March 21 RESTAURANT REPORT: Critical violations at state cafeter - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

March 21 RESTAURANT REPORT: Critical violations at state cafeteria

Posted: Updated:
By Heather Sullivan - bio | email

  • Critical ViolationsCritical Violations

  • Friday, May 17 2013 9:06 AM EDT2013-05-17 13:06:39 GMT
    It's one thing for a state health inspector to catch restaurant workers not washing their hands before they touch food. But in this edition of the Restaurant Report, the inspector wrote that it happened
    It's one thing for a state health inspector to catch restaurant workers not washing their hands before they touch food. But in this edition of the Restaurant Report, the inspector wrote that it happened again when he went back.

  • Thursday, May 9 2013 11:15 PM EDT2013-05-10 03:15:09 GMT
    Long before the state banned smoking in restaurants, it had already banned smoking in restaurant kitchens. That's so your food won't be contaminated by the cigarettes or smoke. When a health inspector

    Long before the state banned smoking in restaurants, it had already banned smoking in restaurant kitchens. That's so your food won't be contaminated by the cigarettes or smoke. When a health inspector wrote up a restaurant for smoking in the kitchen, we went straight over.

  • Thursday, May 2 2013 11:15 PM EDT2013-05-03 03:15:13 GMT
    No one wants to hear about rodents in a restaurant. When an inspector reported finding rodent droppings in a popular fish store and restaurant, the owners replaced the manager. Cameron's Seafood Market,

    No one wants to hear about rodents in a restaurant. When an inspector reported finding rodent droppings in a popular fish store and restaurant, the owners replaced the manager.

    •   
RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) -

One of the restaurants in tonight's Restaurant Report serves lunch to many people who work for the State Health Department and other state agencies. That's why the manager told us he fixed the problems immediately.

The cafeteria in the State Corporation Commission at 1300 East Main Street in Richmond serves one thousand people a day, mostly state workers.

"We have the Health Department right behind us and we have their guests come in here every day, so we try to stay on top of it as much as possible," said cafeteria General Manager Jeremy Hite.

When 4 critical violations turned up on a health inspection, Hite fixed them before the inspection was over, like labeling buffet food to be removed after 4 hours.

"These plates have to have the four-hour label on them. Once they're done we take them off," he said, showing us the labels on the food. He says they're usually in place, but weren't that day.

Hite also showed us the required sign warning that eggs cooked to order could be undercooked. "We had the sign, it was misplaced. We put it back that second, that day."

And the pre-wash spray hose was professionally re-hung so it wouldn't touch the sink. Hite says his customers are like family, so he works to make sure everything is right.

"I strive to bring customers the best that I can for them," he told us. "I try to bring them the best quality of things for this place, and then of course, getting on their level and talk to them daily."

In Henrico, King of Szechuan at 3991 Glenside Drive had 5 critical violations. The report says some fried noodles were in a container lined with a cardboard box and raw cabbage was on a dirty refrigerator shelf. Violations were corrected during the inspection.

And in Chesterfield, El Paso Mexican Restaurant at 13245 Rittenhouse Drive had 6 critical violations, including that dirty knives were stored on the magnetic strip above the sink. El Paso had everything corrected by the follow-up inspection.

This week's NBC12 Hall of Fame Award goes to Einstein Bros. Bagels inside the VCU Medical Center in Richmond, which has aced three recent health inspections.

Copyright 2013 WWBT NBC12.  All rights reserved.