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Dirty Dining at Archi's Thai Cafe

Posted at 10:50 PM, Sep 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-14 12:02:50-04

Forty-two: that's too many demerits for a restaurant to be allowed to stay open.  

But that's not the only reason Archi's Thai Cafe on Sahara and Fort Apache was forced to close.

Health inspectors also found them operating under an imminent health hazard--inadequate refrigeration.

Both the walk-in and reach-in refrigerators were holding food in the temperature danger zone and employees didn't know how long that had been happening.  

Food like raw chicken, beef, tofu and eggs were up to 20 degrees out of temperature.

Inspectors also found bagged raw fish thawing next to bagged raw beef on the same sheet pan with liquids pooling between products.

There were multiple handwashing violations including a worker picking up utensils off the floor, then using bare hands on ready-to-eat cabbage.

And another food handler rinsed utensils in the hand sink instead of washing and sanitizing them after being used on raw meat.  

After some scrambling in the kitchen and a few phone calls, staff at Archi's tells us there's no one we can talk to.

Darcy Spears: So you're telling me there's literally no person in charge on the premises?
Employee: Yes.
Darcy: And you know that's a violation of health code to have no person in charge? You know, ok.

Other violations the inspector noted were no hot water in the men's restroom or employee restroom.

Archi's intentionally disabled the hot water after a customer complained it was too hot.

The fly fan was turned off too because the person in charge said it was too loud, and, go figure, there was a fly in the kitchen.

There were also utensil handles held together with tape.  

The employee comes back after talking to the manager on the phone.

Darcy: So he just wanted you to share with me that they've cleaned everything up and they've recovered from the violations?
Employee: Yeah, we fix everything already.

The two other imminent health hazards include places that did things right.  

Dream Team snack bar on Maryland Parkway near Tropicana self-closed due to a leaking boiler and no hot water.

And Las Vegas Buffet on Sunset and Green Valley Parkway also self-closed after a fire caused heavy damage to the cookline and compromised the ceiling and walls.  

All food products in the damaged area were either open or out of temperature.

Las Vegas Buffet is still closed pending repairs from that fire.  

Archi's and Dream Team snack bar both re-opened with zero-demerit A grades.