Restaurant Inspections: Grand Asian Buffet

Valerie Chang
October 18th, 2012

     Yet again, another Asian restaurant has been closed because of it's depressing low health inspection score. It never ceases to amaze me how a restaurant could even get so bad that cockroaches would be found in the bulk sugar, melted margarine, and where roaches and gnats are infesting all the potatoes. In this particular buffet, all these disgusting events have happened, not to mention the live and dead roaches in the sushi bar, stir fry pans, on the floor, shelves in the kitchen, and food prep areas. I can't even bear to mention the fact that at one of the routine inspections, a cockroach ran around the hibachi grill.
     They were closed because of this nasty environment, but that's not all. It is one thing for there to be bugs, but then there was mold found in two of the ice machines and on two cutting boards in the sushi prep area. Personally, I feel too cautious now to trust another sushi restaurant, but of course I'm exaggerating. Honestly, this is not the first time an Asian restaurant has had a terrible health inspection/environment. In fact, Asian restaurants are somewhat notorious for these kind of conditions (not saying most or all of them are like this, but that it is more common for Asian restaurants than other restaurants).
     Unfortunately, the "American" opinion of clean doesn't necessarily cover the Asian one. In China and Vietnam, it isn't uncommon for restaurants to simple be plastic chairs and tables on the side of the road outside. In that case, cleanliness isn't really an option. But it's not just those kinds of casual dining. Even some of the restaurants that are in an actual building are horrendously disturbing.  The cleanliness condition there is probably the same if not worse. But to them, it's "not a big deal." And because of their culture, they don't feel it is mandatory to change their ways when opening a casual dining restaurant in the United States. There are some other reasons, however. Some just choose not to deal with the infestations because they are too lazy or they don't want to pay for the maintenance of keeping a restaurant clean. It's just culture.
     I do not condone this kind of behavior of course, but I can somewhat understand why this is how it is for many Asian restaurant owners. This is not a stereotype, but a reoccurring problem; as an Asian myself, I see this a lot since I go to so many of these restaurants. And I can call these "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants in the sense that they treat them like holes in a wall, not in the sense of a remote location.

I really hope this gets fixed soon.

Kessler, John. "Restaurant Inspections, Grand Asian Buffet." Restaurant Inspections, Grand Asian Buffet. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://blogs.ajc.com/food-and-more/2012/10/18/restaurant-inspections-grand-asian-buffet/?cxntfid=blogs_food_and_more>.