Roach infestation shuts down popular Italian restaurant for a week
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A popular Albuquerque Italian restaurant, Trombino’s, was shut down by the Environmental Health Department for the past week because of a roach infestation and other violations.
Trombino’s is just one of many restaurants having issues this month. The Environmental Health Department said sanitation issues have been on the rise for the past few years.
“We actually had a complaint initially in May that led to a very short-term closure. We thought that the situation was resolved at that point, but then we got another complaint that came in last week,” said Deputy Director Mark DiMenna.
Complaint after complaint came in against Trombino’s Bistro Italiano, forcing the city’s Environmental Health Department to step in.
“They found there was an infestation going on,” said DiMenna.
The restaurant was slapped with a big red tag for immediate closure on Wednesday, June 14.
“For food service, you know, you get something a little more upscale like Trombino’s that generally does a pretty good job. I mean, it’s frustrating for everybody, and you might think this isn’t the kind of place that I’d expect to see this,” said DiMenna.
The report found a heavy presence of roaches in the salad and bread bar area, near sauté stations, in the prep area, in the pantry, and the list goes on.
“Once that infestation really gets established and gets underway, it’s only going to want to spread,” said DiMenna.
They aren’t the only ones. Longhorn Steakhouse off Menual near Coronado Mall also got closed for roaches.
China Inn off Montgomery was closed for mice. Both of those restaurants have already cleaned up and reopened.
Dimenna said it’s a problem they are seeing more and more since the pandemic.
“We’ve had to typically close a couple a week, and we’re downgrading two or three times as many,” said DiMenna. That’s up from having to close a few a month pre-pandemic.
Plus, they expect it to be a long summer for bugs.
“We’ve seen a lot of more pest issues than we’ve ever seen before recently and on top of everything else it’s been a big start for insects this year in Albuquerque,” said Dimenna.
Either way, the goal is always to get these places open as soon as possible safely, and it seems Trombino’s is taking the issue seriously, bringing in a pest control company.
“The inspector has been on site this morning. He’s been walking around with the manager out there and feels like there is a significant improvement,” said DiMenna.
Trombino’s was officially able to reopen Wednesday afternoon. DiMenna said customers should feel confident in the green sticker in the window.
KRQE reached out to Trombino’s for comment but did not hear back.
Source: KRQE News 13
