Jacksonville, Fla - The manager at Sushi Wok on North Main Street in Jacksonville, Susie Lee, was quick to greet us at the door. She stuck out her hand and with a big smile said, "Nice to meet you!" We told her Sushi Wok was at the top of the list this week for the most number of critical violations including misrepresenting "white fish" on the menu and serving escolar instead.
Lee told us, "It might just be a misunderstanding." She says the restaurant was fined hundreds of dollars by the inspector the last time he came and she has since stopped serving escolar. In case you haven't heard of it, escolar is often called the "Ex-Lax fish" because it's known to cause diarrhea and other health issues.
Lee took us right into the kitchen and told us we could look around anywhere was wanted... even the freezer. We asked, "So... there's nothing in here called escolar?" After a good look inside - we didn't find any of the boxes labeled as escolar.
While we were looking around the kitchen a little more - some live flies caught our eye. Lee's response, "It's Florida. I can't say I don't have bugs... but I do have pest control every month."
Total - the inspector found 32 violations at Sushi Wok. 23 of them were critical including:
Employee scratched head then continued food prep
Employees cooking in pot used to cook customers rice
You can see the complete report by clicking
here
Lee says she didn't know her employees couldn't cook their food in the same pot they use for preparing customers food... but she knows now. She says she is still learning a lot about the restaurant business and appreciates all the state inspector is teaching her. "My kitchen is clean but I am still working on trying to improve everything."
Other restaurants at the top of the list this week for violations:
At
China One on Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville the inspector found 31 violations, 19 critical including:
Slime/mold like build-up in multiple reach in coolers
At
Mario's on 3rd Street in Jacksonville Beach the inspector found 18 violations, 16 critical including:
Can opener and slicer soiled with encrusted material.
These places get our clean plate award this week because they had perfect health inspections.
The "Top of the Reef" restaurant in Green Cove Springs
Istanbul Grill in Jacksonville
Jacksonville Golf and Country Club "Downunder" restaurant
Hot Dog Lady in Jacksonville
