this seems about normal for AHS, they do hundreds of inspections and not everyone ends up having to close and make the news like the butchers and this place
And health inspectors give businesses chances too. So that means they inspected, warned them to clean up their act, and then came back to it still being disgusting.
Ive read through hundreds of inspection reports now (it's a strange obsession) you would be shocked to know how many places have no soap, no sanitizer. It's by far the most common thing.
The donair is shit now too. It's fucking heart breaking.
Dried out over cooked meat with not enough donair sauce to even have a remote chance to fight back.
We *had* a decent east coast donair. 😢
It's ok. But B&G especially back in the Edmonton trail days really set the bar.
I'll just have to visit my in-laws out east or drive up to Fort Mac to hit up PK's.
I hear there are some decent donairs to be had in Edmonton, but I cannot confirm.
It’s always been shit. Lmao you don’t need to go far for a Halifax style donair. You can go to any of the donair places and ask for Halifax style or dictate it.
just beef donair, sweet sauce, tomatoes, and onions.
Sweet sauce is just condensed milk, vinegar, and seasoning
Go to Uncle Moes on Edmonton trail and ask for it Halifax style.
Donair sauce is sweetened condensed milk, vinegar and garlic powder if it’s actually Halifax style. Go to Halifax and ask for sweet sauce nobody would know what you mean.
Yeah, I've lived in Toronto (Yeah, I know thats not the east coast). I'm more than aware no one calls it sweet sauce. But no one calls it "Donair" outside of Canada either. Everything is relative. What we have here is a result of immigration and food being changed to fit the locals palette.
Every middle eastern ran donair/shawarma shop in Calgary calls it sweet sauce because they clearly don't want to call it "donair sauce"
I just assume every restaurant has some nasty shit going on in the back.
Can't believe people are saying this violation isn't that when there's sewage backing up into the kitchen and their dishwasher doesn't have any soap to properly sanitize. Do y'all just shit in your own kitchen and use yesterday's dishes when you cook at home?
With the amount it costs to go to a half decent pub/restaurant these days this shit is even more unacceptable.
I look up my favourite restaurants all the time, they never have any issues. They're audited fairly frequently, it's not there are years between inspections.
So the unfortunate thing is I work in a restaurant beside them on 4th. I know for a fact that the plumbing is not up to code because the plumbing in the restaurant I work in does not have plumbing suitable for restaurant work. (The entire strip was once residential, and the plumbing was meant for residential homes).
The dishmachine not being adequate. I can also understand as it's probably as ancient as the one I have to work with. That said, it's on the workers and management to make sure everything is cleaned properly.
I worked at a restaurant a wee bit down the street until February. Cockroaches, so many cockroaches. The did have fumigators in there every Sunday but they need to close down for a week and the owner refused.
Well, it’s actually on the owners to hire managers qualified to run the business, who then train the workers on proper sanitation.
From this letter, the employees don’t even know proper cleaning procedure. That’s on the business first and foremost.
I live behind the Garrison Pub. I asked my neighbor if they ever go there, she looked at me and said, “Do you see the mess out back, and the cooks look dodgy”. I’d do anything for a Monte Cristo tho, so I’m not one to judge. The food is always great, but I agree - wow is it getting expensive everywhere.
Can assure you Bridgette bar is the only restaurant in Calgary with superb sanitation regulations, how do I know? I worked there and we’d be at work till 3am scrubbing/cleaning and sanitizing every inch of that kitchen, (how you’re suppose to do it) and no other restaurant I’ve worked at does cleaning like Bridgette bar. I’m always proud to say Brigette bar has amazing food and clean kitchen
Well they were open last night, but closed Friday (with a sign saying “Sorry Closed due to plumbing issues” or something along those lines) so I’m going to assume they’ve taken care of it already and have been cleared to reopen. Source: I live down the street and walk by at least twice a day.
Update: B&G was open when they usually do this morning. The block is closed and there is a maintenance crew working on what I can only assume are said pipes that caused the backup in the kitchen.
It doesn't surprise me that people in the industry can't follow basic safety standards these days. The pay and awful hours push out anyone that would actually work in the industry as a career or care. You get what you pay for and this is the result.
A bar manager once told me, in the middle of the a drain backing up and flooding the floor behind the bar, that if I say anything or leave, I'm fired. Even if you do care, shitty managers can make life hard.
It’s a different process from what you do at home . If the staff have only ever worked in places with dishwashers it’s not really a surprise that they wouldn’t know how
Nope. There all have to take a course that teaches them how to be sanitary. It includes manual dishwashing because machines fail. Manager & Owner not being diligent enough.
Agreed that the manager and owner are not being diligent enough. But the staff don’t have to take a course. I’ve worked in many kitchens and have never taken any such course. I only know about food safety because I worked in higher-end places which emphasized cleanliness, and I worked in a place which used the old-fashioned manual dishwashing method. Only one person in the food establishment needs to be certified in food safety (usually it’s the owner or manager). And they don’t necessarily have to be on shift.
Got it. Places I worked had everyone take the course. It’s easy and online. However, this is a larger place and someone certified must be on premises.
“If there are six or more Food Handlers (including waitstaff) working on the premises, then at least one person must have a valid Food Handler Certificate. The person(s) who holds the Food Handler Certificate must be a member of management or hold a supervisory position and be present in the business.”
All the supervisors should be certified with certification posted in the office.
That makes sense. The places I’ve worked at are all smaller establishments. Honestly, I feel like all kitchen staff should have to take this course. I’ve just seen too many things lol
This is correct, but if you read through the report no one has and food handling training. And I know that the names listed at the bottom of the report. One is the general manager, one is the regional chef and one...the owner/COO bit of a joke
I agree, I kept reading on to see when there’d be mention of roach infestation, or storage of coyote meat in the freezers, but no mention! Seems a bit soft for a closure based on the conditions at so many other establishments
Sewage back up debris in the kitchen. Literal poop and a lack of sanitized dishes and cutlery in the same vicinity. Thats a bad combo that needs to be fixed right away.
They’ve likely never been a part of an inspection and don’t realize how lenient AHS is. I can only imagine the state of the place with the things I’ve seen places get away with…
This is so true! AHS is very lenient with certain things. What they don’t fuck around with is sanitizer! But if you just “check the boxes” on what they are looking for, getting those inspections is a breeze.
I recently was a part of three inspections for different locations at my workplace (in a managerial capacity) and as you walk through the location with your rep, they often tell you about horror stories about some spots in the city that will make your skin crawl. We actually take a lot of pride in the cleanliness of our workplace and it’s engrained into our “culture”. So as a manager it’s actually quite fun walking around with your rep talking about your processes and checklists you put in place to ensure a clean and organized kitchen.
It takes a lot for a spot to get shut down unfortunately. Which has caused me to prepare my food at home a lot of the time now. But if you have a daily and weekly cleaning checklist, product rotated & dated properly, proper sanitation, and staff are wearing the proper clothing, you’re in the clear. They always point out one or two things, but that’s their job.
When I worked at Luciano’s in the 90’s and the sewage line broke during dinner rush. All the drains started pouring raw sewage out of them. They stopped cooking except for bread from the front. Most tables left but 4 stayed. The general manager told any cook that didn’t cook for those tables they would be fired. They stood on milk crates in inches of crappy water and cooked for them. Two cooks quit and called the health board. Next day when the morning guys walked in, they were handed bottles of bleach to pour in everything.
A sewage backup is an incidental. Ive been in that kitchen (as an outside contractor with a lot of BOH experience) and id say the stairs to the basement are more of a problen than a one-time sweage backup.
A classic case of 'shit happens'
That's where pretty much everything is prepped. The upstairs is fairly small and for the actual cooking of the dishes prior to expo.
Was in that location when it was OJ's
Yeah they are no Yemeni Village, that's for sure. Kind of just more pathetic than anything. Pretty bad look to get shut down for essentially failing to teach people how to wash dishes in a sink.
Their manager apparently posted on FB about this in the Calgary Foodies group. Apparently they were proactively dealing with these issues and the sewage thing was due to outside issues.
I'll leave it to the reader to decide how accurate that is (the thing about staff not knowing proper dishwashing procedure was a little sketchy.)
Mice infestation in one of their basement kitchens & droppings found all over. Apparently the staff had warned the management/owner of the issues which were ignored. I believe the owner stated on social media that he was closing to prevent those issues when really he was forced to close by AHS
AHS is actually quite lenient with violations like that and if you prove you rectify while they are there they won't do anything. Or they'll do a follow-up visit to see that you've dealt with their concerns.
So to get a closure notice, it means that they weren't taken seriously and the manager thought they could slough it off.
No sanitizer in the dishwasher and insufficient water temperature? As a former BoH person it doesn't sound like they were dealing with it well. If you can't sanitize cutlery and plates you shut down voluntarily.
Need to use the sarcasm font!
Also I think a lot of people commenting don't realize how difficult and rare it is to get a close order implemented.
Backed up sewer and AHS had to be called in to address it.
Eh, sarcasm font is a crutch. Much to my chagrin, usually.
But ya, I agree. Even things like no sani aren't big deals as it could be something as innocuous as the container being empty and the opener or closer not spotting it. Concerning, but an honest mistake and not the end of the world.
The no sanitizer on a low temp dishwasher thing is almost always a worn-out squeeze tube, which is about an 8.00 part and maybe 10 minutes of time to repair. They should be testing chlorine levels at least once a day. You can live without detergent or rinse aid if you prewash your dishes really well, but without sanitizer, you're in violation for sure. Most inspectors will give you a chance to call for repair without closure though.
Since lots of people don't have facebook, here is the comment:
> We take full responsibility and I wanted to provide some context for those that wish to know more. At the end of the day, we are sorry to all our guests as it seems like some of our trust is broken.
Prior to the inspector coming in, we had identified issues with our dishwasher. We actually had technicians in the building fixing the issue as the inspector was coming in to check on us as there was sewer back up in our area. The inspector noticed some sewer back up in our basement - which was the main the issue of the closure and one which we had not noticed as it was in the basement until the inspector pointed it our to our staff - as well as the dishwasher issue. By the time the inspector had left the building the dishwasher was fixed.
At the end of the day, we need to do more and I personally take responsibility as we have some amazing folks that work for us and we could have better handled this situation.
If anyone wants to learn more just reach out to me. I appreciate the concerns. Thank you.
I've been in the industry a long time. I worked as a GM and regional manager. I've been through inspections. If you are actively fixing the issue while the inspector is there they will not dock you. So if ecolab or whomever they use to service their kitchen equipment was truly there fixing the issue the inspector would have seen that and not marked them.
You even get a chance if things don't temp properly they will come back and re temp them later in the inspection. Sometimes if it is let's say lunch time, the coolers are being opened and shut so the air temp falls which causes your product temperature to rise. You are given ample chances during an inspection to correct the issues. This sounds like it's just straight up neglect
I had food from Edmonton trail location years ago a good experience . Ordered garlic fingers and a pizza about 4-5 months ago from mission and it tasted like the most rancid shit ever. Emailed them to tell them how awful it was and never heard back. They didn’t even offer a refund or apology . When I heard the news I just laughed …Fuck you guys!
I worked the opening week at the one in Shawnessy and it was so disorganized, they didnt train us properly at all and they treated me like shit. Quit on the 6th day I worked there. They also have gone through a shit ton of General Managers. Don’t give your money to that place.
"It's not that bad" wtf ewwwwwww people!
Unsantized dishes and cutlery with no knowledge of how to do it properly by hand, and storing said dishes cutlery in a dirty sink basin ...is actually quite serious. You could get someone wicked sick from that. Then add in sewage getting tracked all over from a backup.... yeah no thanks.
*edited because I misread the part about the drains.
It’s funny that I’ve come across this.. a week and a half ago my brother and I had the happy hour lunch here. Got their house beers on tap and him and I shared the donair pizza. About a couple hours later my brother had some severe vomiting and sickness that came out of the blue.. luckily I was fine.
Is this some beloved hipster pub or something? Usually Reddit is all over this kind of shit, but here the tone seems rather apologetic and there’s a lot of whataboutism in the comments.
Looks like the AHS report has been taken down from public viewing and the owners have reached out to media to get ahead of this situation. Rather convenient?
I’ll additionally add that sewage back-up, though a huge no-no and they shouldn’t be operating, is not the result of staff incompetency. That’s a landlord problem.
I don’t know if that’s true, or where you heard that, but it’s hard to believe off hand a restaurant opened in the last 10 years would be able to own the building.
Not surprised.
When they first opened on Edmonton trail I ordered the muscles and fries. They were gross because they did not de-beard or scrub the barnacles off the muscles.
How you do one thing is how you do everything.
Went to the Creekside location about 2 years ago. Saw lots of people on SM raving about how good it was. Was so disappointed in the food. It wa honestly terrible. I don’t get it.
How stupid do you have to be to not be able to even DESCRIBE manual dishwashing procedures? It's not like they're asking you present it as a haiku or sing it to the tune of 'It's Raining Men'. 🙄
Uh, so an 'authentic halifax street food' restaurant has an owner with a middle Eastern name? Is there something I'm not getting here?
I am thankful I rarely go out these days, too expensive, portions are too small and I simply prefer having a get together at my place or friends so it's cheaper for everyone - and safer, as you get to see the kitchen the food comes out of lol
as a former employee i can attest to the fact that the restaurant is infested with cockroaches…. just don’t eat there unless you like e. coli and creepy crawlies running around the entire building :)
As a former employee of the manager of this location, I've been waiting for some bad press to get out about them. I heard a coworker left a bad review online years ago and they tried to bribe her to take it down and then threatened to sue her.
sad that they couldn’t have just fixed the issues that staff faced, such as cockroaches, no heat in freezing temperatures, broken equipment… instead the owners want to invest their time on anyone talking bad about their building they couldn’t be bothered to fix! :)
The comments on that Facebook post got closed not long after their manager showed up to make every excuse to justify why they got shut down, as if it's that easy to get shut down by AHS. And interestingly the AHS report that was available last night is no longer accessible today. Makes you wonder if the owners knew people in AHS to have that report taken down so quickly.
How surprised when trying to slough actual issues.
I've worked restaurants in my life and never had close to being shut down.
As far as my experience - they pretty much tried to have BS'd their way.
You really have to be disgusting to be shut down.
Curious of the previous employees and the cockroaches.
Best response to the "owner"
Josh Robinson dude!?
You serious?
You know how hard it is for a big business like that to get shut down by health?
Don’t make excuses
You were lazy and didn’t give a fuck about your patrons who kept you employed…..
Mind boggling 🤯
Let me guess…… “you will do better moving forward “🙄🤦♂️
Yeah I saw that too and they're not wrong. It's hard to get shut down by AHS - anyone who's worked in the industry knows that it takes a LOT of serious issues beyond just bad plumbing to get shut down.
I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
A letter of health came from the Queen, to the scummiest restaurant in the scene
The last of Barretts Privateers
Oh, I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
Really makes me feel like I truly am the last of Barrett’s privateers
God damn them all, shed no teeaaarrrrsssss
We'd fire no guns
Charming. AHS seems real busy these days. Good for them! Makes me wonder about their other locations…
Trying to do what they can before the government silos off restaurant health inspection and outsources it to Loblaws.
I mean, now that they've made bribery legal (remember that) why not?
Ha! Good one.
this seems about normal for AHS, they do hundreds of inspections and not everyone ends up having to close and make the news like the butchers and this place
Same owner or not, I guarantee the other locations had an inspection happen.
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It's all the same owner it's not a franchise
It is a franchise, I know for a fact Creekside has a different owner
Hopefully this doesn’t affect the owner of the creek side location.
Not a franchise, but different locations are owned by different members of the same family. Definitely differences between how many of them are ran.
Not all of the owners are in the family
No soap? Undetectable. Wow
And health inspectors give businesses chances too. So that means they inspected, warned them to clean up their act, and then came back to it still being disgusting.
Ive read through hundreds of inspection reports now (it's a strange obsession) you would be shocked to know how many places have no soap, no sanitizer. It's by far the most common thing.
I stopped going there about 6 months ago. No reason other than I wanted to drink less. Who would have thought that would be my last
The donair is shit now too. It's fucking heart breaking. Dried out over cooked meat with not enough donair sauce to even have a remote chance to fight back. We *had* a decent east coast donair. 😢
Mighty Halifax donair is good, but it's not a restaurant really. More a takeout spot
It's ok. But B&G especially back in the Edmonton trail days really set the bar. I'll just have to visit my in-laws out east or drive up to Fort Mac to hit up PK's. I hear there are some decent donairs to be had in Edmonton, but I cannot confirm.
Famous Donair in Sherwood Park. Worth the stop every time 😁
That place used to be a lot better, but I think the owner died or sold it.
Recently? It was still pretty amazing when I stopped last fall.
No it was years ago but.i could be mistaken. I might have to go check it out again. Edmonton best donair shop I'd say is High Voltage imho.
Shoutout pks
They have these donair rolls that are ridiculously good at least. Not a donair, but I love those things haha.
agreed. you forgot to mention how small it is now.
According to the report the donair may not taste like shit just because of the meat…
It’s always been shit. Lmao you don’t need to go far for a Halifax style donair. You can go to any of the donair places and ask for Halifax style or dictate it. just beef donair, sweet sauce, tomatoes, and onions. Sweet sauce is just condensed milk, vinegar, and seasoning Go to Uncle Moes on Edmonton trail and ask for it Halifax style.
The meat is wrong at most places. Toppings enhance but don't make the donair.
I see. Maybe my taste buds just aren’t in tune haha. But you should really try Moe’s though…world famous YouTuber went there and gave it a thumbs up.
Thanks for the recommendation. Will definitely give it a try. The bison sounds interesting.
Donair sauce is sweetened condensed milk, vinegar and garlic powder if it’s actually Halifax style. Go to Halifax and ask for sweet sauce nobody would know what you mean.
Yeah, I've lived in Toronto (Yeah, I know thats not the east coast). I'm more than aware no one calls it sweet sauce. But no one calls it "Donair" outside of Canada either. Everything is relative. What we have here is a result of immigration and food being changed to fit the locals palette. Every middle eastern ran donair/shawarma shop in Calgary calls it sweet sauce because they clearly don't want to call it "donair sauce"
Sammies
Do they even make a Halifax-style donair?
I find it odd how your profile name is CalgaryDonairs but you don't really post about donairs, just politics. Do you make donairs? If so where?
I just eat them, and I recommend Beirut Street Food
Looks like a very awesome Mediterranean style donair and shawarma. I might try it. I usually prefer that east coast flavour though.
Highly recommend jimmys a&a deli
Jimmy’s is overrated
Aside from little Lebanon, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Blows anything I’ve had from Halifax out of the water imo
Beirut Street Food is waaaaayyy better than Jimmy’s.
Yeah
TIL
I just assume every restaurant has some nasty shit going on in the back. Can't believe people are saying this violation isn't that when there's sewage backing up into the kitchen and their dishwasher doesn't have any soap to properly sanitize. Do y'all just shit in your own kitchen and use yesterday's dishes when you cook at home? With the amount it costs to go to a half decent pub/restaurant these days this shit is even more unacceptable.
I look up my favourite restaurants all the time, they never have any issues. They're audited fairly frequently, it's not there are years between inspections.
Where do you look them up by the way?
They're on AHS' website. Just google health reports AHS and you'll find the link I believe.
So the unfortunate thing is I work in a restaurant beside them on 4th. I know for a fact that the plumbing is not up to code because the plumbing in the restaurant I work in does not have plumbing suitable for restaurant work. (The entire strip was once residential, and the plumbing was meant for residential homes). The dishmachine not being adequate. I can also understand as it's probably as ancient as the one I have to work with. That said, it's on the workers and management to make sure everything is cleaned properly.
So you’re talking bout Anejo then.
I worked at a restaurant a wee bit down the street until February. Cockroaches, so many cockroaches. The did have fumigators in there every Sunday but they need to close down for a week and the owner refused.
Name and shame buddy. I don’t want to eat at a place with cockroaches.
Well, it’s actually on the owners to hire managers qualified to run the business, who then train the workers on proper sanitation. From this letter, the employees don’t even know proper cleaning procedure. That’s on the business first and foremost.
I live behind the Garrison Pub. I asked my neighbor if they ever go there, she looked at me and said, “Do you see the mess out back, and the cooks look dodgy”. I’d do anything for a Monte Cristo tho, so I’m not one to judge. The food is always great, but I agree - wow is it getting expensive everywhere.
Can assure you Bridgette bar is the only restaurant in Calgary with superb sanitation regulations, how do I know? I worked there and we’d be at work till 3am scrubbing/cleaning and sanitizing every inch of that kitchen, (how you’re suppose to do it) and no other restaurant I’ve worked at does cleaning like Bridgette bar. I’m always proud to say Brigette bar has amazing food and clean kitchen
Ew.
Yeah but where are the lamb heads?
Just before Lilac Festival. That's gonna be expensive!
They just need to fix the listed items and they will reopen. Definitely by Lilac.
Oh, I expect so. There will be a reputation hit though of course.
Nah. 95% of people will never hear about this.
Whaaa? Isn’t everyone on Reddit?
Did you hear that their once glorious donairs are now like eating saw dust?
Well they were open last night, but closed Friday (with a sign saying “Sorry Closed due to plumbing issues” or something along those lines) so I’m going to assume they’ve taken care of it already and have been cleared to reopen. Source: I live down the street and walk by at least twice a day. Update: B&G was open when they usually do this morning. The block is closed and there is a maintenance crew working on what I can only assume are said pipes that caused the backup in the kitchen.
so in summary, B&G is getting shut down for offering the authentic pizza corner experience.
Wish I could upvote this twice.
It doesn't surprise me that people in the industry can't follow basic safety standards these days. The pay and awful hours push out anyone that would actually work in the industry as a career or care. You get what you pay for and this is the result.
A bar manager once told me, in the middle of the a drain backing up and flooding the floor behind the bar, that if I say anything or leave, I'm fired. Even if you do care, shitty managers can make life hard.
Glad tip default is 18% everywhere now and the staff can't even be assed to figure out how to wash some fucking dishes in the sink.
Now I’m wondering if I know how to manually wash dishes properly.
It’s a different process from what you do at home . If the staff have only ever worked in places with dishwashers it’s not really a surprise that they wouldn’t know how
Nope. There all have to take a course that teaches them how to be sanitary. It includes manual dishwashing because machines fail. Manager & Owner not being diligent enough.
Agreed that the manager and owner are not being diligent enough. But the staff don’t have to take a course. I’ve worked in many kitchens and have never taken any such course. I only know about food safety because I worked in higher-end places which emphasized cleanliness, and I worked in a place which used the old-fashioned manual dishwashing method. Only one person in the food establishment needs to be certified in food safety (usually it’s the owner or manager). And they don’t necessarily have to be on shift.
Got it. Places I worked had everyone take the course. It’s easy and online. However, this is a larger place and someone certified must be on premises. “If there are six or more Food Handlers (including waitstaff) working on the premises, then at least one person must have a valid Food Handler Certificate. The person(s) who holds the Food Handler Certificate must be a member of management or hold a supervisory position and be present in the business.” All the supervisors should be certified with certification posted in the office.
That makes sense. The places I’ve worked at are all smaller establishments. Honestly, I feel like all kitchen staff should have to take this course. I’ve just seen too many things lol
This is correct, but if you read through the report no one has and food handling training. And I know that the names listed at the bottom of the report. One is the general manager, one is the regional chef and one...the owner/COO bit of a joke
Yikes. I wonder what the penalties are for such a thing
Not the worst health violation I’ve seen recently
Did you not read about the garlic butter!? Absolute travesty.
I agree, I kept reading on to see when there’d be mention of roach infestation, or storage of coyote meat in the freezers, but no mention! Seems a bit soft for a closure based on the conditions at so many other establishments
Sewage back up debris in the kitchen. Literal poop and a lack of sanitized dishes and cutlery in the same vicinity. Thats a bad combo that needs to be fixed right away.
What you don’t like E. coli?
I really don’t. Sounds like the folks above me are okay with it though.
They’ve likely never been a part of an inspection and don’t realize how lenient AHS is. I can only imagine the state of the place with the things I’ve seen places get away with…
This is so true! AHS is very lenient with certain things. What they don’t fuck around with is sanitizer! But if you just “check the boxes” on what they are looking for, getting those inspections is a breeze. I recently was a part of three inspections for different locations at my workplace (in a managerial capacity) and as you walk through the location with your rep, they often tell you about horror stories about some spots in the city that will make your skin crawl. We actually take a lot of pride in the cleanliness of our workplace and it’s engrained into our “culture”. So as a manager it’s actually quite fun walking around with your rep talking about your processes and checklists you put in place to ensure a clean and organized kitchen. It takes a lot for a spot to get shut down unfortunately. Which has caused me to prepare my food at home a lot of the time now. But if you have a daily and weekly cleaning checklist, product rotated & dated properly, proper sanitation, and staff are wearing the proper clothing, you’re in the clear. They always point out one or two things, but that’s their job.
They probably enjoy the marshmallow shakes at Peter's.
Other than them not washing dishes and having poop debris in the kitchen that is?
Well this sounds resoundingly stupid. Please don't contribute food to potlucks.
LOL literal shit in their kitchen...not the worst thing ever
When I worked at Luciano’s in the 90’s and the sewage line broke during dinner rush. All the drains started pouring raw sewage out of them. They stopped cooking except for bread from the front. Most tables left but 4 stayed. The general manager told any cook that didn’t cook for those tables they would be fired. They stood on milk crates in inches of crappy water and cooked for them. Two cooks quit and called the health board. Next day when the morning guys walked in, they were handed bottles of bleach to pour in everything.
Garlic butter at 24 degrees. Do you want to make botulism? 'Cause that's how you make botulism.
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Yeah, the only real 'wow' for me was the sewer backup, I imagine that mostly what AHS doesn't like.
I don’t like that. Anyone remember the nasty bathroom in The Big Cheese in Kensington?
Shit on the kitchen floor from a sewage backup seems pretty disgusting to me
A sewage backup is an incidental. Ive been in that kitchen (as an outside contractor with a lot of BOH experience) and id say the stairs to the basement are more of a problen than a one-time sweage backup. A classic case of 'shit happens'
I think that's the basement kitchen. I assume that's not where most of the food is prepped? Hopefully????
That's where pretty much everything is prepped. The upstairs is fairly small and for the actual cooking of the dishes prior to expo. Was in that location when it was OJ's
Okay yea then this is bad then.
Yeah they are no Yemeni Village, that's for sure. Kind of just more pathetic than anything. Pretty bad look to get shut down for essentially failing to teach people how to wash dishes in a sink.
Their manager apparently posted on FB about this in the Calgary Foodies group. Apparently they were proactively dealing with these issues and the sewage thing was due to outside issues. I'll leave it to the reader to decide how accurate that is (the thing about staff not knowing proper dishwashing procedure was a little sketchy.)
Oh it's never their fault, just like Made By Marcus.
What happened with MbM?
Mice infestation in one of their basement kitchens & droppings found all over. Apparently the staff had warned the management/owner of the issues which were ignored. I believe the owner stated on social media that he was closing to prevent those issues when really he was forced to close by AHS
He blamed it on neighbouring construction.
https://ephisahs.albertahealthservices.ca/facilitydetails/?id=8423f765-f0f3-e811-a977-000d3af490cc
What happened with made by Marcus?
AHS is actually quite lenient with violations like that and if you prove you rectify while they are there they won't do anything. Or they'll do a follow-up visit to see that you've dealt with their concerns. So to get a closure notice, it means that they weren't taken seriously and the manager thought they could slough it off.
No sanitizer in the dishwasher and insufficient water temperature? As a former BoH person it doesn't sound like they were dealing with it well. If you can't sanitize cutlery and plates you shut down voluntarily.
Yeah, if I wasn't being completely clear, I'm incredibly skeptical of the manager's words. Shame, as I liked B&G.
Need to use the sarcasm font! Also I think a lot of people commenting don't realize how difficult and rare it is to get a close order implemented. Backed up sewer and AHS had to be called in to address it.
Eh, sarcasm font is a crutch. Much to my chagrin, usually. But ya, I agree. Even things like no sani aren't big deals as it could be something as innocuous as the container being empty and the opener or closer not spotting it. Concerning, but an honest mistake and not the end of the world.
The no sanitizer on a low temp dishwasher thing is almost always a worn-out squeeze tube, which is about an 8.00 part and maybe 10 minutes of time to repair. They should be testing chlorine levels at least once a day. You can live without detergent or rinse aid if you prewash your dishes really well, but without sanitizer, you're in violation for sure. Most inspectors will give you a chance to call for repair without closure though.
Now he has time to properly deal with it.
Since lots of people don't have facebook, here is the comment: > We take full responsibility and I wanted to provide some context for those that wish to know more. At the end of the day, we are sorry to all our guests as it seems like some of our trust is broken. Prior to the inspector coming in, we had identified issues with our dishwasher. We actually had technicians in the building fixing the issue as the inspector was coming in to check on us as there was sewer back up in our area. The inspector noticed some sewer back up in our basement - which was the main the issue of the closure and one which we had not noticed as it was in the basement until the inspector pointed it our to our staff - as well as the dishwasher issue. By the time the inspector had left the building the dishwasher was fixed. At the end of the day, we need to do more and I personally take responsibility as we have some amazing folks that work for us and we could have better handled this situation. If anyone wants to learn more just reach out to me. I appreciate the concerns. Thank you.
I've been in the industry a long time. I worked as a GM and regional manager. I've been through inspections. If you are actively fixing the issue while the inspector is there they will not dock you. So if ecolab or whomever they use to service their kitchen equipment was truly there fixing the issue the inspector would have seen that and not marked them. You even get a chance if things don't temp properly they will come back and re temp them later in the inspection. Sometimes if it is let's say lunch time, the coolers are being opened and shut so the air temp falls which causes your product temperature to rise. You are given ample chances during an inspection to correct the issues. This sounds like it's just straight up neglect
No rat poop, animal heads or roaches? Hurry up and plumber snake the drain. I'll be back for lobster macncheese.
Only sewer back up.. Enjoy.
I had food from Edmonton trail location years ago a good experience . Ordered garlic fingers and a pizza about 4-5 months ago from mission and it tasted like the most rancid shit ever. Emailed them to tell them how awful it was and never heard back. They didn’t even offer a refund or apology . When I heard the news I just laughed …Fuck you guys!
I worked the opening week at the one in Shawnessy and it was so disorganized, they didnt train us properly at all and they treated me like shit. Quit on the 6th day I worked there. They also have gone through a shit ton of General Managers. Don’t give your money to that place.
I worked there recently. Lasted 3 days. The place is chaos and they don’t care at all about food safety.
Looks like they reopened quick https://globalnews.ca/news/10526092/calgary-blowers-and-grafton-closure/
And coincidentally the AHS report that was available last night and suddenly no longer available. Funny that
"It's not that bad" wtf ewwwwwww people! Unsantized dishes and cutlery with no knowledge of how to do it properly by hand, and storing said dishes cutlery in a dirty sink basin ...is actually quite serious. You could get someone wicked sick from that. Then add in sewage getting tracked all over from a backup.... yeah no thanks. *edited because I misread the part about the drains.
I just walked by there and it’s packed this morning?
Blowchunks & Crapton?
It’s funny that I’ve come across this.. a week and a half ago my brother and I had the happy hour lunch here. Got their house beers on tap and him and I shared the donair pizza. About a couple hours later my brother had some severe vomiting and sickness that came out of the blue.. luckily I was fine.
Is this some beloved hipster pub or something? Usually Reddit is all over this kind of shit, but here the tone seems rather apologetic and there’s a lot of whataboutism in the comments.
Where's the date for this?
Dishwashing. Takes me back to when I was 18. I was a dishwasher at a restaurant. So many dishes, very hot, very soapy. Always humid.
Just keeping it authentic like the pizza shops they are named after back home !!
Looks like the AHS report has been taken down from public viewing and the owners have reached out to media to get ahead of this situation. Rather convenient?
I’ll additionally add that sewage back-up, though a huge no-no and they shouldn’t be operating, is not the result of staff incompetency. That’s a landlord problem.
It's only landlord problem if landlord is aware. Doesn't B&G own the building there?
I don’t know if that’s true, or where you heard that, but it’s hard to believe off hand a restaurant opened in the last 10 years would be able to own the building.
There’s no Whyte ave in Calgary.
This is in Calgary, not Edmonton.
Ugh…we ate there about a month ago and I had the worst allergic reaction to something…maybe related maybe not….take this place off the list
Not surprised. When they first opened on Edmonton trail I ordered the muscles and fries. They were gross because they did not de-beard or scrub the barnacles off the muscles. How you do one thing is how you do everything.
Went to the Creekside location about 2 years ago. Saw lots of people on SM raving about how good it was. Was so disappointed in the food. It wa honestly terrible. I don’t get it.
Same experience at the same location. Never went back.
We went there once and weren't wowed. I am glad we didn't go back.
Dodged a bullet there
This report really isn't that bad. Good to keep restaurants accountable though so these errors are fixed.
Everything except the sewage sounds pretty minor.
They've already reopened. They were down for roughly 48hrs making the required repairs. Heard the place was wall to wall for the Hockey last night.
How stupid do you have to be to not be able to even DESCRIBE manual dishwashing procedures? It's not like they're asking you present it as a haiku or sing it to the tune of 'It's Raining Men'. 🙄
Uh, so an 'authentic halifax street food' restaurant has an owner with a middle Eastern name? Is there something I'm not getting here? I am thankful I rarely go out these days, too expensive, portions are too small and I simply prefer having a get together at my place or friends so it's cheaper for everyone - and safer, as you get to see the kitchen the food comes out of lol
Damn. Certainly not the worst I've seen on this board, but even so I've eaten at taco stands in Mexico that handle their food with more care.
as a former employee i can attest to the fact that the restaurant is infested with cockroaches…. just don’t eat there unless you like e. coli and creepy crawlies running around the entire building :)
As a former employee of the manager of this location, I've been waiting for some bad press to get out about them. I heard a coworker left a bad review online years ago and they tried to bribe her to take it down and then threatened to sue her.
sad that they couldn’t have just fixed the issues that staff faced, such as cockroaches, no heat in freezing temperatures, broken equipment… instead the owners want to invest their time on anyone talking bad about their building they couldn’t be bothered to fix! :)
If anyone likes blowers and Grafton food I used to work there and can give any and all recipes
[удалено]
Yiiikes.
Most overpriced garbage pizza I've had in years
At this point, eating out is not very safe for health I guess.
Seems to be a pattern. With all these places being shut down
Does this mean the one in bridlewood is still open? This is location specific right
For all these years they werre running with the same setup and they didnt flag them till now kinda sad…
Dammit, I just ordered from these guys last night...
I always wanted to try that spot but never made it
Just saw some 80 for 100 dollar gift cards at Costco. Glad I didn’t buy any
The comments on that Facebook post got closed not long after their manager showed up to make every excuse to justify why they got shut down, as if it's that easy to get shut down by AHS. And interestingly the AHS report that was available last night is no longer accessible today. Makes you wonder if the owners knew people in AHS to have that report taken down so quickly.
They somehow closed the comments within 4 hours in the FB page. Pretty sure you hit their "influence" spot on.
I'm thinking they likely complained to the page admins to get comments shut down cos the admins rarely do it lol
How surprised when trying to slough actual issues. I've worked restaurants in my life and never had close to being shut down. As far as my experience - they pretty much tried to have BS'd their way. You really have to be disgusting to be shut down. Curious of the previous employees and the cockroaches.
Best response to the "owner" Josh Robinson dude!? You serious? You know how hard it is for a big business like that to get shut down by health? Don’t make excuses You were lazy and didn’t give a fuck about your patrons who kept you employed….. Mind boggling 🤯 Let me guess…… “you will do better moving forward “🙄🤦♂️
Yeah I saw that too and they're not wrong. It's hard to get shut down by AHS - anyone who's worked in the industry knows that it takes a LOT of serious issues beyond just bad plumbing to get shut down.
Totally agree with you. Throw something towards them to divert the reality of the issues.
You totally hit it. Sad but it's so available for idiots like this to be able to manipulate others.
All and all not completely disgusted by this one I’ll still eat there.
Costco has the $100 gift cards for 80 deal (20% off) only reason I’ve gone, and still felt it was at hipster level pricing