Mexican restaurant reopens three weeks after cockroach found in customer’s burrito

Carolina’s Mexican Food has reopened at 3840 Franklin Boulevard three weeks after a customer found a cockroach inside his burrito and a subsequent health inspection revealed a kitchen infestation.

The 24-hour Mexican restaurant passed its re-inspection, results of which were not immediately available, on Tuesday and was open for business Wednesday. Carolina’s locations in downtown Sacramento and on Valley Hi Drive were not directly impacted by the closure, nor were restaurants in Citrus Heights, Roseville and Antelope.

Sean Young bought two burritos from Carolina’s at about 1:10 a.m. Aug. 20. He ate one of the burritos before going to bed, then woke up and started eating the second at about 10 a.m. About three bites in, he came across a dead cockroach, he said.

Young called the Sacramento County Environmental Management Department, which found 34 to 48 live cockroaches as well as a live mouse during an inspection the next day. Roughly 60 to 80 mouse droppings were also found in a walk-in cooler, behind the front counter and atop packages of food.

Restaurants can be re-inspected 24 hours after a forced closure, but Carolina’s waited three weeks for its follow-up. Managers at the Franklin Boulevard location did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cockroaches often breed during the summer and like to nest near food sources in moisture-rich areas. Live roaches were also found in Pho Saigon Restaurant, Idle Hour Sports Bar, Pitt’s Stop Restaurant and Jamie’s Broadway Grille in recent weeks, all of which passed subsequent reinspections.