Two San Jose restaurants face food contamination complaints

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Two San Jose restaurants, Kenzo Sushi and Ramen Lab, are facing numerous health violation complaints from the County Department of Environmental Health and a former employee.

The former employee alleges food was left at room temperature for hours, sometimes overnight, and then served to people. The inspection from the county shows dead cockroaches stuck on traps along with food bins stored on the ground level.

“This was honestly the worst experience I’ve ever had,” former Ramen Lab employee Samantha Franco said. “They don’t seem like they know what they’re doing.”

Franco said she worked at Ramen Lab for three days before being let go for slow business. She said the two restaurants shared the same equipment and ingredients. Franco said the first issue was an old pork tonkatsu broth left overnight at room temperature.

“I was concerned about bacteria…I tried serving the customers a new soup base we made but he said to use the old one,” Franco said.

She added old food was sent to customers numerous times and sent to DoorDash deliveries.

The restaurants did not respond to numerous inquiries from KRON4 News throughout the day Tuesday.

The county’s inspections show Ramen Lab only having minor violations, while Kenzo Sushi had multiple major violations.

Kenzo Sushi’s violations included undercooked chicken. The restaurant faces severe fines if the issues aren’t fixed by Sept. 24.