DOH Shutters Georgia’s Eastside BBQ on Orchard Street, Owner Cries Foul
Hell Square barbecue staple – the ten-year-old Georgia’s Eastside BBQ – met the wrath of the Health Department this week.
Inspectors paid a visit to 192 Orchard Street on Monday and dropped the hammer. The city agency issued a litany of violations totaling 64 points. The more critical citations involve temperature of food and filth flies present in and around food (see below).
The requisite yellow shutter notice is stuck to the front door. Georgia’s Eastside BBQ is apparently closed until further notice. There are no updates on the restaurant’s social media or otherwise. Ownership tells us that they’re “having issues with our main cooler,” and hopes to reopen for business later today.
Update: owner Alan Natkiel is calling bullshit on this inspection, noting that: “I’ve run this restaurant for ten years and have an excellent track record of maintaining an A letter grade. We just got nailed and I don’t know why, but I don’t believe that this inspection was legit. We didn’t forget overnight how to take care of the restaurant.”
Regarding vermin: “us not being vermin-proof relates to physical damage sustained to the building that includes large visible cracks in the bricks. Fruit flies exist in the summer and it’s hard to prevent a feeble of them from being around.”
Georgia’s first opened at 192 Orchard Street (between Stanton and Houston) back in summer 2007, and is a popular local spot.