More vermin problems at Ceres restaurant

A food safety inspector on Monday found rodent droppings along with live and dead roaches in Teriyaki King, which has been closed since April 1 because of a bug infestation.

The eatery at 1600 E. Hatch Road has suffered three temporary closures along with permit suspensions in the past nine months, all citing roaches and other sanitation violations.

A Stanislaus County Department of Environmental Health inspector closed the restaurant April 1, a day after a customer reported finding a roach in his drink, and ordered Teriyaki King to seal gaps and produce a pest control plan before applying to reopen.

The restaurant asked for follow-up inspections Friday and Monday but failed both when more bugs were detected. On Monday, an inspector reported “live cockroaches in the dining area,” as well as “dead cockroaches and rodent feces” in spaces beneath multiple booth seats.

Dead roaches were found elsewhere; a young roach “walking in the restroom on the counter of the hand wash sink” indicates that pest control treatment has not interrupted the “breeding cycle,” the inspector’s report says. The owner told the inspector that a pest control company had visited only once since the restaurant was forced to close last week.

New written orders require that Teriyaki King clean and seal booth enclosures, prove that the restaurant has a pest control contract and produce its roach control plan “before calling for (another) reopening inspection.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 12:13 PM with the headline "More vermin problems at Ceres restaurant."