A Houston woman visiting California got an unwelcome addition to her meal this past week when a rat fell from the ceiling onto her table as she was eating at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Alisha Norman was watching the U.S. Women’s Soccer game and eating at the restaurant in Westchester, Los Angeles when she stated that she heard a noise in the ceiling (the restaurant and surrounding structures are currently under construction).
In an interview with Los Angeles television station, KTRK, she said “I heard a noise, and we all looked up, and down came the rat. It was disgusting, it was still alive. Its heart was still beating.”
She took a photo of the rat lying on the menu, which she then shared on social media.
She said that a manager came by and scooped it up with two plates before taking it away and comping her party’s bill.
Rats around food are a serious health threat. According to the Indiana Department of Health, “Rats eat large amounts of food, and they contaminate even more with their urine, feces, and hair. At least 20 percent of the world’s food is eaten or contaminated by rats and mice each year. Worse, they spread the disease to humans and other animals through their bite, by transporting fleas, lice, mites and ticks, and by leaving their droppings in food and other materials that humans contact. Rodents are vectors for bubonic plague, rat bite fever, leptospirosis, hantavirus, trichinosis, infectious jaundice, rat mite dermatitis, salmonellosis, pulmonary fever, and typhus. Mice have been linked to asthma.”
The restaurant closed following the incident and will reportedly remain closed until it has been cleared by the appropriate authorities.
No word on whether she left a Yelp review, but she did sit that, “I’m feeling like I’m done with Buffalo Wild Wings.”
