Arlington health inspectors have cited all but one of the Pentagon City Mall’s roughly 30 eateries for critical health violations, and recent rodent and cockroach sightings have diners’ stomachs churning.
Health officials observed violations ranging from roaches to improper hand washing, according to Arlington’s health inspection reports. And one of the mall’s night-shift employees recently used a cell phone to record mice running around the food court near the Yogen Fruz frozen yogurt stand, according to a Channel 7 report.
Yogen Fruz is the only eatery in the mall that health inspectors have not cited for violations, say health department records.
“If the mall and the food court has a problem, we shouldn’t be blamed for that,” said Munier Afshar, owner of Yogen Fruz, who emphasized his business’ clean bill of health.
Diners weren’t happy to hear about the food court’s unwelcome guests.
“I probably won’t eat here for a while, that’s disgusting,” said Jessica Ragland, 22, while sitting at the food court Thursday.
Other mall patrons agreed.
“The health department needs to get out here and find the source,” said Mel Ambrose, 68, a Missouri resident in town for a visit.
Mice aren’t the mall’s only pests.
An Arlington health inspector observed a live cockroach at the Kabuki Sushi eatery during a June 7 inspection, according to Arlington’s inspection records.
But health officials haven’t closed down Kabuki Sushi or any of the mall’s other food establishments.
“Rodents and pests aren’t uncommon in urban areas,” said Erica Thompson, Arlington’s environmental health department supervisor. “We investigate every complaint, and if there’s a public health issue we take action.”
Thompson said the county’s health inspectors responded immediately to the mouse sighting. But no rodents were spotted during the inspection, and so no restaurants were closed down, temporarily or otherwise.
Thompson said Arlington’s health department was working with mall management and the restaurant owners to prevent pests from returning.
“When you have a large property like this, from time to time you’re going to have mice,” said Todd Jerscheid, a director in the mall’s management office. “But we worked through the evening with our pest control services and we addressed [the problem].”
Sung Cha, a manager at Kabuki Sushi, said his restaurant’s staff worked hard to control pests of all kinds.
“It’s almost impossible to keep out all bugs and mice, but you do your best,” Cha said.
