PITTSBURGH,None — We returned to four popular restaurants that made headlines this year because inspectors found they had problems with rodents or roaches that were serious enough for the health department to step in.
In early May, the Allegheny County Health Department issued a warning after finding more than 350 mouse droppings at Claddagh Irish Pub in the South Side Works.
Within a few days, the violations were corrected, and when an inspector returned there were no mice.
"Claddagh is in very good shape now,” said Steve Steingart, the head of the Food Safety Program with the health department.
But the bad publicity was a stinging blow to the business. I recently had a conversation with a corporate manager who told me, "At the time it was terrible for us, hugely damaging." Business is better now, but Claddagh is still trying to recover.
That same week, the health department shut Tusca down.
An inspector found more than 1,100 mouse droppings, along with 10 dead mice. The health department said it was one of the worst infestations they'd ever seen.
Tusca reopened after passing inspection a few days later, but the damage had been done. The restaurant closed for good a month later. When employees went to pick up their paychecks, they discovered the locks had been changed, and the owner wasn’t answering his phone.
"It was a very unique situation at Tusca, a very unique situation that somebody would just walk away from the business," said Steingart.There's even a sticker on the door left by a rental company that wants its dishwashing equipment back.
In June, an inspector found another restaurant infested with mice. This time it was the Sichuan House in Mt. Lebanon, where they discovered 1,200 fresh mouse droppings, along with four dead mice and approximately 30 dead cockroaches.
"They took care of it right away. We did an inspection within a few days and they took care of it right away," said Steingart.
The restaurant is being renovated and is adding a sushi bar. It's also changing its name to the Red Tea House.
In September, an inspector found roaches at The Lemon Grass Cafe in downtown Pittsburgh. The manager told me, since then, business has dropped by 60 percent.
"We clean everything up and we pass inspection. Matter of fact, they came not once but twice in the period of 60 days and we pass every one of them,” said Bo Meng, the son of the owner of The Lemon Grass Café.
Bo Meng showed me around the spotless kitchen. He says their pest control company is now coming twice a week and that has made a huge difference.
I asked, "So the bugs are all gone? There's no issue now?" Meng responded, "There's no issue."
The Lemon Grass Cafe is a family-run business. They welcomed us in because they want customers to know they've taken care of the violations and have passed two recent inspections.
The health department doesn't like closing restaurants, because that can be a death sentence to a business, but it's the agency's job to protect the public.
The head of food safety told me, they're going to do whatever needs to be done to make sure the public is safe.