San Antonio – A North Side restaurant operating without a permit failed the latest health inspection in August, earning the lowest score of the year.

The SA Cafe, located at Block 20800 on Hwy 281 North, received a failing score of 66. That’s a 20-point drop from his last exam in February, when he received an 86.

The August inspection found 21 violations, eight of which were repeat offenses.

The temperature of the raw egg was 71 degrees, well above the required 45 degrees.

Raw meat was stored on ready-to-eat noodles, and even more raw meat was stored in grocery bags.

There was debris in the ice machine and the cleaned dishes were stained with food debris.

Employees were not wearing hairnets and not drying their hands properly after washing. This is probably because there was nothing to dry your hands with.

Inspectors also reminded operators that smoking should not be allowed on the premises after finding cigarette butts in the warehouse hallway.

There were no certified food controllers on site and several employees were unable to produce food handler certification.

The business also operated without a previously mentioned permit in February.

KSAT Investigates reporter Tim Gerber stopped by the location this week to see if the business had addressed the issue.

Jacky Nguyen, who identified himself as a worker, said the manager was not at the company but was on his way to tell us about the failing score.

Garber waited for 40 minutes and the manager never showed up.

It also required three visits by a health inspector before conducting follow-up examinations. The first two times he was out of business. We finally got inside on our third visit on August 31st.

Inspectors noted that several violations had been remedied, but the facility was still operating without a permit.

Metro Health said this week that the business now has a license to operate, but that will expire at the end of September, and so far the business has not paid for a new license.

Want to know who has good scores and who doesn’t? KSAT 12 has a new tool for just that.

Simply click this link to be taken to a new mapping tool showing recent scores for food businesses in San Antonio.

Reports go back six months and are updated frequently.

You can see Tim’s BKD report on Thursday nightbeat.

Also on KSAT.COM

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