Sunset Grille, located inside the Tiger Point Golf Course’s clubhouse was shut down last Thursday after failing a routine inspection by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Inspectors with DBPR found 3 serious violations including finding insects in the kitchen food and “semi-fresh” rodent droppings inside and on top of food.
The report noted that there were rodent droppings in bags of flour, onion storage containers and even on the floor around the oven, ice machine, fryers and dishwasher.
During the inspection, DBPR workers forced Sunset Grill workers to throw away any contaminated food they found. The report indicated that workers did immediately.
Other violations noted in the report included food being stored on the floor, a faulty temperature gauge and utensils that weren’t properly stored. There were also notes of food and food containers that were not properly marked with expiration dates after being opened. Those food items included cream, coleslaw, milk, cooked brisket and beef tips.
Also noted in the report was the fact that employees at the restaurant had no proof in hand that they had completed required state training to operate at the facility.
According to Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin “Buz” Eddy, the city does not look over the day-to-day operations of the golf course anymore, even though they purchased it back in 2012. The city hired Integrity Golf Company last September to run operations at the course, including the restaurant inside of the golf clubhouse.
Eddy said to his knowledge, this was the first time Sunset Grille has failed an inspection.
“They reopened immediately. I believe they opened the next day,” Eddy said.
