KFC in Maricopa. Photo by William Lange

In a July 13 visit from the Pinal County Environmental Health Department, Maricopa’s KFC received the second worst rating, with 10 violations cited. Three restaurants received less serious mark-downs during visits the previous month. A dozen eateries were given top marks.

KFC was given an N rating for “needs improvement.” According the report, the inspector saw no hand soap available in the hand-washing sink, watched an employee touch cooked chicken with a bare hand, saw food debris on the prep line, floor and walls with encrusted food and debris, walk-in refrigerator and freezer with trash and food debris on the floors, a mop sink with dirty water unable to drain, no lid on a trash can in the restroom, clutter and unused equipment in outdoor storage facility including broken toilet plunger and broom head, no trash can at the drive-in window hand-washing sink, food debris on food racks and pans and an employee wearing an apron covered in food debris with no replacement available. It was the beginning of tough times for the eatery. Two days after the inspection was filed, a kitchen fire briefly closed the restaurant.

Say Sushi was cited for lack of date marking on food items in refrigerators and received an S for satisfactory. Sunrise Café was marked down for a refrigerator with a temperature of 52 degrees, well above the accepted standard of 41 degrees, having raw potatoes at 52 degrees (discarded) and for not having test strips for sanitizing solutions. In a re-inspection, True Grit Tavern corrected previous citations but still had a prep table top above 41 degrees and was told to replace it. Sonic was requested to use a thermometer when cooking hamburger.

EXCELLENT [No violations found]
Circle K (18141 N. John Wayne Parkway)
Circle K (21212 N. John Wayne Parkway)
The Duke at Rancho El Dorado
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
The Green Zone Nutrition
Jack in the Box
Little Caesar’s Pizza
McDonald’s (41710 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway)
Papa John’s Pizza
Raceway Bar & Grill
Subway
Water & Ice

SATISFACTORY [Violations corrected during inspection]
Say Sushi
Sonic Drive-In
Sunrise Cafe
True Grit Tavern

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT [Critical item noted during inspection cannot be corrected immediately, requiring follow-up inspection]
KFC

UNACCEPTABLE [Gross, unsanitary conditions necessitating the discontinuation of operations]
None


This item appears in the August issue of InMaricopa.

2 COMMENTS

  1. This place has always been sub standard. I don't think I've ever gotten an order completely right in the drive through. I went inside once to place an order and it was like I wasn't even there. I left. The people behind the counter all looked like they would rather be somewhere else. Whoever owns this place either doesn't care or isn't around to care.

    I sent a message to their customer service line when they totally screwed up a $40 order and gave me about $20 of the wrong food. My fault for not checking the bag at the drive through. I never got a response to the letter.

    The Maricopa KFC needs either new ownership or new management.

  2. The KFC in Maricopa should have been closed within months of being opened years back. The food is ALWAYs awful while the orders are rarely filled correctly. I stopped in there recently because the wife wanted some Long John Silvers and the filth and bad habits behind the counter will never allow me to walk in the building again. I have tried maybe 5 times over the years and each time emailed a complaint….. not once have I ever received a response locally of from the franchise. And to be honest, KFC across the Nation has gone bad. The only good KFC you can get these days is overseas… like in Hiroshima Japan. I went there last summer and my memories of KFC as a youth came flooding back with the first bite. How did they kill it here? Too many GMOs and antibiotics???