Gammeeok, a popular Korean restaurant in New York City, has closed after failing a safety inspection with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
This comes after the Korean restaurant served a couple a rat in their beef soup. The couple also posted horrifying video and photos of their meal to Instagram on Monday showing the rat floating in their beef soup.
According to Mail Online, Gammeeok failed to pass a health and safety inspection after inspectors reportedly found rat droppings inside the establishment in Midtown Manhattan.
In a statement to several outlets, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said health officials are continuing to investigate the restaurant and the claims.
‘Our top priority is protecting the health of New Yorkers and if a restaurant has conditions that threaten our city’s diners, they will be shut down,’ Fabien Levy said.
A lawsuit filed by Eunice Lucero-Lee and her husband Jason Lee alleged that the pair became ‘violently sick, causing them to vomit and seek medical attention’ when they allegedly found the rodent in their meal.
Gammeeok’s owners had pushed back on the claims made against their restaurant, even releasing footage earlier this week of servers preparing the couple’s food and saying the pair is lying about their accusations.
The individuals claimed that the restaurant did not have a trained supervisor on site or have food stored at the proper temperature.
The restaurant also reportedly did not have the correct permits, which they had been warned about by Health Department officials in the past.
In a statement, Levy told the outlet they were looked into the situation immediately after hearing the disturbing allegations against the establishment.
‘No New York City restaurant is authorized to have mice or rats on the menu and we are investigating further,’ Levy said.
If they want to reopen anytime soon, Gammeeok’s staff will need to correct the violations and pay any potential fines they were issued.
Signage posted on the restaurant’s doors show they have been shut down by the Health Department. Another sign says they are also closed for ‘maintenance.’
In a stream of posts Wednesday, the restaurant hit back at the couple’s claims, saying they don’t ‘make sense.
The restaurant claims the couple wrote a review for another Korean restaurant six years ago alleging they found ‘a large bug’ in their takeout soup, but deleted it after their post went viral.
