We Had A Very Bad Experience. It Turns Out A Health Inspector Did, Too…
LAKE WORTH BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — If you’re looking to smell marijuana and cigarette smoke while dealing with apparently untrained wait and cook staff, you absolutely should eat at The Irish Brigade (621 Lake Avenue, Lake Worth Beach). If, however, you prefer food that is safe to eat, a civil eating experience, and a wait and cookstaff that at least borders on professionalism, we suggest that you go somewhere else.
A health inspector reporting to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation just cited The Irish Brigade for multiple violations. We list those, below. But we had an experience at The Irish Brigade on Saturday that seemingly verifies what the health inspector found.
The BocaNewsNow.com team placed a few orders, with one being a burger with absolutely nothing on it. Waiter “Jared G” asked three times if we really meant “nothing” other than “burger and bun.” Our response: “just the burger and just the bun.” Seemed impossible to screw up that order. But that’s exactly what Jared and the cookstaff did. Out came the burger 15 minutes later with onions all over it.
We asked the person delivering the food to remake it. He initially said fine. Then came back seconds later with the same burger but with the onions removed. That’s a no-no in the restaurant world and for most health departments. If you screw up an order by contaminating it with food that wasn’t supposed to be there, you need to remake it. And most legitimate restaurants do just that.
But at The Irish Brigade, this turned into a problem. Our response of “you really need to remake it” led to our now pissed off waiter — Jared G. — coming back to the table, telling us that we shouldn’t tell someone to remake food that he apparently screwed up by not communicating the order correctly. “Wrong,” we explained, and reminded him that we had the conversation three times in which he acknowledged that the order was simply a burger and a bun. “Is there an allergy to onions?” he had the audacity to ask.
“Not the issue,” we replied. “The order received was not the order placed.”
Instead of apologizing and efforting to make the situation right, Jared G. decided the smart play would be to just bring the check. You’d assume the burger would be removed by this point as an apology. You’d be wrong. Jared G. was then seen through the windows hanging out with smokers — we’re unsure what they were smoking — just outside the front of the restaurant. He never came back. Someone else brought the food.
As we mentioned, here’s what the health inspector found a few weeks ago during an inspection of The Irish Brigade. Per BocaNewsNow.com policy, we do not edit these findings:
High Priority – Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food marked with a date that exceeds 7 days after opening/preparation. In walk in cooler, homemade ranch date marked 9/29. Operator discarded In reach in cooler on cookline, cooked chicken date marked 9/30. Operator discarded **Corrective Action Taken**
Intermediate – Handwash sink not accessible for employee use at all times. In dishwashing area, handwashing sink blocked with buckets and employee bag. Operator removed items, **Corrected On-Site**
Intermediate – Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food prepared onsite and held more than 24 hours not properly date marked. In reach in cooler on cook line, cooked pasta not date marked. Operator stated pasta was cooked two days ago. Operator date marked pasta. **Corrective Action Taken**
Basic – Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. On cook line, cutting boards have deep cut marks and is no longer cleanable.
Lake Worth Beach has many problems — the constant smell of pot is just one of them. Why The Irish Brigade seemingly lets people sit at their tables outside and smoke pot is unclear, and something we’ll let PBSO investigate. As for us — we investigate bad service and bad food all the time. To that end, we strongly encourage you to eat anywhere but The Irish Brigade.
