Denica’s Cafe, located at 2280 Oak Grove Rd. in Walnut Creek, was closed on Aug.1 after inspectors from the Contra Costa County Health Department say they discovered the following during an inspection.
- 1 dead juvenile cockroach and associated debris on wall left of the toaster, next to electrical outlet and opposite the cook line.
- 1 dead adult; 2 egg casings; and 2 dead juvenile cockroaches on glue boards under the cash register.
- 2 dead adult and 1 cockroach egg casing on glue board on floor to the right of the bakery case.
- Observed wiggling antenna sticking through crack between wall and quarry tile cove base behind the steam table in the kitchen.
Other observations include:
- Employee failed to properly wash hands between touching dirty dishes and handling clean dishes.
- Buildup of grease and food debris on equipment throughout facility.
The restaurant has since been reinspected and reopened.
Please click on the ‘Dirty Dining‘ link to view all the most recent restaurant closures in Contra Costa County.
26 comments
Better check Panda Express next door seen several on the floor by the front door a few weeks ago.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just post list of establishments that do -NOT- have any outstanding health code violation. Certainly would be a shorter list.
Every restaurant has at least some, albeit perhaps minor, health violations.
“Observed wiggling antenna”
AAANNND I’m never going there again.
The old ” wiggling antenna sticking through crack between wall and quarry tile violation” that’s the third time I’ve heard it this month!
(apologies to Agent 86).
* Observed wiggling antenna sticking through crack, the Roach was saying you can’t get me..Ha Ha Ha….
This doesn’t surprise me we ate there on Friday and a homeless man with all his stuff was there the whole time eating all the chips. All his dirty bags were on the ground and the employees ignored the fact he was eating and his hands were going into the chip station.
Ugh…the homeless man did not bring in the cockroaches. Stop blaming the homeless, who are an easy target.
Wow….that is disgusting.
I have no desire to eat at a place that tolerates filth.
Hilarious.
I asked a manager at BevMo what he thought or if he visited Denica’s He rolled his eyes and said I wouldn’t go there. Today’s news explains everything.
Again?
I have a suggestion. Right now there are a million lizards running around in my backyard. They love cockroaches and there will be no stick traps with dead ones stuck to them. No evidence of roaches at all. Catch a couple and put them where you have roaches.
You’re right on about the lizards.
In Hawaii they keep geckos in homes to kill
cockroaches and other bugs.
http://www.coffeetimes.com/geckos.htm
After reading that article seems you need a cat box for them. The hard looks like training them to use it.
Interesting article about the geckos. We ate dinner at the Beach House Restaurant on Kauai last week and noticed a couple of geckos on the wall.
Yes! We have a couple of friendlies too. Lizards, opossum, skunks. All hunt bugs and mice. So, if you must poison vermin it is best to use a more friendly elimination.
The lizards are fun. They will run out into view when watering, the water rustles up the bugs. They will take a flying leap right in front of you, then chomp down a meal in a few gulps.
last month I read a Yelp review and the reviewer said he had a cockroach in his breakfast burrito. That put me off the place for good.
This is the review:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/denicas-real-food-kitchen-walnut-creek?hrid=PU8JgJkR12XACiXKyirkkQ&utm_source=ishare
The good thing is the manager made it right by refunding the customer’s money and offering him anything he wanted on the house. I would not hesitate eating at such an upstanding restaurant.
I don’t know what is more disturbing: the cockroach infestation, the contaminated clean dishes, or the buildup of grease and food debris throughout the facility.
The “throughout the facility” notation really disturbs me. Appears little to no effort taken to keep the eatery clean. That’s a disgusting habit and mindset that isn’t going to change over a day or 2 of health dept. closure.
All three of their other locations are rated 4-star by Yelp. I am sure if they hire a new manager, he or she will be able to get the restaurant up to standards. Also, the health department would have not let them re-open if things were not adequate.
Are cockroaches a problem? I was in Hawaii and there were cockroaches in the restaurant and they said that this is very common and not to worry about it.
Other than that, I went to Denicas a few days ago and it took a very long time to order, the waste baskets were overflowing and I thought that $18 for my lunch seemed like a high price.
I am a very frequent customer here, and I love this place. I was very sad to see this and I hope they learn from this and can recover from it. Their bakery goods are fabulous, and they fill a niche that nobody else in our neck of the woods can. I often walk there for breakfast or stop by to pick up baked goods for the office. Cmon Denica’s get your act together, and it didnt help when you lied and told everyone you were closed because of a “water issue”
EEW! I found a huge bug in my breakfast burrito 2 weeks ago..I am so disgusted to read about this and also realize a reviewer in MAY also found a roach in his burrito. Just wrote a yelp review. This SUCKS for moms who need a kid friendly hang out, but this is just too gross for me to go back. Sorry Denicas
I went there on Saturday for my birthday breakfast and now I’m disgusted! I first went a couple years ago and the last time I went was probably six months ago but there was something about the food this time so I didn’t even eat half of my eggs benedict. Maybe subconsciously I knew they were dirty *gag*
I used to go there quite often. Didn’t go for about 6 months due to my work schedule. I took my daughter there since she wanted crepes before leaving to college. My impression was something changed. All the booths had major ripped up seating and the floor was not swept, the plates did not look really clean. We ate however, I thought I doubt I’ll be back for awhile. Now… probably never!
The last time I ate there, about two years ago, the table busser bent over and wiped up something on the floor, then came to our table and started to wipe the table down. I pointed this out to her, and she left and came back with another cloth. I decided not to return…
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