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Roaches found floating in Bradenton restaurant’s tempura sauce

The restaurant was shut down July 3rd with 30 violations.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Roaches, rodent droppings and severe temperature violations.

That’s what health inspectors reported finding inside Bradenton’s Bangkok Tokyo, located along State Road 70 just west of I-75.

The restaurant was shut down July 3rd with 30 violations, including temperature problems at sushi bar with the raw shrimp found at 54 degrees. There were also live roaches near the soda storage area and reach in cooler with roach excrement near the sushi bar. The inspector also documented rodent droppings and a black or green mold like substance inside the ice machine.

10News visited the restaurant Tuesday afternoon where managers had no problem showing the progress they made.

Things were looking a lot better intially. The restaurant was previously written up for not having soap or paper towels or even running water at some of the hand washing sinks.

But on our visit we found every sink fully stocked with soap and paper towels.

Kay Kos and her husband, James, showed us the area where the inspector found the problem with roaches.

Underneath cardboard boxes containing soda syrup, there were dead roaches on the ground.

The insect issue may be due to tiny gaps underneath the kitchen’s two back doors. Those gaps can allow cockroaches and other pests to get inside in their search for food and water.

We also checked the ice machine where the inspector found mold last week. It appeared to be clean.

But underneath the bulk storage containers for the sugar, sushi rice and corn starch, we spotted what appeared to be evidence of remaining rodent activity. A small dropping was picked up and thrown in the trash.

Management did not believe the dropping came from a mouse but instead a gecko.

“Gecko… gecko,” the kitchen manager repeatedly said.

But that wasn’t the most concerning problem. In one of the refrigerators, we found what appeared to be insects, likely baby cockroaches, floating in the tempura sauce.

A pest control expert identified the insects as baby cockroaches, likely in their first three stages of development after birth.

Management scooped out the multiple bugs using a spoon and told us when problems are found, the food is discarded.

“If we saw the bug in there, we throw it out right away,” said manager Kay Kos. “We don’t use it.”

The restaurant was able to show us a receipt for their twice monthly pest control and it was apparent the managers were trying to clean up their kitchen.

“We try to clean the best for you guys,” said Kos.

But with evidence of rodent activity and those dead roaches floating in the food, it appears more work still needs to be done.

Kos assures customers the restaurant is safe.

“We try to protect everything and keep everything clean," she said.

You can view Bangkok Tokyo's entire inspection history here.

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