Dirty Dining: Spider Hut

Roaches in a restaurant -- you've heard that before. What about spiders? That's a new one. The I-Team investigates a local restaurant with more than two violations, and visitors with more than two legs. Who's chopping meat at the China Hut in Wellington? Are they washing their hands? And are they watching for bugs? The I-Team wants to know.

We couldn't get any answers at the front door of the China Hut in Wellington. The hostess asked us to turn off the camera and wait for the manager.

So, we went around the back of the restaurant and ran into the manager. Paperwork in hand, we told him what we saw in the report, "There were roaches and spiders found inside the establishment." Yep, you heard that right - spiders. That's a new one for us, and a tough question for the owner. He started talking about the roaches first, saying the health department came at exactly the same time as the cardboard box shipments. He says the roaches were hiding in the cardboard boxes, which is why restaurant operators should check the boxes for bugs and dump them after they are emptied.

Basically, he's saying the health department showed up the same day the roaches snuck in through the cardboard boxes. What a coincidence. So we asked about the spiders. The owner told us there were not too many. He offered to take us inside the restaurant.

We took a look inside with our camera, and it looked clean, but that wasn't the case on May 23rd. That was the day the state health inspector shut the place down for a "roach infestation" and "spiders."

The inspection report shows the inspector actually found 10 live cockroaches inside the kitchen and 9 spiders. The owner, though, argues his pest control guy couldn't find these elusive roaches and spiders.

We spoke to the pest control company over the phone and they told us the restaurant is not infested and recent checkups have been clean. But during our visit, we found a big violation that could mean an open door for more bugs in the future.

We told the owner, "You know having the back door open while you are preparing food is a health code violation, that door is supposed to be closed." That's so that bugs and flies cannot get into the restaurant kitchen. The owner told us his workers know that, but he says the door was open because they were emptying the cardboard boxes of food. He says he told them "You have to put the boxes outside."

So, the eight legged invaders are supposedly gone for now, but do the customers believe it? One customer told us, "I think it's pretty disgusting." So, would he eat there again? His response: "I don't know, maybe after another health report... wait for next health inspection to see how things go on the second try." 

We checked with our local bug expert and spiders don't really cause a major health concern like roaches or rats. However, spiders actually feed on roaches and other bugs. So, there would have to be food around, for them to stick around.  

Tara Cardoso, CBS 12 News I-Team.