CRANSTON – One local Uncle Tony’s Pizza and Pasta location reopened Friday after the R.I. Department of Health recently found numerous health code violations with the Oaklawn Avenue location, which forced the restaurant to temporarily close.
According to RIDOH’s inspection report, department officials found various rodents and insects, including live and dead cockroaches, and rodent droppings throughout the restaurant. Inspectors, per the report, found trapped cockroaches and rodents on glue boards throughout the kitchen area.
Inspectors also found “an accumulation of rodent droppings, food debris and soil residue” on the restaurant’s floors throughout the kitchen, prep, ware-washing and storage areas, according to the report.
Uncle Tony's said in a recent Facebook post that “everything was inspected” at 9 a.m. on Friday and the restaurant reopened. In a since-deleted Facebook post, Uncle Tony’s, according to multiple local media outlets, said it initially closed the Oaklawn Avenue location temporarily due to “unforeseen construction repairs.”
Uncle Tony’s has two other locations in East Providence and Johnston.
(UPDATED to note the reopening of Uncle Tony's Pizza and Pasta restaurant in Cranston.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.