OREGON, Ohio — A local Chinese restaurant has closed its doors after the Lucas County Health Department cited the establishment over its leaking roof.
Health department officials said they ordered Empire Chinese Restaurant, 2502 Navarre Ave., to close after a Jan. 24 inspection yielded five critical and 10 noncritical violations.
Critical errors can lead to food contamination and illness according to the health department. But noncritical violations can affect the daily operation of the facility.
“We try to work with the operators and educate them, build awareness, get them up to snuff, per se, on what they're doing on their restaurant to make sure that it is a safe and healthy place for people to eat," said Shannon Lands, interim director of the health department.
Efforts to reach restaurant owners for comment were unsuccessful.
“Our inspector continued to go throughout the facility and saw that there was water in the walk-in cooler, and then also in the basement, which needs to be addressed immediately,” Lands said.
In six inspection reports dating back to Sept. 14, 2021, the health department has cited the restaurant over the roof issue That roof, according to inspectors, has led to visible water leaks and ceiling tiles falling from the ceiling.
The health department said water leaking from the ceiling could cross-contaminate with food served to the public.
“We put the onus back onto the operator,” Lands said. “When you are ready for operations, give us a call, we'll go out do a re-inspection and then have that conversation to see if they are ready to go and be open again for business.”
WTOL 11 visited the restaurant to speak to the owner—the building was empty. There was a sign in the front door for UPS drivers to call with packages—-we got no response when we called that number.
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