An Ocala sports bar was shut down recently after a health inspector found 12 violations – the most egregious of which revolved around multiple rodent droppings and insect activity inside the eatery.
The Wing House Bar & Grill, located at 2145 E Silver Springs Blvd., was closed at 5:15 p.m. on Dec. 3 after the inspector found more than 85 rodent droppings at various places throughout the restaurant, including the kitchen area, the cookline and the women’s bathroom, as well as a nibbled piece of bread, according to a report on file with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
The inspector also found more than 15 live flies under a hand sink at the front counter and another one under a dish pit. And ice at the front counter wasn’t protected while not in use, the report says.
The inspector cited intermediate-level violations for an accumulation of food residue on the side walls of a chicken cooler on the cookline. A paper towel dispenser at a hand-washing station also wasn’t working because the batteries inside the unit needed to be replaced, the report says.
Seven basic violations also were cited. Those included:
- Seven dead roaches were found on a sticky pad under a counter in the dining area at pass-through window.
- Glasses wet nested at a server station, plates on the front counter not protected and brown bowls and plates in a clean-dish area not protected.
- An employee’s beverage container was sitting on a prep table on the cookline.
- Tongs were stored between uses on the door handle of a piece of equipment on the cookline.
- Old labels were stuck on several pans in the clean-dish area.
- The lids on trash and cardboard dumpsters were open.
- A large screwdriver was found on a prep table under a slicer.
The inspector returned to the restaurant the following day and found only one basic violation still in place – old food labels on several pans in the clean-dish area. The eatery was allowed to reopen at 10:08 a.m. in time for the lunch rush.