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Dirty Dining: Roberto's Taco Shop

Posted at 10:45 PM, Jan 13, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-14 11:33:53-05

It's one of the valley's most popular Mexican fast food restaurants with locations all over town.

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears tells us which one made the Dirty Dining list.

Right across the street from Sun City Summerlin sits Roberto's Taco Shop on Lake Mead and Rampart. 

It won the top spot on Dirty Dining with a 32-demerit C grade.

"What happened when you guys got that 32-demerit C grade?  Why did they find so many demerits to write up?  Can you explain?" Darcy Spears asked Abraham Rodriguez, the person in charge at Roberto's.

Roberto's was nearly shut down for the imminent health hazard of no hot water, but avoided that by fixing the problem while the inspector was still there.

"She's going to washing the hands, the water is cold, you know?" Rodriguez said that's because the inspector came early in the morning.  Not because there was an equipment problem. 

But the report says when the inspector arrived, there was no hot water and therefore, no proper handwashing or dishwashing going on. 

As for the food, there was expired enchilada sauce in the walk-in.

Darcy: it was old and had to be thrown away?
Abraham: Yeah, the label, it was expired.
Darcy: So why was that still in the walk-in?
Abraham: Uh... I don't know.

He says somebody probably just forgot to throw it out.  According to the label, it was nine days old. 

The inspector also found chicken prepared the previous day had been improperly cooled.

"And the chicken, we put in the trash," Rodriguez said, acknowledging that the temperature had been compromised.
 
Eggs were stored on the top shelf over prepared chicken and tortillas. 

And prepared foods in the fridge weren't labeled.

"Yeah, some things have no labels because the workers forget," said Rodriguez.

He allows us back into the kitchen and the walk-in, where we can't help but notice an obvious violation.

Darcy: That should be covered, and that too, right?  Should have the plastic over it?
Abraham: Yes.

We find a few more bins of uncovered food, which he fixes after we spot them.

Roberto's is now back to a three-demerit A grade.