Taqueria owner 'bothered' by Food Patrol catching and questioning violations

ALAMO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — In this week’s Food 4 Thought, the Food Patrol is heading to a taqueria in Hidalgo County with nearly two dozen violations and an owner who could not be bothered to step out of the kitchen.

We surprised Ramses Tacos & Tequila located at 2230 South 77 Sunshine Strip in Harlingen.

They laid the smackdown on their June 12 health inspection report which makes them this week’s Top Performer.

Ramses likes to party, and it’s always a party with General Manager Araceli Chavez who is getting ready to launch a second location in Primera and renovate this one.

“We are closing for maybe about 2 or 3 weeks. For renovations, new floors, new tables. The touch-up because we did open during 2020, so it was kinda hectic to open around that time," Chavez said.

The drinks are flowing and the food is coming out hot.

Like wrestling, it’s all about giving the people what they want and making sure they leave happy,

The Food Patrol asked what the staff loves most about walking in the door at Ramses.

“Our regulars, there’s a lot of people who come here just because of us, so they make us feel really good here," said Bartender Mariam Gonzalez.

Congratulations to Ramses and best of luck with the next two locations!

That's que rico, but it's que asco time!

The Food Patrol is heading to Taqueria y Carnes La Sultana at 1728 Cesar Chavez Road in Alamo.

Its June 25 Hidalgo County Health Inspection Report shows the inspector found 20 violations such as:

• Keeping food in non-food-grade containers
• Using the wrong type of soap to wash dishes
• Handwashing stations did not have soap, towels and hot water
• Employees were not certified to handle food
• Expired permits
• Utensils still had debris on them
• The equipment was dirty
• Prep tables had rust
• The walls had grease and are not the right material to be properly cleaned

The health department gave the owner 90 days to cover the walls, but we popped in at the halfway mark.

We were looking for owner Edgardo Gonzalez, to see if any progress was being made and waited and waited.

We got the feeling, that no one was coming.

The restaurant was empty except for one table that already had eaten.

We saw the other owner Sandy Tamez, in the kitchen and went to her.

“Yo no quiero," she said.

Sandy did not want to come out on camera and called her husband, Edgardo to talk to us.

We wanted to ask about the report and potential violations we were seeing like food on the floor.

The health code states “food needs to be at least 6 inches off the floor to avoid contamination and allow for cleaning.”

Edgardo says they are still working on the issues.

He has paid for the materials and just needs to get the labor part handled

He told us to come back in three weeks.

We gave Sandy back her phone and before we could say thank you and we’ll be back she walked away telling us, we were bothering her.

You’re part of the Food Patrol! When you see dirty habits, please send us photos/videos and a copy of the complaint you filed to your local health department to News@KVEO.COM