El Amigo, Baldwin County’s longest-running Mexican restaurant, scored a 91 during a restaurant health inspection on Aug. 13, a sigh of relief for management and staff.
That score comes on the heels of a 58 during a “routine” inspection on July 21 and a score of 60 during a “followup” inspection on July 29. In theory, a failing score following last week’s inspection would’ve forced the restaurant to temporarily close.
During last week’s inspection, only one violation was noted, which compares to nine violations on July 21 and another nine on July 29. Most recently, El Amigo was dinged nine points for “improper hot holding temperatures,” but that was it.
Based on the most recent report, El Amigo has corrected its issues with “bare hand contact,” “missing date markings,” “improper cold holding temperatures,” as well as “black mold like substance in the ice machine.” In terms of pests, the only time that El Amigo was dinged was during the July 29 inspection, when the inspector deducted three points for “flies in the kitchen.” No other insects or rodents were observed.
WMGT/NBC in Macon has been chronicling El Amigo’s troubles this summer. Last week, the station noted that El Amigo never posted its subpar inspection score inside the restaurant, instead displaying a health inspection from last December, when it made a 96.
WMGT/NBC anchor Tucker Sergent has been reporting on Middle Georgia restaurant health inspection scores for years.
“It’s been years since an area restaurant received back-to-back unsatisfactory scores,” Sergent wrote.