Health

Yo Quiero Taco Rats?

by Kaitlin | February 23, 2007 at 10:33 am

1723 views | 5 Recommendations | 3 comments

Okay, so, um...I used to eat at this Taco Bell. Not often, but when I lived in Greenwich Village and was looking for a quick and dirty (evidently dirtier than I first presumed) snack, I would admittedly stop at one of two places: Taco Bell, or Papaya King Hot Dog.

I loved seeing rats in the Subway tracks, and even seeing them scurry in and out of garbage piles on New York streets was rather charming, in an "authentic experience" kind of way. But an infestation like this in a restaurant I used to frequent? Well...I guess I'll just stick to Papaya King.

NEW YORK Feb 23, 2007 (AP)— A dozen rats were caught on video scurrying around the floor of a New York City KFC/Taco Bell restaurant early Friday, running between counters and tables and climbing on children's high chairs.

News crews flocked to the windows of the Greenwich Village neighborhood restaurant, which hadn't opened for the day. By midmorning, the footage was all over the Internet and television news shows, with onlookers giving a play-by-play from the sidewalk as the rodents moved about.

"He's coming for his close-up," one bystander said as a rat came near the window.

Employees came to work, but no customers were allowed in as health inspectors arrived.

There was no answer at the phone number displayed in neon on the store window below the words "We Deliver."

"This is completely unacceptable and is an absolute violation of our high standards," KFC and Taco Bell said in a statement. "This restaurant has been closed and we are addressing the issue with the franchise owner. We will not allow this store to reopen until is it completely resanitized and given a clean bill of health."

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Victoria Revay

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:13 on February 23rd, 2007

I think they had a deal where you got 2 hot dogs, and a drink for a dollar.

Lingual X

at 08:24 on February 25th, 2007

I got my ear pierced at the tattoo parlor next to this taco bell. Nice. Makes you think about sanitary conditions, no?

Lingual X

Jordan Yerman

at 14:02 on February 26th, 2007

Papaya King rules: the monarch of the dirty meal on the go...

As for rats, yeah, I liked seeing them, too. When I first moved to Brooklyn, I'd be coming home from the Nevins St. subway station to see a cat-sized rodent squeeze its girth under the doorway to an empty restaurant. All the time I'd see this, and I liked to believe it was the same rat, finishing its workday at the same time I did.