When hundreds of Austin-area families placed their Thanksgiving turkey orders with Smokey Mo’s BBQ this month, they likely pictured a bustling kitchen filled with mouthwatering spices and smoked meat — not the reports of rat droppings, overnight exterminations and disputed cleanup efforts described in county health inspection documents from the months leading up to the holiday and detailed in a recently filed lawsuit.
The Central Texas barbecue chain, which has more than 20 locations across the region, sold more than 500 holiday turkeys this year. Most were prepared at its Round Rock restaurant at 1601 S. Interstate 35, the same location county health officials inspected in October and again in early November after reports of rodent activity.
The restaurant passed its annual routine inspection on Sept. 8 but was found out of compliance in two areas related to the checklist item titled “No Evidence of Insect contamination, rodent/other animals.” The inspector wrote that there were gaps in doorways, and the rear door was propped open while the restaurant was operating. The inspector advised management to seal gaps to prevent pest access and wrote that exterior doors must remain closed during operations. Unrelated to potential rodents, the inspector also found several problems with hand-washing sinks, giving the restaurant 48 hours to repair the issues or risk closure. The inspector reported two days later that those issues had been resolved.
But an Oct. 16 report, filed just over a month from the initial routine visit, reveals that inspectors responded to a complaint alleging that staff removed a rat from the restaurant’s lobby on Oct. 7. The report states that the manager pointed out previously reported gaps were filled with foam or mesh, but the inspector still found rodent droppings under the customer drink station, under the hand-washing sink by the manager’s office and on the floor near the food-prep station in the back of the restaurant. No rodents were observed, but the inspector advised the restaurant to remove the droppings, clean and sanitize the affected areas and continue to plug any gaps…