Raj’s Indian Kitchen and Lucky Pizza in Queens Plaza (Google Maps)
May 10, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
Two Queens Plaza restaurant just steps from one another have been temporarily closed by the health department after inspectors swept both restaurants on the same day.
Raj’s Indian Kitchen, located at 27-20 Queens Plaza South, and Lucky Pizza at 27-14 Queens Plaza South were both found with “critical” sanitary violations following inspections on Tuesday.
Raj’s Indian Kitchen, open since 2013, received one critical sanitary violation for either their food, food preparation area, storage area, or area used by employees or patrons being contaminated by sewage or liquid waste. Inspectors also found one non-critical violation relating to a non-food surface being improperly constructed or improperly maintained.
Inspectors found two critical sanitary violations at the longstanding Lucky Pizza, including food either not being protected from a potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display, or service. Non-critical problems were also found with the eatery’s plumbing or sewage disposal.
For a full list of sanitary violations for each restaurant, see below:
Raj’s Indian Kitchen
1) Food, food preparation area, food storage area, area used by employees or patrons, contaminated by sewage or liquid waste.
2) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained and/or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.
Lucky Pizza
1) Food, food preparation area, food storage area, area used by employees or patrons, contaminated by sewage or liquid waste.
2) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
3) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
4) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained and/or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.
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13 Comments
Raj has always been good, it’s a shame that they are caught in this mess.
I find that liquid waste brings out the taste in the food similar to msg. When they are done “fixing” the problem, the taste won’t be good and these fabulous places will likely close. I feel so strongly about liquid waste enhancing taste that I commonly add the waste to my own cooking.
Nearly all landlords with a taxpayer (that’s what a commercial building like that is called) have a demo clause. Nobody ever expects a one story property to remain undeveloped forever. So with proper notice as described in the lease the landlord can develop their property. Almost for certain the landlord is not behind this
Coincidentally, I ordered from Raj’s the night before this happened (and it was for a very large group of people, 18 in total) and none of us got sick or had any issues. For what it’s worth, I order from Raj’s at least once a month and have yet to have an issue. Based on discussions I have had with their staff over the years, their management company is garbage and has made it very well known that they want to sell their current building / land to a developer. Of course the city will never look into that though…
There are 2 sides to every story, it seems that the 2 eateries have similar sewage problems. Is the city trying to push out businesses for a new shiny building as one person said. It could just be pipes backing up into the stores that could easily be fixed. We will see in time.
Probably the landlord, not the city.
Commercial tenants are usually responsible for all lines off the sewer-main. So it would be the tenants problem not the landlord. If it was the main all of the units in the strip would be affected. Most likely poor grease-trap maintenance on the part of the tenants.
How about ….unethical to have substandard health conditions in a restaurant.
I seen this pattern before. The City will hassle small businesses with violations until they are forced to close.
That strip there is in the way of a nice shiny building just waiting to go up!!!
Probably the same landlord wanting to drive out tenants & sell the strip. I doubt the city is to blame.
It’s Unethical To Tarnish a Business By Writing About This To The Public.
It’s unethical for a business to prepare food for the public in hazardous conditions.
You might be the only person who minds eating off of contaminated areas and contaminated food. But I sure don’t. Someone could get seriously sick if any of that bacteria got into their food.