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DIRTY DINING: Mouse droppings and moldy food at Ma Dang Garden

Posted at 10:50 PM, Mar 01, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-02 02:56:08-05

Mouse droppings, moldy food, slimy ice machine, cockroaches -- you name it, the restaurant in the latest Dirty Dining has it. 

PHOTOS: Dirty Dining March 1, 2017

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears takes us behind kitchen doors.

The first thing we notice at Ma Dang Garden restaurant is the smell -- cigarette smoke, which you're not supposed to do in a food establishment. They even have it posted, but apparently that doesn't apply to everybody. 

Inspectors found an employee's open pack of cigarettes on top of the microwave. 

The Korean restaurant in Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue near Maryland Parkway has a 36-demerit C grade, which is posted -- sort of. An "A" grade report from 2013 is partially covering it up. 

On their most recent health inspection, they found mouse droppings, roaches, moldy food and a slimy ice machine.

Inspectors found moldy carrots in the fridge, fish in the deep freezer stored in garbage bags and squid in a McDonald's bag. There was also pink slime in the ice machine and cabbage stored in a crate that was lined with newspaper.

An employee we asked said she was just a waitress and didn't know or care about what goes on in the kitchen.

We ask her to find someone who does and she sends us to Sam Seo, the person in charge. 

We ask Seo about the excessive dirt, grease and food debris the inspector found on floors and walls.

"He says is dirty, I say paint," Seo says.

We also ask him about the roaches.

"No! We don't have roaches. On our paper, no roach," Seo says.

But it's in the health inspection.

"I know. One is, uh, one roach is hiding," he says.

Inspectors did only note one live roach, but they also found an excessive amount of dead roaches throughout the facility.

What about the mouse trap? Seo denied having a mouse trap, despite the droppings.

They also found chicken and beef thawing together in a bowl. And food handlers had no soap to wash their hands.

"Everything, we sorry," said the waitress. "Just... we are sorry."

Our next spot is a place where they give out free food, and even pay you to eat it. 

The Test America Test Kitchen in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood was shut down for having no hot water, but they also got 33 demerits. 

Inspectors found them using a dishwashing machine that had been red-tagged last September.

There was moldy broccoli in the vegetable tray, hummus that had expired in January and cocktails with a December expiration date.

There was also excessive broken glass and dried food debris in the reach-in cooler, a dirty floor in the walk-in and caution tape blocking off employee restrooms. 

Inspectors said the person in charge had no knowledge of any food safety.

Test America Test Kitchen is back to a six-demerit A grade. 

Ma Dang Garden still has a C grade. They say they're expecting re-inspection on Monday.