Burger Continental Reopens After Health Dept. Closure

The Pasadena Public Health Dept. approved an application by closed popular South Lake Avenue restaurant Burger Continental to reopen Wednesday after it was closed last week due to a number of serious health code violations.

City officials said that “after working closely with the Health Department, the restaurant is being allowed to re-open subject to the conditions” in today’s inspection report (see the report on link below).

The Department had previously given the restaurant a score of 61, with 14 critical violations and 42 non-critical violations, during the Health Department’s August 28 inspection, Pasadena Director of Public Health Eric Walsh said at the time.

Cited violations of the eatery include having cockroaches, unsafe food temperatures, improper cleaning and sanitation, gross contamination of food preparation surfaces, improper disposal of liquid waste and improper hand washing, Walsh added.

See the Inspection Report on Burger Continental that was completed today by the Pasadena Health Department which allows for the conditional resumption of operations

No complaints were filed to the Health Department against Burger Continental prior to the inspection, Walsh said.

Health Department gave Burger Continental a score of 89 oout of 100 during its May 2012 inspection, citing violations for demonstration of knowledge, food separation and protection, ventilation and lighting and cleanliness of floors, walls and ceilings.

The inspection of all the restaurants in the district is scheduled to be done by the end of 2013, but the Department has slower pacing on this year’s inspections due to staffing issues and the death of its division manager in 2012.

Meanwhile, food review website Yelp showed a rapid decline in the ratings of Burger Continental from three stars in April to around 1.5 in July to August and down to one star in September.