The Ugly Truth about Dirty Restaurants and Yelp

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Would you eat in a restaurant if you knew that the week before they got several people sick? You would be a fool if you did.

Yelp is going from a review site to the first line of defense in foodborne illness outbreaks. We’ve been very supportive of Yelp posting health inspection scores on their restaurant pages, and we would like to see more cities using the Yelp platform as a way to post those scores.

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Yelp is going beyond just partnering with local governments to gather and distribute health inspection score data. They are working on an open source datatype that will standardize how health inspections could be uploaded and distributed. Standardizing the scoring data allows for better analysis and quick apple to apple comparisons.

As you read the article below from Food Poison Journal, you will see that people who were affected by the Salmonella outbreak were very vocal themselves about what happened to them.

OpsAnalitica will continue to support more transparency of health inspection scores whether it be on yelp or letter grades, etc.; because we believe that it is good for the restaurant industry as a whole.

With transparency comes additional responsibility for health departments and Yelp. Health departments must make provisions, even if there is a cost associated with expedited service, to reinspect quickly.  A restaurant that get’s a C on their health score that quickly remediates their issues should be able to get a reinspection quickly even if they have to pay.

Yelp needs to be aware that fraudulent reviews can destroy a business and need to put in place ways for restaurants to prove when they are being wronged and to quickly remove fake reviews.

Please enjoy this article from the Food Poison Journal.

Yelp to the Rescue in Los Angeles Salmonella Outbreak at Don Antonio’s
POSTED BY PATTI WALLER ON MAY 3, 2015

Over the last week, Marler Clark was been retained by two friends who both ate together at Don Antonio’s in mid-March and developed Salmonella.

According to Yelp, a lot more people did as well.

Hannah:

My co-workers and I have been fans of Don Antonio’s lunch specials for years, until now.

We had lunch there Thursday, March 19. One of my coworkers got so sick that she spent three days in the hospital. My other coworker and I got hit with the illness a few days later and not as badly, but we’re still miserable. I am shocked to read the other reviews of people getting sick and am so upset that this was preventable. I will avoid Don Antonio’s at all costs now. It’s not worth the risk of a trip to the hospital.

Jose:

Don’t go there . On Friday March 20 2015 5 of my co-workers and my self we went to have lunch together and now we all have gone to emergency room! Because of diarrhea vomiting head ache fever and much more! But the worst part is that we went so see the doctor and we are still the same! Now I don’t know what to do because I have tried everything and nothing work.

Scarlett:

Is management aware that several customers, including myself got very ill? I went here on March 20 for lunch. Shortly after I got very sick. I went to my doctor and then to the hospital. It is salmonella. I am so angry.. I read the other reviews here so I’m wondering if management is aware? !

Dionne:

BEWARE! I see others have already posted but my daughter and I ate here on 3/19 and she got salmonella. As of 4/3 she is still ill. I’m horribly upset to see others wound up sick too; I am posting in hopes no one goes there.

Golden T.:

FOOD POISONING!

As with the other Yelp reviewers that recently went to Don Antonio’s for lunch, my two friends and I also got sick. We ate there on Friday, March 20th. I ended up in the ER for several hours, went through two bags of IV for hydration, took pain medication, anti-nausea medication and antibiotics. I just recently started to feel a little better but still not 100%.

My friend took food home for her family. Her 3 y/o and 14 y/o also got extremely ill. She and her 14 y/o went to Urgent Care and she took her youngest to a pediatrician.

Our other friend, who has a new baby, was also very ill and is struggling to recover.

This is worthy of a Department of Health investigation. For my sick compatriots, I hope that all of us can fully recover from this.

Cassandra S.:

My boyfriend recently got food poisoning or so we thought it was just food poisoning after he ate lunch at the restaurant last Friday. He’s been bed ridden since Friday and it’s now Wednesday. We’ve been to the hospital twice and to the doctor’s twice. Finally, we received a call from the Dr. that he got salmonella. Not freaking cool Don Antonois. Really disgusting.

Veronica L:

My Husband and 3 of his co-workers all ended up with Food Poisoning after having lunch at this place. We spent the weekend at Urgent Care, my husband had diarrhea, vomiting , and temperature of 103.4. Him and his co-workers all have missed work due to the same. I would not recommend this place at all! We all think they recycle their salsa.

Andrea M.:

Salmonella! My friend are here on March 20, 2015 and became very sick. The sickness lasted for one week. Had to go to the hospital multiple times. Test came back as salmonella. Beware – don’t want this happening to anyone else.

Todd H.:

Salmonella! To everybody who has been sick from eating at Don Antonio’s, go to the hospital immediately because it is Salmonella. It was the worst week of my life. Hopefully, nobody else has to go through what I went through.

Leonel Z.:

Warning do not go to this restaurant…

My friends and I came to this restaurant last week on Friday March 20 2015 and we all ended up at the emergency room with a really bad bacteria and didn’t know what it was… They gave me the results today and they said i have salmonella. Eat at your own risk.

And, one from Trip Advisor:

Ms. L:

“SALMONELLA POISONING. Don’t go here”

We have eaten here over 15 years and I was horrified to find out my friend and I got Salmonella poisoning there on March 20, 2015. It’s unacceptable that a Los Angeles restaurant with an “A” rating can be delivering salmonella to its customers for several days. I’ve just discovered others online reviews (see Yelp) confirming the same thing. It’s a disgusting illness, worse than standard food poisoning and serious. Whatever they did, too many people got sick so they should be investigated to find out what’s going on there. It’s an extremely popular restaurant, very successful and there is no excuse for such an incident. Shame on you Don Antonio’s, what happened to all of us who ate there that week could have been life threatening, words cannot describe my disappointment.

Salmonella: Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. The Salmonella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. Our Salmonella lawyers have litigated Salmonella cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and food served in restaurants. The law firm has brought Salmonella lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart.

If you or a family member became ill with a Salmonella infection, including Reactive Arthritis or Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Salmonella attorneys for a free case evaluation.

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Tommy Yionoulis

I've been in the restaurant industry for most of my adult life. I have a BSBA from University of Denver Hotel Restaurant school and an MBA from the same. When I wasn't working in restaurants I was either doing stand-up comedy, for 10 years, or large enterprise software consulting. I'm currently the Managing Director of OpsAnalitica and our Inspector platform was originally conceived when I worked for one of the largest sandwich franchisors in the country. You can reach out to me through LinkedIn.

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3 Comments

  1. Yelp is a forum for anyone’s opinion whether good or bad. It does not stop bad reviews from people with an ax to grind. A business that has nothing to do with yelp is stuck with any comments from any person on anything they want to say and yelp allows it only to make a buck$$$..
    The business of policing is up to the agency that regulates that business, not yelp.
    If you operate your business in a good and professional manner then your reputation will speak for its self. Yelp is not regulated and allows good and bad press to help it sell its membership.
    YELP

    1. OpsAnalitica says:

      Good point. Like anything else the flashy story sells.

  2. […] posted a blog two days ago, The Ugly Truth about Dirty Restaurants and Yelp, and it has generated some very passionate comments about Yelp and the people who were apparently […]

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