What do you get when you cross a rat with a roach?
You might know the answer to that if you shop at Golden Market on Arville and Sahara.
It was shut down September 26 for two imminent health hazards -- no hot water and a pest infestation that included both roaches and rodents.
"Do you want to take the opportunity to just let people know what you guys went through to try to clean up from all that?" Darcy Spears asked Claudia Cazares, the person in charge at Golden Market.
"I'm not feeling that well today," Cazares replied.
The inspection paints an ill picture of the conditions at Golden Market where there were excessive rodent droppings on floors and shelving in dry storage and equipment rooms.
Torn cushion foam made nice nesting material for the rodents who also left their droppings on a prep table with ready to eat popcorn and on the floor next to a six pack of beer.
A hungry rat also gnawed through the wrapper and began snacking on a Milky Way candy bar.
"Did you guys know that you had the pest problem or was it something that the inspectors showed you?" Spears asked.
"They did call the pest control and everybody. They paid like $1,000 to remove it. And also, the roaches we had, we put the traps, but they--it's just during the night because they leave the door open and also the back room, but they cover all the holes and everything," explained Cazares.
Inspectors found roaches on multiple glue traps.
There was also expired food including cheese sticks, three kinds of soda syrup and three different kinds of milk.
There was old, dried food on soda nozzles and excessively dirty floors, including a discarded cigarette butt.
"Everything was under control," said Cazares. "It's just that they saw some (roaches) and just because they were like, shocked, like it was not a lot. They just wanted to close it down."
Golden Market reopened September 28 with a three-demerit A grade.
Another closure came where locals and tourists alike stop for a bite when leaving town or coming home.
It's a place that was infested with cockroaches, which is hardly the way to welcome anyone to fabulous Las Vegas.
On September 24, health inspectors substantiated a complaint for gross unsanitary conditions after finding cockroaches, crickets and flies at the combination Kentucky Fried Chicken/Taco Bell on Las Vegas Boulevard in Primm.
And how's this for the ultimate irony? The inspector saw a roach crawl out from the pest control binder!
It headed onto a cutting board and then out of sight.
There were dead insects on floors and shelves with to-go boxes and containers and excess dirty, greasy build-up on floors, walls and surfaces throughout the facility.
Brown sludge was leaking out from under the soda machine.
Open pickles were contaminated with bits of cheese and a rusty-colored substance.
KFC/Taco Bell reopened October 2 with a 0-demerit A grade.
The manager had no comment on the closure.
The roach parade continued at Cafe Pan 2 in the Grand Canal Food Court at the Venetian.
It was shut down September 27.
Inspectors following up on a complaint about roaches did indeed find live and dead multi-generational cockroaches throughout the kitchen, including on shelves beneath the salad bar and on top of the meat slicer.
There was heavy brown mold on soda nozzles and heavy grease build-up and dried food debris throughout the facility.
They had a record of having pest control service the day before, but the inspector had to remind them that effective pest control measures include cleaning, getting rid of food debris and standing water and sealing holes where pests can enter.
Cafe Pan's general manager said that fact that they'd had pest control treatment the day before shows they were on top of the problem.
He emphasized that the violations had nothing to do with food.
He blamed the restaurant next door, with whom they share a wall, for being part of the infestation problem and said he believes they are responsible for complaining about him to the Health District.
He said he wants to be sure they're doing everything right moving forward, so he asked the Health District to increase its inspections of his restaurant for the next three months.
Cafe Pan 2 reopened September 29 with a three-demerit A grade.
Another imminent health hazard was the bar at Tommy Bahama in Town Square.
It was shut down September 26 after inspectors following up on a complaint found no hot water at the bar and in the men's restroom.
They also saw the Special Events manager using bare hands to tear mint leaves for garnishes on customer drinks.
Tommy Bahama's bar was reinspected and reopened October 2 with a 0-demerit A grade.
Rob Goldberg, EVP of Tommy Bahama restaurants sent the following statement:
“The health and safety of our guests and employees is our highest priority. Unfortunately, we recently had a hot water pipe burst at the Town Square Las Vegas Tommy Bahama. We took swift and remedial action, closing the bar that was impacted by the broken pipe and bringing in a team to correct the situation. We worked in full cooperation with the Heath District to make all necessary repairs.
The work was completed, the premises were re-inspected and approved by the Health District to reopen.
Tommy Bahama is dedicated to ensuring full compliance with all requirements of the Southern Nevada Health District and have received an A rating on prior inspections. We are pleased we were able to resolve this situation quickly. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our guests.”
Documents from the Southern Nevada Health District
Golden Market inspection report
