Hall’s on the River restaurant wasn’t closed for long.
The seafood restaurant on Athens Boonesboro Road reopened just moments after successfully passing a Clark County Health Department inspection Monday evening with a score of 92.
Environmental Health Program Manager Carlene Whitt of the Clark County Health Department called the change “almost miraculous.”
The restaurant had been closed over the weekend after a former employee identified as Chris Purvis shot video of bugs and mold in the restaurant and gave the footage to WKYT in Lexington. Whitt inspected the restaurant after a complaint was filed but did not force the business to close.
Instead, ownership decided to close for the weekend and reschedule an inspection for Monday.
“I was impressed with everything they were able to do,” Whitt said. “They ended up with a passing score of 92 and were able to reopen immediately.”
Whitt said she wrapped up the inspection around 5 p.m. Monday and customers were waiting to be seated when she left.
“It was just general cleaning,” Whitt said of the changes. “They removed a lot of equipment they weren't using. They had a pest control operator come in more than once, got everything under control concerning insects. I did not see one. They did repairs to the kitchen as needed. They did an excellent job. They got new equipment to replace some that had been there for a long time.”
The score of 92 is not perfect, though Whitt said the majority of demerits were for equipment and shelving.
“There were some shelves that needed to be replaced,” she said. “They didn't have enough to replace all in the walk-in freezers. They needed some finishing touches, like caulking. Some lights needed shielding. They had done all of (the lights) except two.”
Whitt also said some ceiling tiles need to be replaced, but owners had been replacing all of the ceiling and had not replaced all of them at the time of the inspection.
The restaurant will be inspected again in 30 days, Whitt said.
A call to the restaurant was not immediately returned.
Contact Casey Castle at ccastle@winchestersun.com.
