SAN ANTONIO - You probably spend more time looking at a restaurant's menu than you do looking around to see if the place is clean. While most restaurants are clean, there are a few here that have been caught with some serious health code violations. News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister found the five filthiest places to eat.
The health department receives numerous complaints from people who get sick after eating out. That is why it is so important for county health inspectors to inspect your favorite eateries, to make sure they're clean.
"It was horrible," said frequent diner Gina Rinas.
After eating out at one of her favorite restaurants, Gina Rinas became violently ill. She got so sick she lost consciousness while calling for help.
"The last thing I remember is saying something is very wrong with me," said Rinas.
She was rushed to the emergency room where doctors struggled to save her life. She found out later she got a rare form of dysentery because a restaurant employee didn't wash their hands after using the restroom.
"If what they're showing you out in the front of the restaurant is not clean, imagine what you cannot see," said Rinas.
Restaurant health inspections can give you a good idea of problems you might not see, so the Trouble Shooters went through every inspection for the past year, October 1 2008 to September 30th 2009, to find the restaurants with the highest number of demerits.
Each restaurant on our list was inspected at least three times over that time frame. Each place received at least one poor score of 30 or more demerits. Thirty demerits is considered a poor score according to the health department.
First on the list with 79 total demerits is Teran's Cafe on East Houston. Teran's was cited for having rice and ham with mold and food in the walk-in cooler kept at an unsafe temperature. The health inspector also made the restaurant throw out 10 pounds of food that he determined had gone bad.
The owner of Teran's let us in their kitchen to prove they keep it clean.
She also sent us a statement. In it she says, "To date, this has been the first and last failing score the establishment has encountered in the 21 years of business ... Action was taken to improve all violations. Four days later ... A follow up inspection was conducted in which the inspector made a comment of 'excellent job!'"
Next, we have a tie, two restaurants with 80 total demerits each.
Taqueria Los Dos Laredos on Rigsby near 410 South was ordered to throw out 40 pounds of food that had been left out. The inspector also spotted flies and gnats in the restaurant. The manager had no comment and refused to let us see the kitchen.
Johnny's Mexican Food Restaurant on North New Braunfels near I-35 was cited for having Raid pesticide in the kitchen, flies and the inspector noticed employees weren't washing their hands after handling raw meat.
The manager says they had problems in the past and even let us in to see the kitchen and dining room of this restaurant and the one right next door Johnny's Seafood Restaurant which earned 90 total demerits.
The inspector found debris in the salt and tomatoes with mold. He also found gnats and roaches. While we were there, we noticed flies at both restaurants but Johnny blames the bugs on the recent rain and time of the year.
At the top of the list is The Little Red Barn on South Hackberry with 115 demerits. Inspectors have cited the restaurant for gnats, employees not washing their hands, improper food temperatures and water leaking through the ceiling into the ice machine.
In its health department file we even found a picture of a rat in the kitchen.
"The health department, while we were in the middle of many construction issues, had some issues with our kitchen. So we took a very proactive approach. In fact i'd like to show you some of the accomplishments we were able to make," said owner Sandra Gonzalez.
Gonzalez's family has proudly owned The Little Red Barn for more than 40 years. She says the problems were because of a massive three-year overhaul of the aging building which is now complete.
"All of the equipment you can see here was removed. We broke through the concrete floor. We leveled it and poured a new concrete floor. Every piece of was cleaned, repaired or replaced," said Gonzalez.
As for how the rat got into the kitchen, Gonzalez says, "During construction there were parts of the facility that were exposed. Like many construction sites, we found this problem. I can tell you that we have covered the restaurant inside and out and ensured every possible opening has been protected. We feel very confident this is under control."
Under control and in the past is what they hope all their customers will understand.
"We are very proud of having been a part of this community for the past 46 years, we have every intention of being here another 46 years." said Gonzalez.
We also found four restaurants with three perfect scores for the year. The restaurants that had no demerits over three inspections for the same time frame as the filthy five are Papasito's on I-10, P.F.Chang's in The Shops of La Cantera, Angie's on Rittiman and Pizza Hut on Babcock and Prue.
