Rats at Romano's: Restaurant Inspection Report

Romano's Macaroni Grill in Boca Raton; image by Google
Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Boca Raton; image by Google

Romano’s Macaroni Grill was temporarily closed on Friday because of rodent droppings. This is the second bad inspection for Romano’s this summer. In July they were also temporarily closed for rodent droppings with a total of 48 violations.
The good news this time is that there were only nine total violations. But three were high priority and one of those was a doozy.

  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Rice 45°, cheese 53°, onions 52°, capers 52°, cooked chicken 51°, cut tomatoes 51°, butter 57°. Salad cooler next to hand washing sink. Manager stated moved food to cooler less than 4 hours. Stated he moved food to cooler at 12:00pm. Reachin cooler by stove, broccoli rabe 55°, butter 55°, cheese 52°, cut leafy greens 52°. In cooler less than 4 hours. Manager opted to discard. **Corrective Action Taken** **Repeat Violation**
  • Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in reach-in cooler, raw chicken over raw beef in reach in cooler. **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation**
  • Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found, 2 fresh under table near ice machine. 3 fresh in prep room under table where slicer is located. 3 dry under prep table on cookline. Approximately 10 fresh in dry storage. **Repeat Violation**

Romano’s is on the west side of Military Trail just north of Glades Road.
Other notable inspections include:
Hunan City (Yamato between 441 and Lyons, near Doris Market) with 27 total violations. Only 2 were marked high priority and there were no emergency orders or callbacks required. Casa L’Italien in the same plaza had 12 violations.
Henry’s on Jog Road in Delray Beach (north of Clint Moore and across from the Morikami) with 23 violations including 5 high priority and a warning.
Meza on Yamato (near Congress and the train station) had 18 violations including 3 high priority and a warning. They had 20 violations in an earlier report this month.
Villa Rosano (Clint Moore near 441) had 16 violations, though only two were high priority.
Cannoli Kitchen on Powerline had 11 violations, with only one high priority.
On the south side of Yamato near Broken Sound, Palm Beach Bagel had 12 violations and Miller’s Ale House had 11.
On the relatively good side, the best of the week was Burger King on Glades Road near the Turnpike, with only one minor violation. Brendy’s Yogurt on Clint Moore at Jog also had one violation.
Two violations

  • The “Yogurt and Ice Cream” place on Yamato west of 441 (we didn’t even know it was there)
  • Chuck E Cheese on 441 near Target
  • Wendy’s in Loggers Run Plaza
  • Sweet Tomatoes on Beracasa Way

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Our spreadsheet for this report is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/9-2-2015-inspections.pdf”]

48 Violations at Romano's: East Boca Inspections

Romano's Macaroni Grill in Boca Raton; image by Google
Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Boca Raton; image by Google

Romano’s Macaroni Grill was hit with 48 violations in an early July inspection and the restaurant was temporarily closed. Seven of the violations were “high priority” and included insects and rodents:

  • Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cooked/heated yesterday/on a previous day not cooled from 135 degrees Fahrenheit to 41 degrees Fahrenheit within a total of 6 hours. Food has been cooling overnight. Cooked potatoes cooling overnight between 47° F and 50° F at walkin cooler. See stop sale. Food discarded. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Presence of insects, rodents, or other pests. Ants in rear prep area by slicer and flour bin and in frontline area by dessert storage cooler.
  • Raw animal food stored in top portion of make table over ready-to-eat food in bottom portion of make table _ no complete physical barrier between top and bottom. Raw scallops over sauces at make table top where drippings from scallops may contaminate sauces. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 15 fresh and 5 dry rodent droppings in rear prep/ dishwashing area and 3 fresh and 2 dry rodent droppings on table tops in dining room area.
  • Small flying insects in dishwashing area.
  • Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse. Cooked potatoes cooling overnight between 47° F and 50° F at walkin cooler. Food discarded. **Corrected On-Site**

On the bright side they had a near-perfect inspection the next day and reopened. They also had an additional inspection two weeks later which was also good with only five minor violations.
The next worst in this report is Chinese restaurant Sieng House, which is south of Camino Real just west of Dixie Highway. They had 19 total violations (4 high priority) and there were three more inspections within ten days. It looks like there was a persistent problem with food temperatures but their final inspection was perfect.
High numbers were also reported for four restaurants in and near Royal Palm Plaza. Ichiyami Buffet, Gluttonous Goat, Yakitori Sake House and Biergarten each had 16 violations from late May through early June.
The best inspections in this report go to Seasons 52 (near Town Center) and The Wick Theatre which were both perfect. The Wick’s dining service is now headed by our favorite local chef, William Walden, formerly of Bistro Gastronomie.

Chef William Walden from The Wick
Chef William Walden from The Wick

Villagio in Mizner Park shows up in our spreadsheet (below) but we already covered that inspection as an update to our May inspection report for East Boca.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/eastboca-july-2015.pdf”]