Alleged rat spotted inside 'Tommy's Hamburgers' restaurant in Long Beach
(FOX 11) - A disturbing discovery at a 'Tommy's Hamburgers' restaurant in Long Beach.
A man was walking by the window when he says he spotted a rat!
He quickly turned on his cell phone and posted the video to Facebook that shows a rat crawling inside a fast food restaurant has customers at Tommy's Burger in Long Beach feeling queasy.
"We'll that's quite disgusting I actually had a burger from here a couple days ago," customer, Cade Becherer, said.
The video was taken Monday morning when Juan Estrada said he spotted the rat sneaking around the front counter of the closed burger restaurant.
"When I saw it I felt disgusted you know that's a place that I go eat a lot and when I saw that it really grossed me out," Estrada said.
What he posted to Facebook as a warning to his friends not to eat here, caught the attention of the Long Beach Health Department.
Inspectors who visited Thursday morning said there was no evidence of a rodent infestation, but customers beleive Estrada's video tells a different story.
"Obviously I won't be back in the near future," customer, Tom Russell, said. "That's pretty compelling evidence there."
The restaurant was allowed to remain open since health inspectors found no infestation.
It was given an A-rating that's posted in the window, ironically the rat is seen on video crawling around the previously posted health inspection.
"I don't know what it was doing there it was probably scavenging for food," Estrada said. "It was there for awhile and we were just amazed."
The Tommy's Burger on East Anaheim Street has been a longtime staple in the Long Beach community and some fans of the burger chain are coming to its defense.
"I love Tommy's, I've been coming here for a long time I'm from Long Beach," one resident said. "Every single restaurant has pest issues and I feel bad that Tommy's is getting the brunt of it right now."
Tommy's corporate office said the restaurant does monthly pest treatments and hasn't had any rat problems in the past.
"I've been eating here a long time never gotten sick," customer, John DiFranco said. "Long Beach Health Department came in and said everything was cool so I'll take their word for it."
Tommy's corporate office sent FOX 11 the following statement:
'Original Tommy's Hamburgers takes great pride in maintaining a high standard of cleanliness in all our restaurants. All of our restaurants are inspected by local health departments on regular basis and have received the letter grade A, the highest rating in the industry.
We are aware that someone posted a video of our Long Beach restaurant but we have no knowledge of the authenticity of the video.
Our Long Beach restaurant received the letter grade A from the local health department. On Wednesday, August 17, 2017, the health department did an inspection and did not find any evidence of infestation, therefore the restaurant still has the highest rating of letter grade A.
Our pest prevention company does monthly inspections and treatment and has not noted any pest issues at the Long Beach restaurant.'
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