Caffe Martier - 411 E. Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach
That's where we begin, Caffe Martier.
Last time we visited Martier had just reopened after a temporary closure when state inspectors found rodents and flying insects. This time you can add cockroaches to the list.
"Rodent activity, roach activity and the flying insects. What's going on?" I asked.
"It's a big old building. Open air restaurant," said owner, Eli Kamholtz. He says the 110-year-old structure was badly in need of some extra TLC.
"Finally getting a professional team with the help of the landlord to come in and seal up the building was a big help," Kamholtz said.
"So you think you got it taken care of this time?" I asked. "According to the health inspector," Kamholtz replied.
Balil Caribbean Restaurant - 940 Park Avenue, Lake Park
Our next stop was in Lake Park. A tiny club/restaurant called Balil Caribbean Restaurant, temporarily closed for the double "R." Roaches and rodents.
"Sorry to bug you, just wanted to ask you a couple questions about the closure from last week," I said.
"Everything is already clean. Everything is good," said a man who identified himself as the owner.
He started throwing everything he could at us to prove his place was up to snuff. Receipts from the exterminator, various licenses and a whole slew of permits we didn't ask for.
"Everything is good, everything is straight," the owner added.
Islander Grill & Tiki Bar - 181 Ocean Avenue, Palm Beach Shores
This restaurant presented a bit of a challenge because it's inside the Palm Beach Shores Resort. It's often hard enough for us to get our cameras into strip mall restaurants so we figured as soon as we hit the revolving doors at the hotel entrance we'd be thrown out. Plus, we had no idea where where the tiki bar was so we had to ask for directions.
"At the elevator make a left, it's in the back," someone at the front desk told us. That went better than expected.
But as we made our final approach my photographer and I started to draw a lot of attention from guests.
"NewsChannel 5!"
"Great shirt!"
"Hey news guy!"
"What are you doing here?"
But despite the commotion, no one stopped us and somehow we made it all the way to the Islander Grill & Tiki Bar. Then we hit a roadblock.
"They shouldn't have let you on the lot," said resort manager Sherry Smith.
Still, we asked Sherry about the cockroaches that led to a temporary closure of the tiki bar.
"We don't have any comment on that," Sherry said.
So I started to beg.
"Ya sure?"
Turns out Sherry's a big softy and she told us how the bad inspection was handled.
"The state inspector came in and found a couple of deficiencies in the kitchen. We immediately attacked that and addressed it and we were open within 24 hours," Sherry said.
"Anything to say to customers?" I asked. "Come on in the food's fabulous and live entertainment every night," she replied.
La Rose Caribbean Restaurant - 10045 Belvedere Road, Royal Palm Beach
La Rose was our last stop this week. The Caribbean restaurant was actually closed down two days in a row by state inspectors. November 30th and then again December 1st, both times for cockroaches.
"How we doin? Here to talk to somebody about the inspection you guys had the last couple of weeks," I said.
A man who said he was one of the owners didn't give us his name but was happy to explain how they took care of the roaches in the kitchen.
"You wanna come and take a look?" he asked.
But then we heard a woman's voice behind us.
"Don't let them go back there," she said. The woman also wouldn't give a name but she made it clear she didn't want us there.
"We already took care of it like he told you. I would like for you guys to leave now."
Frustrating to end the day on that note...but three out of four ain't bad.
All four of the restaurants we visited this week passed their follow-up inspections and they are open for business. If you'd like to see how your favorite restaurant faired this week you can check out our databaseprovided by our partners at TcPalm.com.
