Local Restaurant Fails Second Health Inspection. Has Never Had A Zero-Violation Inspection

Problems with a dishwasher was one of the issues at a local restaurant.Photo byDenny MülleronUnsplash

While the quality of a restaurant’s food is always important, so too is how owners take care of the food and building. Many eateries around greater Tucson thrive at keeping facilities clean. They follow all of the well-established guidelines created by the county. While it does require extra elbow grease to keep everything clean and maintained, it is essential. The health and well-being of every customer and employee depends on it. Unfortunately, not every restaurant takes food safety seriously, as one local restaurant has yet to record an inspection without at least one violation. It has also failed its second inspection in its last three visits. 

Located at 4745 South Landing Way here in Tucson, Ojos Locos Sports Cantina has never performed well on food health and safety inspections. Its first educational inspection back in September of 2022, recorded six violations. A year later, it still had six violations (different problems, just the same number). The restaurant cut the number down to three violations during a follow-up inspection later in September but then failed outright a month later. 

Typically, when a restaurant fails a health inspection it is continually visited until the issues are corrected. Despite this, the health department did not return until July 23 of this year, nine months after its failing grade. Once again, the restaurant had six violations. And now, during its most recent inspection on August 6, it failed the inspection. 

The good news is, while Ojos Locos Sports Cantina just failed its second inspection in the last three visits, it was its best overall inspection to date, with only one recorded violation. The exact reason as to why the restaurant failed was not released on the updated paperwork (which is not unusual). However, based on the previous “Needs Improvement” inspection, the restaurant either had continued problems with its dish machine sanitizer bucket, which was not registering any chlorine sanitizer solution (the machine should dispense between 50 and 20 PPM to adequately disinfect dishes), or because the Person In Charge (PIC) was unable to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of proper food temperature controls, such as how to cook, chill, and store food while avoiding the food “Danger Zone” (temperatures between 41 and 135 degrees, where bacteria can easily grow and thrive). 

Regardless of the exact reasoning, the county will make another follow-up inspection of the restaurant. Perhaps this time around it will receive its first ever zero-violation inspection.