LAS VEGAS (KTNV) – Singing the blues. It was like that in July at the M&M Soul Food Cafe.
Now the song remains the same, but the owner has no interest in an encore, telling us he has no comment on his restaurant’s latest downgrade.
A combination of the highest demerits, looming health risks, and failed inspections led the M&M Soul Food name to make its fourth appearance on Dirty Dining.
This is the second time for the location on Las Vegas Boulevard near Sahara Avenue.
He received a C demerit score of 36 during a routine inspection on August 22.
But what is different this time is that an employee filed a complaint with the health district that he deemed valid.
The complainant told the health district that the kitchen workers did not use gloves and touch raw chicken, catfish and pork chops without washing their hands between them.
The employee also complained about cockroaches, without a manager, and said that when the health district ordered the compromised food to be thrown in the trash, the employees later took it out of the trash and put it back in the refrigerator.
The inspectors did not validate this part of the complaint because they did not see it happen.
But they saw improper hand washing and cockroaches. And there was no manager or manager when they arrived, which was also the case during our visit.
Inspectors also found spoiled greens, a glove box stored on ready-to-eat fried chicken, and dirty kitchen utensils in a clean area.
There were multigenerational cockroaches alive near the entrance to the dry storage area and inspectors noted repeated violation for gaps in the exterior kitchen door giving the bugs a way in.
Hot water was intentionally cut off at the only sink in the kitchen due to a leak.
Fried chicken stored at unsafe temperatures on a shelf under the raw chicken had to be thrown away, as did several half and half containers that were at room temperature.
The utensils were in standing water and there was no disinfectant solution in place. All the sanitizer buckets were empty, including the one from the raw chicken prep station.
M&M was supposed to organize a meeting before August 13 with a food security consultant and the health district, but did not do so.
The restaurant regained the A zero demerit rating on August 27.
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Further south on the Strip, the Ocean One Bar & Grille restaurant at Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile stores was closed on August 23 for a multi-generation cockroach infestation.
The health district received two separate complaints from customers about cockroaches found in food on August 20.
Inspectors also saw a bag of eggs and dead cockroaches at the pastry station, server station and dishwashing area, as well as dirty drains, walls and cutting boards.
Ocean One was back at an A rating of nine demerits on August 26.
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And just off the Strip on Tropicana, more multigenerational cockroaches caused the imminent closure of health hazards in the washing area of the Hooters hotel casino on August 21. There were also a lot of fruit flies, house flies and very dirty walls.
This area at Hooters had reverted to a zero demerit A on August 23.
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And there has been another impending health risk closure at the Full House Filipino BBQ on Maryland Parkway near Silverado Ranch.
It was closed on August 20 for lack of hot water.
Inspectors also found meat that had expired 12 days ago and flan that had expired nine days ago.
That, plus mold in the ice maker, more mold on the soda nozzle and old food on the diced cup.
Full House was back to a zero demerit rating the next day.
Chief Alex Irlandes said he was unaware it was supposed to shut off automatically when hot water came on and that they had already called a technician when the health inspector showed up.
He described the rest of the violations as routine and nothing serious, adding that his small family-run restaurant worked hard to stay afloat and that they cared a lot about cleanliness.
Click here to view the M&M Soul Food Café health check
Click here to see the Full House BBQ health check
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