Popular Mexican chain restaurant and Taco Bell rival abruptly closes two locations after huge ‘food poisoning’ outbreak
A popular taco chain has closed two locations following a nascent salmonella outbreak.
Los Amigos Taqueria has been ordered by the Massachusetts Department of Health to close both Boston restaurants.
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The Brighton location closed on Thursday, before the West Roxbury restaurant followed suit on Friday. WCVB reported.
This comes after officials linked the restaurants to an emerging salmonella outbreak.
Health inspectors found a lot of dirt and a “mold-like substance” during an investigation at the Brighton site on Thursday, the health department said called.
“There have been multiple reports of foodborne illness from food consumed at this location,” the report said.
“The owner has been instructed not to handle food at this time without authorization from the health department.”
An investigation on Friday found rat droppings and food stored outside of the correct temperature at the West Roxbury site.
Anyone who ate at any of the restaurants between May 12 and Thursday is urged to monitor themselves for salmonella symptoms, including abdominal pain, fever and diarrhea, officials told WCVB.
The chain has three other locations in the Boston area.
“It’s brutal and it doesn’t look good at all,” Darren Martinez, a potential client at the Brighton site, told WBTS on Friday.
Handwritten signs reading “Closed” and “Sorry” hung on the store’s doors.
“To be honest, it’s very surprising to me,” customer Alex Haslam told WCVB.
“I come here with two or three friends. As far as I know none of them got sick. I never have. I never noticed anything.”
Los Amigos did not immediately respond to the US Sun’s request for comment.
These aren’t the only Mexican restaurants to have closed recently.
The Salsa Mexican Bar and Grill in Oakwood, Georgia — about 50 miles north of Atlanta — closed earlier this month.
It will be replaced by a Colombian restaurant called El Patio Quillero.