Dragon Kitchen failed inspection and voluntarily closed; closure plan pending

Interim Health Director Joanne Belanger told the Board of Health May 21 that Dragon Kitchen, at 24 Pleasant St., failed a May 13 service inspection and the owners voluntarily closed the restaurant.

Belanger said the inspector Arleny Almonte Soto produced the inspection report included in the meeting packet. When the owners visited the Health Department the day after the inspection, they told staff they lacked financial resources and expertise to return the establishment to compliance; Belanger said one of the owners had been unwell and unable to keep up with cleaning and maintenance. Belanger said she spoke with the owners’ daughter on speaker phone while the owners were present to make sure they understood closure steps.

Belanger said the department has not yet received a written closure plan from the owners and that a closing inspection will be scheduled in about a week or two to verify removal of food items and compliance with closure requirements. She also said Public Health Nurse & Health Agent Kara Curley visually confirmed that the business was closed.

What happens next: The Health Department will schedule a closing inspection and expects to receive a closure plan from the owners; enforcement steps will follow if the department determines the closure requirements are not met.