Restaurant voluntarily shuts down after ‘roaches in soup’ issue

CEBU, Philippines -  A restaurant along F. Ramos Street, Cebu City has voluntarily halted operations Wednesday after a diner found baby cockroaches in their food. 

Neo Neo Grill House reportedly shut down the establishment for renovation.

The FREEMAN tried to contact Chris Aro, the restaurant branch manager, for his comment but he was not available as of press time.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he was glad by the initiative of the management.

"I am happy to report that Neo Neo Ramos has voluntarily closed for major renovations. After this is done, they can request and will be given a sanitary inspection to make sure this doesn't happen again," Osmeña's Facebook post reads.

"I would like to thank the management for not whining, complaining to the media about being singled out, or protesting that they're innocent, but instead just focusing on fixing a problem that should obviously be fixed," it further reads.

Osmeña said he is willing to sit down and discuss with the management for possible interventions to improve the facility's sanitation.

"They want to change things, why not? I am not here just to close businesses because I enjoy closing business. I'm not like that. My priority is not to compromise the safety and health of the people," he said.

Osmeña earlier received a complaint from a certain Francis Tallo who tagged him on his official Facebook account on the incident, in which "baby roaches" were allegedly found in the soup served at the restaurant.

Tallo, in a Facebook post on February 13, said his sister noticed the "dark specks scattered" in the soup they ordered.

He said he was worried of the outcome of the incident since his mother has taken some of the soup.

"Who knows what diseases those roaches were carrying, and my mom is quite old, and doesn't have the best resistance to this," part of Tallo's post reads.

The city government has already ordered the establishment to explain the alleged "unwholesome or adulterated food" served to a diner last month.

However, the management of Neo Neo earlier declined to give further details and comments on the incident, saying "we just want to deal with this privately with the parties concerned."— (FREEMAN)