dishwasher; and “unlabeled white food” — the inspector took interest in the handwashing set up.

With good cause. There was no trash can at the kitchen handwashing station, and the light shields above the station were broken and the light burned out. Two employees were witnessed washing their hands for ust three and eight seconds, respectively, and the proof was, um, in the pudding when it came to two cooks with “dirt under fingernails”. 

Now, that’s a belly full.