San Antonio's Dirty Dozen

Roaches, rodents, and flying insects. When you head out to eat you expect a clean restaurant. But how do you know for sure?

The health department gets more than 100 complaints of food poisoning a year. To keep you safe, health inspectors make sure restaurants follow food safety codes.

Inspectors give demerits violations, such as, food at unsafe temperatures, contamination of food, and signs of roaches or mice.

Dirty Dozen #12: We have a two-way tie with an average of just over 22 demerits. At the Jacala Restaurant on West Ave., inspectors found insects and slime in the ice machine. At Flor De Chiapas on Blanco the inspector found meat sitting out to thaw and food in the fridge wasn't labeled with a use-by date.

Dirty Dozen #10: With an average score of 23 demerits is Sushi Zushi on I-10 and Wurzbach. The inspector found they were not storing cleaning chemicals properly and he found drain flies.

Dirty Dozen #9: El Sombrero on Bandera averaged more than 23 demerits. The inspector found evidence of rodents and they were using the same cutting board for the raw chicken and the vegetables.

Dirty Dozen #8: Andrea's Mexican Restaurant located on SW Loop 410 pulled in an average of more than 24 demerits. Inspectors found raw meat bleeding on the potatoes. They were eventually thrown out. Also, there was no soap in the employee restroom.

Dirty Dozen #7: Two restaurants tie again with an average of 25 demerits. At the Taqueria Jalisco on Zarzamora the health inspector found rodent droppings on two separate occasions and evidence of insects. At Rocky's Tacos on Pleasanton the inspector reported flies in the food prep area and noticed employees were not washing their hands after handling food.

Dirty Dozen #5: El Potosino on Bandera Road came in with an average of more than 25 demerits. The health inspector found roaches in the kitchen and gnats in the storage room.

Dirty Dozen #4: Taqueria Jalisco on Old Pearsall Rd. scored an average of 26 demerits. After a customer complained of seeing a mouse in the dining room, the inspector found rodent droppings and spoiled vegetables in the pantry.

Dirty Dozen #3: Taqueria El Rancho De Jalisco on Dollarhide averaged more than 26 demerits. In one inspection, the inspector wrote "too many flies". In another, he noted that chicken was thawing in the hand sink.

Dirty Dozen #2: Taqueria Guadalajara on Vance Jackson averaged 29 demerits. The inspector found gnats in the kitchen, food cooling on the floor, and food kept at an unsafe temperature.

So which restaurant was the dirtiest?

Dirty Dozen #1: China Harbor III on Southwest Military Drive. They served up an unbelievable 45 average demerits on three food safety inspections from the health department in the past twelve months. On one visit the inspector gave them 59 demerits. He cited them for storing gasoline in the restaurant and smoking in the kitchen.

The inspector also told the manager to stop spraying raid insect spray around food and customers. The manager refused to comment, but some customers gave us their reaction to the news.

"It's kind of weird, you wouldn't think a big restaurant like this would have the problems that it does have with the food control and the sanitary you know conditions," said one customer.

Another told us,"That's nasty. You know for being a buffet it should be a better place."
Only three restaurants responded to our story.

The owner of El Sombrero said they haven't had a bad inspection in months and everything is clean. The owner of Sushi Zushi said everything is always clean and all violations have been corrected. Workers at Taqueria Guadalajara said they have new owners and are fixing all the problems.