Roaches & Mouse Droppings Shutter Lao Sze Chuan Uptown

By Anthony Todd in Food on Apr 21, 2017 2:03PM

The entrance to Lao Sze Chuan in Uptown.

Looks like Lao Sze Chuan is in trouble again. While the Chinese spot with locations in Uptown and on Michigan Avenue is popular and relatively famous (despite or because of their felonious former owner), the restaurants have consistently had trouble with the health department. Looks like it happened again.

Earlier this month, on April 10, the Lao Sze Chuan location in Uptown failed a health inspection. The inspector noted a number of violations, some technical (i.e. holes in the walls around piping) and some pretty nasty. The inspector wrote in the citation: "Evidence of rodent infestation: Observed approximately over 300 mice droppings . . .Also noted 3 live roaches inside the ice machines upper panel."

Other violations included using grocery store plastic bags for food storage (instead of food-safe containers), storing food on raw wood shelves that weren't painted or sealed, having blackened/soiled dish racks and storing liquor bottles under waste water pipes.

Blech.

It's been more than a week and the place has not yet re-opened, as far as we can tell. The above photo of the citation (sent by a tipster) was taken on Wednesday, and on Thursday evening no one was answering the phones at the restaurant.

The Uptown location was previously cited for roaches and rodents in November, though it passed a re-inspection 10 days later. The Chinatown location was previously shut down for the same reason.