Here is a partial list of restaurants and other food facilities that Riverside County Department of Environmental Health inspectors temporarily shut down because of imminent health hazards between June 10 and June 30, 2022. If no reopening date is mentioned, the department had not listed that facility as reopened as of this publication.
Pho TYC, 32475 Clinton Keith Road Suite 107, Wildomar
- Closed: June 28
- Grade: 92/A, passing (issued after reopening)
- Reason: No hot water. Among other violations, the inspector saw several dead cockroaches, including in a pot on the stove, and the facility needed cleaning. The restaurant was told to call pest control as soon as possible.
- Reopened: Later that day after hot water was restored
Food area of 7-Eleven, 725 E. Grand Blvd., Corona
- Closed: June 21
- Grade: 90/A, passing
- Reason: Rodent infestation. The inspector saw two live rodents near where bagged ice was stored, and numerous droppings throughout the store, including in a cabinet storing condiment packages.
- Reopened: June 23
Jilberto’s Mexican Food, 27523 Ynez Road, Temecula
- Closed: June 16
- Grade: 75/C, failing
- Reason: Cockroach infestation. The inspector found numerous roaches behind a cork board. There were also a “significant number” of flies inside, from the dining room to the prep area. Other violations that the restaurant was told it had to fix before reopening were increasing the hot water temperature, fixing a refrigerator that was impounded, having the air conditioning and exhaust hood checked (it was 90 degrees in the kitchen), cleaning all surfaces and keeping all food covered. The restaurant was also told to stop keeping refried beans outside temperature control (a repeated violation) or face fines.
- Reopened: June 21 after two visits from pest control. The water still wasn’t quite hot enough so another follow-up was planned.
- New grade: 93/A, passing
Raincross Pub & Kitchen, 3557 University Ave., Riverside
- Closed: June 16
- Grade: 77/C, failing
- Reason: Rodent infestation, nonfunctional dishwashing sink. The inspector saw “copious amounts of rodent droppings” in the pizza oven, under cooking equipment and in an equipment storage area. Pest control receipts showed there had been rodent activity from January through May, but none was found in a June 8 visit. Also, the sink for manual dishwashing had a severe leak. Among other violations, there were numerous fruit flies in the bar areas, a prep cooler was impounded for not keeping cold, a cutting board was stored on the floor near rodent droppings, the pizza oven’s mechanical cover was broken, wastewater was draining onto the floor in the upstairs bar and several areas needed cleaning. This was the restaurant’s second failed inspection and closure in two years (it was shut down for a wastewater backup in September 2020) so it was scheduled for an administrative hearing.
- Reopened: June 17
- New grade: 96/A, passing, on June 23
Reid Park Snack Bar #1, 701 N. Orange St., Riverside
- Closed: June 16
- Grade: 85/B, failing
- Reason: Rodent infestation. The inspector saw droppings “too numerous to count” on packaged foods and shelves, in boxes and on the floor in a storage room. Packages of sunflower seeds had also been gnawed open. There was also an “excessive” number of flies.
Worthington’s, 3587 University Ave., Riverside
- Closed: June 16
- Grade: 85/B, failing
- Reason: Rodent infestation. The inspector saw rodent droppings on the floors throughout the facility, as well as on top of the dish machine’s sanitizer bucket. There were also fruit flies in the kitchen.
- Reopened: June 17
- New grade: 94/A, passing, on June 24. There were still some flies in the floor sinks.
AT Properties/Shell Gas, 23255 Temescal Canyon Road, Corona
- Closed: June 14
- Grade: 83/B, failing
- Reason: Rodent infestation. The inspector found numerous rodent droppings throughout the building, including inside a hot-holding unit that was stocked with food, on top of open single-service utensils, in contact with cups and lids, on soda syrup boxes and on the floors.
- Reopened: June 16; the inspector found one rodent dropping in a cabinet and told the station to continue getting pest control service; the area was immediately cleaned.
- New grade: 93/A, passing
Maverick Steak House, 3841 Hamner Ave., Norco
- Closed: June 13
- Grade: 74/C, failing
- Reason: Rodent infestation. The inspector noted “extensive rodent activity” with droppings throughout the facility. The restaurant was also instructed not to put rodent traps on shelves holding food and utensils. Both of those were critical violations, and there was a third, for the kitchen handwashing sink being nonoperational. Among the 11 other violations, utensils had been put away dirty and there was mold in the ice machine.
- Reopened: June 16
- New grade: 99/A, passing
Non-closure inspections of note
Here are selected inspections at facilities that weren’t closed but had significant issues.
The restaurant at Desert Falls Country Club, at 1111 Desert Falls Parkway in Palm Desert, was inspected June 22 and received a failing grade of 80/B with one critical violation. Dishes and other surfaces weren’t being sanitized. Among the 11 other violations, the inspector saw a live cockroach in a walk-in cooler and two dead roaches in other locations, meat and cheese were at unsafe temperatures in a cook-line fridge, the bar area didn’t have hot water, the women’s restroom didn’t have cold water and there was a long list of items that needed cleaning and repair. On June 29, the restaurant passed a follow-up inspection with a 97/A.
The restaurant at Terra Lago Golf Club, at 84000 Terra Lago Parkway in Indio, was inspected June 20 and received a failing grade of 82/B with one critical violation. The inspector saw rodent droppings on top of the food prep sink, on the back of a unit for holding hot food and on the floors, and noted rodent and cockroach traps in the kitchen and bar areas, as well as dead flies in the bar area. Among the 10 other violations, some food wasn’t being kept hot, there was pink mold in the ice machine and equipment, floors and walls needed cleaning. On June 23, the restaurant passed a follow-up inspection with a 94/A.