Health Inspectors Fry KFC for Sewage Leaks

By John Linn Tue., Oct. 26 2010 at 10:14 AM

Categories: Health Hazard, The Inspector

Health inspectors have been busy little bees over the past month, tracking down kitchen nightmares like Gordon Ramsay on a coke binge. Their latest haul: a KFC location in Oakland Park that found itself in deep water -- literally.

Want to check out restaurant records for yourself? Search the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation database at myfloridalicense.com/dbpr.

More filthy restaurant stories after the cut.

So about that KFC: I'm not sure if this is part of the Colonel's secret recipe, but the Kentucky Fried Chicken at 4098 N. Andrews Ave. in Oakland Park has some serious sewage problems.

On October 19, inspectors found greywater backing up out of several floor drains in the restaurant. That wastewater was being tracked throughout the kitchen by employees; it even found its way into the parking lot.

It sounds like a septic issue, but it's not really as nasty as you might think. Greywater differs from what industry peeps call blackwater, which is water from toilets and food disposals. The stuff found floating around at KFC is basically dishwater or wash water -- it's probably not super clean, but it's not as bad as what happened at this local restaurant a few months back.

Elsewhere in Inspectionville:

The Hilton Fort Lauderdale (505 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale) was given a slap in late September for giving room and board to roaches. The hotel's Meeting Room Pantry was temporarily closed on September 29 for live roach activity in the reach-in cooler; apparently the bugs were nesting in a broom kept there. The problem was corrected, and the pantry reopened for boardroom business the following day.

Denny's #7642 in Lake Worth (6946 W. Lake Worth Road) was closed on October 19 for "unlicensed activity." The restaurant is in the application process at the moment.

The reason I don't eat at Chinese buffets: King's Super Buffet in Lauderhill (7101 W. Oakland Park Blvd.), which racked up 12 critical violations on October 5. Those include dead and live roaches found chilling in storage, rodent droppings in the electrical room, slime buildup in the ice machine, improperly stored food, and "objectionable odors" in the employee bathroom. Sounds like someone's been eating too much beef with broccoli...

Snappers Fish & Chicken (600 W. Hammondville Road, Pompano Beach) is dealing with rats. It was closed on October 13 for rodent activity, which basically means fresh droppings found throughout the restaurant, including one dead mouse in dry storage. Inspectors found some other dirty habits, including hand-washing gaffs and storing raw chicken above cooked seafood in the coolers. The restaurant had a follow-up inspection the next day and reopened for business.