Roaches, broken pipe: Restaurant closures, inspections in San Bernardino County, Sept. 10-16

Here are the restaurants and other food facilities that San Bernardino County health inspectors temporarily shut down because of imminent health hazards between Sept. 10 and 16, 2021. If no reopening date is mentioned, the agency had not listed that facility as reopened as of this publication.

Golden Chopstix, 12119 Apple Valley Road, Apple Valley

• Closed: Sept. 16
• Grade: Not graded
• Reason: Cockroach infestation. An inspector visited in response to two complaints from people who said they saw roaches on a wall and in a to-go bag. The inspector saw live roaches under the steam table by the cash register, under a prep sink and by a prep table, as well as dead roaches in an office and storage area. The restaurant had also been closed Sept. 7-8 because of a cockroach infestation.

McDonald’s, 100 E. Redlands Blvd., San Bernardino

• Closed: Sept. 14
• Grade: Not graded
• Reason: Broken water pipe
• Reopened: Later that day after the pipe was repaired

Tijuana’s Tacos, 1702 S. Euclid Ave., Ontario

• Closed: Sept. 10
• Grade: 94/A
• Reason: Cockroach infestation. The inspector saw about 10-15 live roaches near the soda syrup boxes and under the steam table, and another 30-50 dead roaches near the soda syrup boxes. The restaurant was shut down for a few days last November for the same reason.
• Reopened: Sept. 11; an inspector returned Sept. 13 and saw no live or dead roaches

Non-closure inspections of note

Here are selected inspections at facilities that weren’t closed but had other significant issues.

Tacos La Calidad, at 1754 S. Euclid Ave. in Ontario, was inspected Sept. 10 and received a grade of 80/B with two critical violations. A fly landed on raw chicken, and an employee washed hands without soap. Among the nine other violations, in addition to the several flies in the kitchen, the inspector saw one dead cockroach and some rodent droppings in a storage area. A follow-up inspection was planned to make sure there wasn’t a roach or rodent infestation.

Updates from past weeks

The Dollar Tree at 13554 Main St. in Hesperia, whose permit to sell food and beverages has been suspended since April 13 because of a rodent infestation (and was suspended three other times in March), had the suspension continued once again Sept. 10. An inspector visited in response to a complaint that a shopper saw a rat run across the shelves. The inspector said the food aisles were roped off and shelves were “not completely stocked,” and reiterated in the report that food and beverage sales are not permitted. There were numerous rodent droppings in the warehouse and sticky traps set up throughout the warehouse and under shelves in the store. The manager said pest control is visiting every other week.

About this list

This list is published online on Fridays. Any updates as restaurants are reopened will be included in next week’s list.

All food facilities in the county are routinely inspected to ensure they meet health codes. A facility loses four points for each critical violation and one to three points for minor violations. An A grade (90 to 100 points) is considered “generally superior,” a B grade (80 to 89) is “generally acceptable” and a C grade (70 to 79) is “generally unacceptable” and requires a follow-up inspection. A facility will be temporarily closed if it scores below 70 or has a critical violation that can’t be corrected immediately.

For more information on inspections of these or any restaurants in San Bernardino County, visit www.sbcounty.gov/dph/ehsportal/FacilityList/food. To file a health complaint, go to www.sbcounty.gov/dph/ehsportal/StaticComplaint or call 800-442-2283.