Expired lengua guisado, dead cockroaches and some careless meat handling were enough to drag El Paso restaurant El Rincon De Villa one point below a passing grade on its April health inspection. The April 22 visit ended with a score of 69, just under the 70-point passing threshold, although a follow-up inspection later bumped the restaurant into the 80s.
Inspection findings
According to El Paso Times, inspectors flagged a series of violations during the April 22 inspection at El Rincon De Villa. They reported expired lengua guisado sitting in a refrigerator, dead cockroaches in a storage area and frozen raw meat thawing outside proper cold storage.
Inspectors also found raw meat stored next to cooked food in a prep-table refrigerator, a handwashing sink with no soap and no certified manager on site while the restaurant was open. One employee told the paper that "the spray bottle was Clorox." All of it added up to a 69, just shy of a passing mark.
Where it happened
Online listings place El Rincon De Villa at 706 N Piedras Street in central El Paso, with directory pages showing the same address and phone number. MapQuest also lists that location, which matches the address used in inspection records.
Reinspection and regulatory threshold
After the failed April inspection, a reinspection later raised El Rincon De Villa's score to 87, according to El Paso Times. Under local rules, scores of 60 or below can trigger closure reviews, so the improved grade kept the restaurant open. The report does not say whether any fines were issued or spell out exactly what changes the business made before inspectors returned.
What diners should know
A failed inspection on its own does not automatically mean a restaurant is a long-term health hazard, and a solid reinspection score suggests at least some problems were addressed. Diners who want a fuller picture can check city inspection records for repeat issues or trends across several visits before deciding where to eat.
