A cockroach-infested Vietnamese restaurant was reopened by health inspectors in California only days after an employee was filmed smashing raw meat on a nasty sidewalk.
PhoLove in Milpitas was allowed to reopen its doors to customers again yesterday, following an inspection that found several major violations and drew the center of controversy last week when a viral video showed one of their workers throwing frozen ribs onto pieces of cardboard behind the restaurant.
Uyen Tran, the owner of the establishment, initially claimed on Yelp that the act caught on camera was sabotage.
'This was a deliberate act by a former employee and an accomplice, and we were never involved,' said Tran in a comment.
However, later he explained in interviews alongside the employee included in last week's inspection report that the outdoor meat incident was a one-time occurrence because of the limited counter space they use to prepare meat, and they usually thaw meat in a refrigerator or in a prep sink, according to The Mercury News.
A geo-guesser on Reddit claimed to have reported the restaurant to the health department.
Several violations the restaurant failed to address, including an inability to properly sanitize utensils and equipment, were also noted in the report.
As well as a cockroach infestation, a tray of chicken placed on the ground and meat stored in plastic grocery bags were noted in the report.
The internet was outraged after video emerged of an employee smashing raw racks of ribs onto cardboard in the back of the establishment.
The restaurant was closed until they addressed their violations. The follow-up inspection yesterday cleared the Pho spot to reopen.
The TikTok video, which has 5.5 million views and began the outrage, showed the worker who appeared to take the rack of ribs and repeatedly throw it onto a stack of flattened cardboard boxes.
At one point, the frozen meat can be seen bouncing off and hitting a mop bucket and the sidewalk.
The employee continued doing this until the slabs broke apart, then threw them into a cardboard box, holding the door open.
The restaurant's Yelp page has been flooded with negative reviews, forcing Tran to defend his business.
'Saw a video recording of them throwing ribs on the ground outside to split the meat. Like on the concrete outside on the actual ground. Super disgusting do not eat here it's not safe or sanitary. Place needs to be shut down immediately,' one comment read.
The health department closed the restaurant until yesterday.
Pho is a popular Vietnamese cuisine that has a soup and ramen like consistency.
'If you like your meat prepared on the floor, then I would recommend this place. Man caught slamming meat on floor outside to break apart. Disgusting!' another added.
'Do not eat here. These people have never heard of food safety,' a third wrote.
Tran, however, insisted: 'The behavior shown does not represent our values or our training... Thank you for your support as we work to uphold the standards you expect from us.'
Yelp has since disabled the ability to post reviews for PhoLove and issued an unusual activity alert to users.
'This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news,' its website read.
'While we don't take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we've temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events,' they added.
Before the incident, Santa Clara County health inspections found only minor violations at the establishment, according to The Mercury News.
'The trust and safety of our customers are the highest priority,' PhoLove said on Instagram. The page has since been taken down.
The Daily Mail has reached out to PhoLove for comment.