JACKSONVILLE, Fla - If you've never been to London Seafood Place, it's a seafood mart and restaurant in a strip mall off of Blanding Boulevard on the Westside. It's know for Caribbean food, the garlic crab tray, and this week for having 12 critical violations. You can see all of them by clicking
here - but here are a few of the most critical:
Operating without a current license
Employees touching food with their bare hands
Sewage backing up through floor drains
When we stopped by, we met restaurant worker Cory. Cory was very up front with us. We asked, "Was their really sewage seeping up through the floor?" He responded, "No. It was a drain issue that got corrected."
We asked Cory to show us the problem is fixed -which he gladly did. We found the drain in the kitchen where the inspector says he saw the problem. Cory told us they called Roto Rooter out to fix the problem right away and he even showed us the receipt.
We asked Cory to answer this question, "What do you want to say to your customers about the sewage problem? If I heard that sewage was seeping up through the floor I would think - yuck!" He replied, "Just that everything is OK. It has all been approved by the state. There's no problem."
The inspector found several critical problems across town at
MVP'S Sports Grille including:
Raw chicken wings being held at unsafe temperatures
Cold holding equipment incapable of maintaining proper temperature
Soda gun holster accumulated with slime
The restaurant has been cooking for 20 years but let's just say we didn't get the MVP treatment here - at first.
"I'm Tera Barz with Action News and we're here because you are at the top of the list this week with the most number of critical violations. Is your owner here?"
The worker at the bar told us the owner was out, the manager was out and that the cook had, "no comment".
We asked for the owner's phone number which she refused to give us. We asked for the manager's number to which she replied, "You have our number."
We did make several calls to MVP's and finally were able to talk to the owner, Lou Kazaleh and the manager, Brain Anderson.
Anderson gave us this statement:
"We appreciate the fact that you gave us an honest look in the Restaurant Report. We want to use this opportunity after your assessment to increase the quality of service that we bring our customers. We will use this situation to make ourselves better and make sure we are here for another 20 years."
Owner, Lou Kazaleh says they had an issue with a case of beer bumping into the thermometer in the walk in cooler during a delivery. He says the problem with the chicken wings being "out of temperature" has since been fixed.
The other restaurant at the top of the list this week for violations is
Lingui #1 Chinese Restaurant on Walnut Street in Starke.
The restaurant had 16 violations total - 11 of them were critical including:
Employees not washing their hands before touching food
There was also an emergency order issued for Mandarin Express on Wells Road in Orange Park. The restaurant was shut down by the health inspector for live and dead roaches found in all areas of the kitchen. You can see that report by clicking
here. The restaurant has since re-opened.
Only one place gets our clean plate award of the week!
THE MONKS VINEYARD (St. Augustine)
When we called the owner to tell him he was being featured as a Clean Plate award winner he said, "I'm honored".
