The Korean restaurant accused of putting a rat in a couple’s takeout order has been closed by the New York City Department of Mental Hygiene for safety reasons.
Gammeeok failed a health and safety inspection that included inspectors who allegedly found rat droppings inside the Midtown Manhattan establishment.
In a statement to various outletsA spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams said health officials are continuing to investigate the restaurant and the claims.
“Our top priority is protecting the health of New Yorkers and if a restaurant has conditions that threaten diners in our city, it will be closed,” said Fabien Levy.
Gammeeok’s owners had denied the claims made against their restaurant, even posting footage earlier this week of servers preparing the couple’s food, saying the couple is lying about their allegations.
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Gammeeok, a popular Korean restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, has closed after failing a safety inspection with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
A series of viral photos showed the rodent floating on top of the bin while entangled in what appeared to be vegetables and beef from the Gammeeok restaurant.
Eunice Lucero-Lee and her husband, Jason Lee, who posted the shocking video and photos of the meal Monday, have filed a lawsuit against the restaurant.
According to sources who spoke to TMZ, inspectors from the health department found rat droppings inside the restaurant earlier this week.
Additionally, people said the restaurant did not have a trained supervisor on site nor did it have food stored at the proper temperature.
The restaurant also reportedly did not have the correct permits, which Health Department officials had warned them about in the past.
In a statement, Levy told the outlet that they investigated the situation immediately after hearing the disturbing allegations against the establishment.
“No restaurant in New York City is authorized to have mice or rats on the menu and we are investigating further,” Levy said.
If they want to reopen soon, Gammeeok staff will need to correct the violations and pay any fines imposed on them.
Signaling aware on the doors of the restaurant show that they have been closed by the Department of Health. Another sign says they are also closed for ‘maintenance’.
It’s been one success after another for the once-esteemed restaurant that vehemently denies the claims made by the couple who sued their business.
The saga began after Eunice Lucero-Lee and her husband Jason Lee posted shocking videos and photos of their food on Instagram on Monday.
In a series of posts Wednesday, the restaurant responded to the couple’s claims, saying they “don’t make sense.”
The restaurant claims the couple wrote a review for another Korean restaurant six years ago claiming they found “a big mistake” in their takeout soup, but deleted it after their post went viral.
The New York City Department of Health lists the restaurant as currently “closed”
Records from the New York City Department of Health showed that Gammeeok received 15 violations at the last inspection on Jan. 18.
According to sources who spoke to TMZ, inspectors from the health department found rat droppings inside the restaurant earlier this week.
Additionally, people said the restaurant did not have a trained supervisor on site nor did it have food stored at the proper temperature.
“No restaurant in New York City is authorized to have mice or rats on the menu and we are investigating further,” said a spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams.
Gammeeok has repeatedly dismissed the couple’s claims about the rat in their food.
“It’s a rare experience for most people in their entire lives,” Gammeeok wrote in a post that included the since-deleted review.
Now they remove the review. Because?’ asked the restaurant, without specifying the restaurant.
The post included a photo of a meal similar to the one the Lees ordered with a fly floating on top.
The couple have not responded to the claims made publicly by the restaurant.
A later comment added: ‘They hide their previous howl review. After going out at another Korean restaurant, they wrote a review on Yelp saying a fly came out, but when we brought it up, they quickly deleted it.
Before being closed, Gammeeok had a ‘C’ rating from the Department of Health.
In Gammeeok’s reply Instagram post, they included video of their workers supposedly preparing the couple’s food to show off a rat-free stew.
The restaurant also made sure to include a clip of employees placing chopsticks in the bag of the completed order, after the Lees claimed in their post that the restaurant did not include them.
‘This is Gammaeok’, the post begins. “It is understandable but unfortunate that public opinion has deteriorated.”
‘Once, the person ordered food with ubereats. If a ‘rat’ came out, it could be argued as evidence by saying ‘Look at this’ when they came to our store, but we didn’t see anything real,” the post continues.
The restaurant also addressed allegations that they offered the couple a $5,000 bribe if they promised to keep quiet about the mishap.
They claim that never happened and that the couple was offered a $100 gift card “in the spirit of always dealing with customer complaints by keeping a low profile.”
“Our top priority is protecting the health of New Yorkers and if a restaurant has conditions that threaten our city’s diners, it will be closed,” the mayor’s spokesman said.
Despite Gammeeok’s rejection, Lucero-Lee urged people to avoid the restaurant at all costs.
“At the time of the first call, foreign substances came out of the food due to the poor quality of the call, so the manager said he would give you a Ubereats refund guide and a $100 gift card,” he recalled. the restaurant about the alleged call with Jason, Eunice’s. husband.
“But he immediately asked for $5,000,” the restaurant alleged, adding that the man later demanded more money, to the tune of $25,000, after he was checked out at a local hospital.
“After going to the hospital, he asked for the hospital bill,” the restaurant wrote. ‘He immediately called and demanded $25,000. After that we said we couldn’t afford it so we said we were going to hire a lawyer to take action.
“At the time of the incident, it was a weekend, so it was difficult to contact and difficult to judge arbitrarily without the advice of a lawyer,” Gammeeok continued to allege.
Aside from the rodent incident, New York City Health Department records show Gammeeok received 15 citations at its last inspection on Jan. 18.
Several of the violations showed that the restaurant lacked proper sanitation, food safety, and cleanliness protocols.
One violation listed a health concern of ‘Dirt or Food/Garbage/Sewage Flies Associated With (FRSA) Flies or Other Nuisance Pests in Food and/or Non-Food Areas of the Establishment’.
“FRSA flies include house flies, house flies, bottle flies, meat flies, drain flies, Phorid flies, and fruit flies,” the violation stated.