Daruma restaurant back open after health scare

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NAPLES, Fla.- A popular Naples restaurant was forced to close after inspectors found live roaches crawling all over the place.

A report showed Daruma Japanese Steakhouse had seven violations. Three were so severe, the restaurant was required to fix the problem before serving any guests.

“Yesterday it was my birthday and I invited 17 of my friends and family to go to Daruma,” said Jen Owsiany, “then I got a call at like 6 o’clock.”

Owsiany received a call from a restaurant employee saying:

“Hi this is Daruma calling, I am very sorry but our restaurant is closed at this moment because of a water pipe broke.”

But, a public report with Monday’s date on it didn’t mention anything about a broken pipe.

The restaurant was cited for multiple violations including sanitary problems, keeping raw meats not properly separated, and multiple instances of live and dead roaches inside.

“I was like is this a coincidence or are they lying to me about the water main break? I don’t know,” said Owsiany.

The report shows six live roaches were found under a hibachi table and 25 dead roaches under the hostess stand.

“It’s kind of gross to see all the roaches. You know, one or two is normal living here in Florida,” said Owsiany. “To have all those, it’s really gross.”

When WINK News went to the restaurant early Tuesday, workers told us not to pay attention to a sign saying the restaurant was closed.

By early Tuesday evening, the signs were taken down. Workers tell WINK News they were given the go ahead to reopen.

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