Restaurant stays opens after customer calls about roaches

A restaurant in downtown Columbia is staying open after inspectors discovered roaches last week.

The Chinese Wok was cleared on Monday after fixing the issues. The business at the corner of Fifth Street and Broadway was cited for six critical and six non-critical violations, after a customer said he found a roach on his table.

A critical violation could potentially cause a foodborne illness. The ones at China Wok included a soiled cooker, no sanitizer in the kitchen, dirty food prep tables and expired meat.

The non-critical violations included the presence of cockroaches, dirty floors, excessive clutter and no towels at the sink.

Shaun Thornton was the diner who allegedly found the roach. He claims the waitress set a tray on the table, and when she picked up the tray, a dead roach fell off the bottom and landed on the table.

Thornton said she used a plate of food to scoot the roach off of the table, and then pretended not to see it.

The manager at the Chinese Wok would not give his name, but he said the building has had a roach problem since they moved in about a year ago.

He claimed his landlord did not tell him there were roaches in the building, but he cannot move because he has two more years left in the contract.

He said he treats for bugs every month and is working to control the problem.

He would not comment on the other violations.