I stopped by Dude's Chicken on Belmont today and placed my order at 12:29 PM. Around 12:45 PM, while I was sitting in the waiting area waiting for my food, I looked toward the cash register and saw a medium-sized baby roach crawling across the wall in broad daylight.
When I first pointed it out to the staff, they initially tried to ignore what I was saying. After a moment, they turned around, looked, and finally acknowledged that the roach was there. Instead of treating it like an urgent issue, I was met with excuse after excuse. I was told they had just moved into the location, that they were only on the third phase of spray treatment, and that they were working on the problem. Regardless of the reason, customers should not be seeing roaches crawling around while waiting for their food.
By that point, I was already uncomfortable because I had been watching what was happening behind the counter. I noticed some employees handling food without gloves, while another employee wearing gloves repeatedly scratched their nose with those same gloves and continued working without changing them. That is not the level of cleanliness or food handling customers expect when ordering a meal.
Between seeing a roach in the dining area, the questionable food-handling practices, and the number of excuses that were offered instead of genuine concern, I completely lost my appetite. Although they refunded my money, that doesn't change the experience I had.
Cleanliness and sanitation should never be optional in a restaurant. Based on what I personally witnessed today, management has serious cleanliness issues that need to be addressed immediately. I sincerely hope they take the necessary steps to improve their pest control, food safety practices, and overall sanitation before more customers have a similar experience. read more