A disturbing video is raising some big questions about a South Bay restaurant.
The video captures a person, who the restaurant describes as an employee, throwing frozen ribs onto the ground.
Someone took the video from the rooftop and posted it on social media.
Watch that footage in the video player above.
“It was, it was very disturbing. And they call it love. You call it Pho Love. I said no,” said Felicia Floresca.
Pho Love is located in a shopping center right next to Milpitas City Hall. Thursday, the County Health Inspectors arrived at the restaurant to ask questions, and ultimately shut down the restaurant, citing both sanitation issues and insect or rodent concerns.
The inspector spent more than three hours inside before red tagging the restaurant.
The Santa Clara County Environmental Health, a branch of the Public Health Department, sent a statement to NBC Bay Area Thursday afternoon that reads, in part: “This morning, environmental health specialists conducted a full investigation that involved speaking with the food facility operator and reviewing their current staff training and food safety handling practices. While addressing the violation related to the rib incident, inspectors found major violations, including a cockroach infestation and a lack of ability to properly sanitize utensils and equipment. The facility was also cited for failing to follow proper food safety knowledge regarding the handling of the frozen rib incident.”
“Pho Love has been closed until the operator can correct the major violations and demonstrate acceptable food handling practices, wrote Environmental Health Director Dr. Marilyn C. Underwood in the statement. “Environmental Health encourages members of the public to share their concerns with us when there are issues regarding food safety that pose risk to the health of the community.”
The restaurant’s owner said the employee involved needs to be held accountable for what he says is an isolated incident.
He also says he takes full responsibility for what happened.
A search of public records shows Pho Love passed its last three public health inspections, with scores of 91, 93, and 95.
The latest was just this past September.
Pho Love also has mostly good reviews on Yelp, with three and a half stars.
But now, there are already comments on the platform alerting customers about the video that’s getting a lot of traction online.
The owner said that once it passes re-inspection, rebuilding his restaurant’s reputation is job #1.
He said he knows it’s going to be a tough task, but the military veteran vows to earn back his customers’ trust.
Source: NBC Bay Area