Milpitas restaurant PhoLove has been cleared by the county’s health department to reopen, just days after it was temporarily closed when a viral video showed an employee slamming frozen ribs on the ground.
The video — which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views across different social media platforms — shows someone grabbing slabs of ribs and slamming them against pieces of cardboard placed on stained concrete. At different points in the video, the meat skitters against the stained concrete and bumps into a mop bucket. The video is shot from above and appears to be a view from the roof of the restaurant.
A self-proclaimed geoguesser on Reddit posted that the restaurant was PhoLove in Milpitas, and claimed to have reported the restaurant to the health department.
The connection to the restaurant led to a flood of negative reviews and outrage from across the county and even Canada.
“I’m concerned as the people, and I understand the outrage,” said restaurant owner Uyen Tran in a message to this news organization last week. “We will work our best to address the situation.”
According to Sam, a family member of Tran’s who did not want to use his last name since he says the family has received threats, Tran is “still in shock for what happened” and from dealing with the “criticism and hateful comments.”
Santa Clara County Environmental Health conducted an investigation last Thursday morning and noted “major violations, including a cockroach infestation” — the inspector saw a cockroach on a cooler – and an inability to “properly sanitize utensils and equipment.” The restaurant also was cited for its handling of the frozen ribs and was forced to close until the owners can address the issues and “demonstrate acceptable food handling practices.”
Initially, restaurant owner Uyen Tran painted the video as an attempt at sabotage. “This was a deliberate act by a former employee and an accomplice, and we were never involved,” said Tran on in comment on Yelp.
However, since then, the restaurant said they found no evidence of a set-up. Interviews with the employee and owner included in last week’s inspection report offer more context. According to the report, the outdoor meat handling was a one-time occurrence because there was a limited amount of space on the counter used to prepare meat. The meat is usually thawed in a refrigerator or in a prep sink, the report stated.
The employee in the video was a dishwasher who was not authorized to handle food, according to Sam – the family member of the owner. The dishwasher asked to help separate a new shipment of frozen beef ribs and took it upon himself to slam the meat against the ground. After realizing the ribs had been soiled, the dishwasher threw them out.
“His action is really confusing,” the relative said in a message to this news organization. “None of our food handlers told him to do so. It’s absolutely unacceptable and unnecessary to do so.”
The dishwasher is no longer working for the company, and the restaurant is unsure when it will open, since it wants to ensure the safety of customers and employees, the owner’s relative said
Monday afternoon, the department conducted a follow up inspection of the restaurant, which showed that the major violations had been resolved, according to a statement from the county health department. The restaurant has been equipped to properly sanitize utensils, and both the inspection and most recent pest control reports showed no evidence of cockroach infestation.
The department will conduct an unannounced follow-up inspection of the restaurant in upcoming weeks.