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DIRTY DINING: Gandhi gets one last chance

Posted at 10:50 PM, Mar 09, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-10 02:28:38-05

Tonight, a Dirty Dining follow-up as Contact 13 tracks a repeat offender in their fight to keep their doors open. 

Chief Investigator Darcy spears was there today as the first Indian restaurant to open in Las Vegas begged for one more chance.
 
Sometimes you see the same thing so many times, it doesn't look wrong. That's one of the arguments made at a Thursday morning hearing by Gandhi India's Cuisine. 

In its bid to stay in business, the restaurant owner fell on the sword.

"This isn't something that you're good at? Supervising restaurants," Attorny Chris Rasmussen asked his client.

"I failed. I admit everything," answered Gandhi Owner Harjit Dhillon.

For many in the dining public, the name Gandhi had become synonymous with "health hazard." 

Image after image taken by health inspectors documented a long-standing, massive cockroach infestation and other repeat major health violations. 

But Thursday, on the verge of being shut down for good, Gandhi got one more chance to get it right.

"If I was a consumer looking at this, I would think the best time for me to eat there would be right after you failed, because you seem to step it up--or somebody there seems to step it up," Health District Hearing Officer Henry Melton said to Dhillon during the hearing.

Darcy Spears: Here we are after a couple of years of warnings by the Health District when your back is finally against the wall and now you're taking a tougher stance. Why did it get to this point?
Harjit Dhillon: Now I got the good team. I can look future. I can't--I don't want to worry about the past.

Gandhi's past is well documented on Dirty Dining. 

The restaurant on Paradise and Flamingo was first featured in October, 2015, and again last week after they'd been shut down as an imminent hazard and the Health District began the rare process of revoking their health permit.

Darcy Spears: You kind of dodged a bullet here. After admitting a year and a half of failure, why should the public trust you again?
Harjit Dhillon: We made a lot of changes back in the kitchen and this is a stronger restaurant. We wanted to serve people safe food and we had some problems. We fixed them.

Gandhi's team admitted all the violations health inspectors have documented, saying they have no excuse or defense. 

They pitched an aggressive plan to deal with what they call an "incredible amount of issues," including spending nearly $30,000 to remodel the kitchen and buy all new equipment.

"The remodel isn't just the issue," Health District Attorney Heather Anderson-Fintak told them. "It's ensuring that staff follow the proper food safety issues."

All the old staff at Gandhi has been fired. They'll start fresh and hope the public, like the Health District, gives them just one more chance.

The Health District says the restaurant must keep an A grade for 18 months or Gandhi will be gone. 

They'll be subject to quarterly inspections and monthly deep cleaning and pest control. 

They anticipate re-opening in about a week.