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For the second time in less than three years, Lafayette Coney Island, the iconic Downtown Detroit Dinner, is closed to tackle a rodent pest, after a visit on Friday from the Detroit Health Department.
Denise Fair Razo, the Chief Public Health Officer of Detroit, told The Free Press on Saturday that her team visited the restaurant after a consumer complained about seeing rats while eating.
“We have received a complaint from the customer from our complaints hotel and we take every complaint very seriously,” said Fair Razo. “So the next day we went to Lafayette and we saw the proof of rat droppings in the basement. They were spread over the basement and that is unacceptable. They had not thoroughly cleaned the restaurant.”
This is the second rodent -related closure of Lafayette in the past three years. In 2022 a video of rodents in the restaurant was shared on social media, which led to a visit from the Detroit Health Department and a subsequent closure.
“This is exactly the same that happened two years ago,” said Fair Razo.
When health inspectors visited, they saw excrement of rats together with issues related to the activities of Lafayette and the structure of the building. After the report, Lafayette was voluntarily closed to tackle the problem.
According to an inspection report from Lafayette obtained by the Free Press, the restaurant is confronted with five separate quotes with regard to dirty food contact surfaces in the basement, holes in the basement foundation, the presence of rats droppings, incorrect waste storage and “polluted” floors.
“There are a few openings around the fall door to the sidewalk of the basement and there are also crumbling areas of the wall, which offer potential access to the rats and also other vermin, so they have to patch those areas,” said Fair Razo.
After the restaurant has used the downtime to clean up, the health department will re -inspect the establishment and hopefully give the green light to open again.
“We will do another inspection in the coming days and then if they have not been improved, we will close them,” said Fair Razo. “We are convinced that they can reopen with a new perspective, which is to keep a clean restaurant. That is very, very simple.”
Please contact Liam Rappleye: lrappleye@freepress.com.
