Oconomowoc Chinese restaurant voluntarily closes, bugs in food
Oconomowoc Chinese restaurant voluntarily closes, bugs in food
A startling discovery in a Chinese takeout box from Emperor’s Garden in Oconomowoc has prompted the restaurant where it came from to voluntarily shut down.
OCONOMOWOC, Wis. - A startling discovery in a Chinese takeout box from Emperor’s Garden in Oconomowoc has prompted the restaurant where it came from to voluntarily shut down.
Waukesha County Environmental Health inspectors found violations this week. It all stems from a man who reached out to Waukesha County – and to FOX6 News – with pictures of bugs in his meal last Saturday.
Violations found
What To Know:
He ordered through DoorDash and said he found ‘winged insects’ and larvae inside the food container. Waukesha County did an inspection on Tuesday and noted several violations. Inspectors said the food inside Emperor’s Garden was stored in a cooler that was too warm. It all got thrown out. There were also problems with the water temperature at hand and equipment washing stations not being hot enough. Other violations involved the front door being left open without a screen – and "evidence of flies throughout the restaurant."
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FOX6 News reached out to the owner by email and telephone but has not heard back yet. The owner told inspectors that a new city transformer blew several fuses at the restaurant on Sept. 29 and caused the air conditioning, oven and freezer to have issues. The owner voluntarily closed Emperor’s Garden until the county can verify the water heater and coolers can maintain proper temperatures. Pictures were shown to customers, who said it made them feel sick.
What they're saying:
"I’m surprised to see that picture and the photo," Ethan Silzewski, a customer, said. "It makes me not want to eat there ever again. But hopefully they can clean it up and make the best of it."
FOX6 News reached out to the city to clarify what exactly happened when that transformer was replaced last month. A spokeswoman provided this statement:
"Oconomowoc Utilities had scheduled an outage with seven customers at 2am on September 29 to replace a transformer. Upon re-energizing the new transformer, a problem with the voltage was identified. Power was shut down immediately, the voltage issue was rectified, and power was restored shortly after 7am."
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County health officials said the Mexican restaurant next door, El Jimador, was also inspected on Tuesday and noted the water heater and equipment there were all working fine.
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Bret LeMoine and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from Waukesha County Environmental Health, a customer, the City of Oconomowoc and FOX6 News reporting.