A restaurant in Manhattan’s Koreatown was shut down Wednesday following an inspection triggered by a buyer’s report of a lifeless rat in soup delivered to their house over the weekend.
Eunice Lucero-Lee and her husband ordered sogogi gukbap — a spicy beef soup dish — on Saturday from Gammeeok, a well-liked spot within the space. The couple had been visiting the enterprise for a decade, however they’re now suing it for leaving them “disgusted and violently sick.”
A video and photographs Lucero-Lee posted on Instagram present what seems to be a lifeless mouse floating within the stew. “That may be a rat in our soup,” she confirmed in her submit, describing it because the “most disgusting factor.”
The invention left the couple “disgusted and violently sick, inflicting them to vomit and search medical consideration,” based on their swimsuit filed this week.
They declare to endure from “extreme, critical and everlasting accidents” and accused Gammeeok of “negligent infliction of emotional misery.”
Gammeeok, which has one other department in Fort Lee, New Jersey, remained open even after the couple notified the restaurant in regards to the order, Lucero-Lee stated. In an replace, she famous that the incident was additionally reported to the New York Metropolis Well being Division, which reportedly took motion by shutting them down on Wednesday.
As of Thursday afternoon, Gammeeok has a “C” ranking on the well being company’s web site, which has but to be up to date. Inspections on March 3, 2020; June 15, 2022; and Jan. 18, 2023, all revealed sanitary violations, starting from failure to guard meals from “potential supply of contamination” to the presence of filth flies, or “meals/refuse/sewage related to (FRSA) flies.”
Lucero-Lee, {a magazine} editor, maintained that she and her husband stay “proud supporters” of Asian meals and warned in opposition to utilizing their expertise to gas extra anti-Asian hate.
Now we have been going to this restaurant for a decade and are in any other case proud supporters of Asian delicacies and tradition. This incident is on no account for use to gas race-based hate or prejudice and I’ll have a difficulty with anybody who makes use of these posts to suit that narrative.
Gammeeok, then again, has retaliated with Instagram posts of its personal, denying seeing any rat whereas making ready the soup.
In response to the restaurant, it reviewed safety footage and “couldn’t discover any issues.”
“After we transferred the soup, we served it 4 instances with a ladle whereas the employees watched it with their eyes,” Gammeeok said. “If there was a mouse that huge, there’s no means I wouldn’t have missed it.”
Gammeeok went on to assert that the couple had made the same however now-deleted Yelp evaluate about one other restaurant in Koreatown, this time involving “flies.” The enterprise additionally refuted allegations that it tried to bribe their means out of the incident with $5,000.
For now, Gammeeok has a “closed” signal on its entrance door.
Fabien Levy, a consultant for Mayor Eric Adams, confirmed the restaurant’s closure in a press release to TMZ.
No New York Metropolis restaurant is allowed to have mice or rats on the menu and we’re investigating additional. Our high precedence is defending the well being of New Yorkers and if a restaurant has situations that threaten our metropolis’s diners, they are going to be shut down.
Well being inspectors reportedly discovered rat droppings on the restaurant, TMZ famous. The enterprise additionally allegedly didn’t retailer meals on the right temperature, lacked a skilled supervisor and had been working with out correct permits.
How Gammeeok plans to show its destiny round is but to be seen. In a remark below Lucero-Lee’s submit, the restaurant reportedly stated it plans to take authorized motion in opposition to the couple for “attacking us via social media.”
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