Not exactly the catch of the day. Mariscos Don Charly, a longtime East Side seafood favorite, briefly shut down its dining room this month after city health inspectors documented a series of sanitation problems, including a dead animal in a pool of grease behind a fryer. The restaurant opted for a voluntary two-day closure while staff rushed to clean up and correct the violations, and employees later told reporters the cited areas had been addressed. Local customers said they saw crews working in the kitchen when news cameras stopped by.
What inspectors recorded
According to the Metro Health inspection report, the June 2 visit to Mariscos Don Charly, 515 South WW White Rd., turned up 12 violations. Those included uncovered food, a dirty bar area and “a dead animal that appears to be a rat” stuck in grease behind a fryer. The restaurant then voluntarily closed for two days to deal with the findings, and employees told reporters the issues were fixed.
The Metro Health inspection report lists each violation in detail.
Owner response
When approached by reporters about the violations, the owner initially shrugged off the problems, saying, “I mean, this is normal,” then quickly walked it back, adding, “I mean, it’s not normal.” Employees asked that cameras stay put until the owner could speak and declined to let crews film behind the kitchen door, though they insisted the problems had been corrected.
The owner also said the restaurant has been a neighborhood staple for more than a decade and that previous inspection scores typically landed in the high 80s to 90s, according to KSAT.
Other inspections that week
Metro Health records from the same week show how widely restaurant scores can vary across San Antonio. Some businesses pulled off perfect 100s, while others missed the mark.
One example in the logs: a Popeyes inside a TA Travel Center along I-10 received an 85 after inspectors reported dead insects near the condiments and in a grease container, along with nine violations total at that site. The full inspection history for that visit, and others across the city, is available in Metro Health’s online records, which list findings for each inspection.
What customers can do
If you are worried about how clean a kitchen really is, you can check the city’s public inspection logs or call the restaurant directly before you show up. Health reports are a snapshot of how things looked on the day inspectors visited, and many violations are corrected quickly once they are flagged.
