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Weera Thai owner apologizes for Dirty Dining debacle

Posted at 10:45 PM, Mar 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-29 03:04:36-04

Contact 13's Dirty Dining segment is a public service we provide here at 13 Action News to let you know which restaurants are falling short when it comes to protecting public health and following Health District regulations. 

In a recent report, Darcy Spears and her photographer were prevented from getting the restaurant's side of the story. When the owner of Weera Thai near Sahara Avenue and Arville Street found out what happened, she asked for a second chance.

RELATED: Dirty Dining confrontation outside Weera Thai

The door was blocked by two men who called themselves "volunteer bouncers."

Contact 13 went back to Weera Thai because the owner asked us to return so she could apologize not only to us, but also to the dining public.

"I want to have another chance to apologize and say sorry to Darcy and sorry to everyone," said Sasi Phothidokmai.

Weera Thai's owner says she had no idea what was going on outside her restaurant's front door.

"I feel sad, I feel bad, like I need to do something," Phothidokmai said.

What she did was ask us to give her the chance to explain why these two men were there in the first place.

"We used to know them and we helped them, so, I don't know, some idea pop up but I know is bad idea," Phothidokmai said. "I don't know. I'm so sorry about that."

She says the men weren't supposed to talk to us at all, nor were supposed to physically block people from coming in.

"No, they have to tell us that you are coming so we get ready to come to you and talk to you, but they go too far and some of my employees, they too nervous and didn't know what to do," Phothidokmai said.

So the nervous employees locked us out and locked customers in.

Phothidokmai and her husband, Peter, own the restaurant together, but weren't there the day we came to get their side of the story.

One of the men shoved Tim Moulson's business card into our camera, saying, "Call their lawyer."

Moulson is not a lawyer. He's the restaurant's food safety consultant.

"When her and Peter aren't here, things don't go so smooth. Obviously she wanted to say what she had to say to you folks. And that didn't happen. So, I was kind of appalled."

When Phothidokmai and her husband tried to find out why things went so wrong with the men, "they disappear. They don't come here no more. No contact," she said.

Moulson says he advises all his clients to address health code violations and the media head on.

"They should be proud of what they're doing rather than saying, 'Oh, don't come in.' Yeah, we did have a problem but we've corrected it."

As for Weera Thai's customers, Phothidokmai said, "They said for having C grade, they understand about the health code violations, but they don't understand about those two men who make my restaurant upside down and I just want to say sorry and apologize to everyone."