Violations force closure of Clearwater's Kobe Steakhouse
A diner saw a live roach and that report led to the closure of the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse in Clearwater.
Clearwater, Florida — It's not just the food customers love about hibachi-style dining. For many it's also the showmanship!
"That's the fun part of it," said customer Shelly Sylvester on her way into the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse on U.S. 19 in Clearwater. "That's what makes it a fun event and yet and entertaining time with your family."
But it was this restaurant's performance on their latest health inspection now leaving some guests looking for a new place to eat.
The Kobe Japanese Steakhouse on U.S. 19 in Clearwater was shut down as an emergency closure Feb. 5 with 21 violations including a dishwasher not sanitizing properly, slime accumulating on the soda gun holster and live roaches throughout the kitchen including 5 inside the dish machine control box, 3 under the hand washing sink and another 10 inside the servers' station.
Health inspectors first discovered all the problems after receiving a complaint Feb. 3 from a customer who reported witnessing "a live roach crawl on the top of her table."
READ:Consumer complaint
READ:Stop sale order on noodles
10 Investigates stopped in and asked for permission to check the kitchen to see if conditions had improved.
"No, we cannot do that right now. I'm so sorry about that," said manager Newton Phung "We did take care of some stuff already. But right now I can't talk further than that."
Phung also said he wasn't allowed to show us a copy of the restaurant's health inspection report, something every restaurant must provide to those who ask.
"We do but the thing is I cannot show that to you. My hands are tied on that," said Phung.
We had to obtain our copy of the inspection report from the state and shared the full list of violations with customers.
"Wooh, that's not good," said Sylvester after hearing the list of violations. "I don't think we'll be eating here."
Perhaps most disturbing of all was the restaurant's stop sale on 80 pounds of cooked noodles not properly cooled from the night before, a temperature violation that could lead to food-borne illness.
"Beau … I just lost my appetite," said Sylvester.
CHECK FIRST:Find inspections of your restaurants
The Kobe Japanese Steakhouse was cleared to reopen the day after their emergency closure.
LEARN MORE:Past Restaurant Red Alert reports
They emailed us this written statement.
"We are absolutely committed to serving only safe, high quality food and we immediately worked closely with the health department to correct the issues identified at our Clearwater restaurant. We have retrained our managers and entire kitchen staff at the restaurant, repaired equipment and brought in a third party vendor to ensure all of our high operating standards are upheld moving forward." --Rick Van Warner, Spokesperson for Kobe Japanese Steakhouse
