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When eating at a restaurant, you don’t want to have to think about whether the kitchen is clean or not. Maricopa County restaurant inspectors take on that responsibility. They spread out across the Valley, visiting hundreds of restaurants each month to make sure customers and employees stay safe. Inspectors check everything from food storage to pest control to ensure restaurants and food businesses comply with the Maricopa County Environmental Health Code.
Unfortunately, they sometimes make unappetizing and downright dangerous discoveries.
In May, broken fridges and freezers were joined by leaky sinks and moldy cheese. Employees didn’t wash their hands, or wash equipment, or both. And opportunities for cross-contamination were abundant. Here are the eight worst restaurant inspections from May’s county inspection reports.
Fantastico’s Mexican Food
6554 E. Cave Creek Road, #14, Cave Creek An inspection on the first day of the month found moldy tortillas “with green and white organic matter” at Fantastico’s in Cave Creek. The restaurant racked up a total of four priority violations, including old menudo, cooked fish and multiple containers of flan kept for more than a week past their discard dates.
Mr. Cooks Chinese Cuisine
3208 E. Cactus Road Mr. Cooks Chinese Cuisine scored four priority violations in an inspection on May 6. Multiple of the issues had to do with hand-washing, including the inspector observing “an employee wash hands for five seconds without using soap and then dried hands on clothes.” There also were no paper towels at the hand-washing sink, and no sanitizer was used to wash equipment. Cutting boards were rinsed and reused without washing or sanitizing. To top things off, the inspector found raw meat stored in plastic grocery bags.
El Super
1251 E. Southern Ave., Mesa Inspectors visit all kinds of food establishments, not just restaurants. On a May 6 inspection of El Super grocery store, an inspector found six priority violations. Cooked chicken was stored in a cooler underneath raw fish. Food slicers and cutting boards were “soiled” with “heavy organic accumulation.” And pans of menudo that should have been thrown away 10 days prior were found in the cooler.
Golden Corral
5679 W. Northern Ave., Glendale On May 8, an inspector visited Golden Corral in Glendale and found five priority violations, mainly to do with dirty water. The inspector found the “three-compartment sink actively draining water onto floor,” which was traced to a missing pipe cap. “Sewage must drain to a sanitary sewer to prevent contamination,” the inspector noted. There also was “an accumulation of debris” around a floor drain that was “emitting an odor.”
Carniceria Mr. Muuu
1628 E. Southern Ave. At Carniceria Mr. Muuu, an inspector found a dirty and dilapidated business. The hand-washing sink at the outdoor cooking area was leaking and not functional. The indoor hand-wash sink wasn’t working properly, nor was the prep sink, and there was no soap available in the main meat market area. In the bakery, a tray blocked the sink.
With all of those sink issues, the inspector also observed a lack of hand-washing. An employee handled dirty dishes, then clean dishes, and then cheese without washing their hands. An employee also handled raw shrimp and then clean dishes without washing their hands. Pork skin was found set to dry on dirty racks. A cutting board used for meat slicing was “melted, warped and heavily scored.”
Behind the carniceria, there were barrels of grease stored in sand. The inspector “observed grease having leaked into sand and observed large numbers of flies in (the) area.” The violations paint a picture of the situation, but the final violation brings it all together. The inspector saw a “buildup of organic matter, dirt and food debris on floors/walls throughout (the) establishment.”
Beast of Bourbon Bar and Grill
2235 S. Power Road, #127, Mesa On a May 14 visit, an inspector found four priority violations at Beast of Bourbon Bar and Grill in Mesa. Ghost pepper cheese was moldy, and a selection of old food was headed that way. Black beans, pork belly and brisket were all kept much too long, and the inspector found pulled pork that had been made 16 days prior.
Gilligan’s
1105 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler Every restaurant is required by law to have a Certified Food Service Manager license. At Gilligan’s, an Arco gas station eatery, that license had been expired since September 2021. The current manager was not certified. During a May 20 visit, the inspector found raw eggs stored directly above coffee creamers and chocolate milk in the refrigerator. At the restaurant’s self-serve coffee station, nozzles had “excessive build up of organic matter from many days.” And the floor sink and floor area used to store beer and water bottles were “very dirty” with “lots of build up.”
Slaughterhouse U.S.A./Local Legends
7303 E. Main St., #115-116, Mesa The Slaughterhouse, a restaurant that now uses the name Local Legends, had multiple repeat issues on a May 22 inspection. A refrigerator was not staying cold enough, and previous inspection reports found the same issue. So, the “inspector condemned the unit.” The walk-in freezer wasn’t in much better shape. The inspector found “heavy accumulation of dirt/debris on the walk-in freezer floor, as well as the floor lifting,” and inadequate lighting in the freezer. Other repeat violations included missing tiles above the sink and broken or “unnecessary” equipment being stored around an outdoor smoker.
