By Gus Saltonstall
The New York City Health Department has temporarily closed an Upper West Side Sweetgreen due to cockroaches.
An outpost of the fast-casual salad and bowl chain at 311 Amsterdam Avenue, between West 74th and 75th streets, was shuttered on Monday, as indicated by the yellow notice from the health department posted to the store’s front door.
The health report linked to the closure was published on the department’s website Wednesday morning, revealing the specific reason for the shuttering.
Cockroaches.
The Sweetgreen received 39 violation points during an August 24 inspection. While this total does equate to a failed inspection, it would not have been enough to close the salad spot on its own. However, a restaurant can also be closed immediately if there is a public health hazard that cannot be fixed during the inspection, regardless of the number of violation points the eatery received.
The Sweetgreen at 311 Amsterdam Avenue had one of those violations.
“Live roaches in facility’s food or non-food area,” according to the health department report.
Other lesser violations included:
- Conditions conducive to rodents, insects, or pests.
- Non-food contact surface or equipment not kept clean.
- Anti-siphonage or back-flow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
Prior to the failed August 24 inspection, Sweetgreen had passed an inspection in May of this year by one point, and comfortably passed an inspection in October of 2024.
The Upper West Side Sweetgreen will be able to reopen when it passes a new health department inspection.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Decided to never give this location my business due to the rudeness of their employees anyway. Good riddance!!
We had slimy critters in our salad last summer at this location – never again for paying over $18+ per order ever again at SG. Ugh!
Where will the rude employees at this location be able to play on their phones now?
Service was terrible. Agree
Not to mention the absurdly high prices.
Cockroaches? Should have been commended for all the extra (free) protein!
Never an issue until Momdummy became mayor. Coincidence? No, all standards are down.
Stupid, unnecessary comment.
What?? That makes zero sense. Perhaps Inspectors are doing their jobs??!!
I like turtles
THUMB DOWN
So Eric, you actually equate a roach problem with whomever is Mayor? Really?
absurd comment
Sounds like standards are up. Past mayors were asleep on inspections, and he is getting them done.
lmao “momdummy” that’s so super clever, bet fox news somehow teleported that into your boomer mind.
I was ready to upvote your comment until you ruined it with the ‘boomer’ stereotype.
Don’t tar all boomers because of some random nitwit’s comment.
Thank you. Bad behavior is bad and needs to be called out. More kindness is what we need!
Some if us boomers are pro-Mamdani
Many of us are cheering Mamdani on.
What is remarkable is how many responders have no idea you were making a joke.
These people need a cocktail.
I’m not convinced Eric was joking, but admittedly its hard to tell when every other NYPost article makes similarly shallow critiques of the mayor.
Cockroach tail.🤔
Note to self: don’t question any mindless criticism of the mayor or your comment will not be posted
Oh it will be posted. This platform and its denizens love a good typing brawl.
And Barzini’s was able to stay open until Mamdani became mayor, thanks Mamdani!
… or perhaps life is more complicated than that & attributing everything that happens to the mayor is a childish response?
Settle down…unsanitary conditions have existed in restaurants forever in NYC. Years ago we were entertained every Sunday with a list of the violations in the New York Times. Sadly, that reporting was ceased.
That said, I never return to a restaurant once I have read about major infestations. There are too many safe alternatives in NYC.
After is when they are clean. Every other place is just waiting to be closed. You should be doing the opposite.
Or ones that haven’t been inspected lately, so you don’t know about their violations.
Yes, cockroaches have never been seen in Manhattan before Mamdani…you have MDS haha
Some people think the livable streets advocates ARE the cockroaches!
Let’s face it, this is clearly Trump’s fault.
I wish there were a thumb down for such a useless comment ….
I write: thumb down
profound insight
Mamdani is mayor of the city, not the mayor of Sweetgreen. If the city is catching restaurants full of roaches now and wasn’t before, that’s a mark in his favor and an indication he’s doing his job.
Having a very hard time understanding your insult and your rationale? First off momdummy? That makes zero sense, are you implying he is a mom? Second if the standards were down since he became mayor, wouldn’t that mean that with all these violations Sweetgreen would still be open?
Aren’t you actually trying to say the opposite of what you just wrote here? If anything the standards are up.
Correlation does not equal causation my friend….anything else trivial and unequivocal you’d like to pinpoint on our Mayor?
I like this version of DOH. Keep enforcing!
No surprise. I never eat at anyplace that has open salad areas and handled by humans who still wipe their noses even with gloves on. Yuck!
Lived in the apartment building shouldering this Sweetgreen. I know it’s the UWS and roaches are tough to escape in old buildings but that apartment building was crawling with them.
166 West 75th is rumored to have issues with the building.
Wouldn’t sealing off openings or cracks around the building keep roaches out?
Next to impossible. Those things breed in the walls and around structural elements; they don’t come from the great outdoors. The best an apartment dweller (or a restaurant) can do is keep things very clean, don’t leave food out on the counters, store food in glass containers and use Terro Traps constantly wherever you’ve seen them. Which apparently was too much to ask of Sweetgreen.
It helps, but you have to seal every apartment and have fresh poison out all the time.
Clearly you’ve never tried to get rid of roaches.
And, of course, roaches are neither sweet nor green. Though they ARE packed with protein!
Please do not invite me to any dinner parties.
I suspect that we’d be shocked at exactly how many restaurants have a cockroach problem over and above the fraction that get caught out
actually, we might not be that surprised!
I thought those were raisins
Pecans…
They’re too overpriced now anyway. You could buy most of the ingredients of your favorite salad for $21 and make multiples of that salad at home.
That applies to every meal or cocktail one buys in a restaurant. It’s no revelation that purchasing the ingredients and preparing them oneself is less expensive.
But how much do I have to pay someone to do all that for me? Instacart + Private Chef >> Salad Bar! Ain’t nobody got time for that!!
I don’t think I can eat out anymore.
You’ve never seen pests in a supermarket? I’ve seen mice in plenty of them.
Packaged food is safe, at least.
https://mandmpestcontrol.com/services/general-pest-control-services/
That is disgusting! As a restauranteur, they have an obligation to follow food safety, sanitation, and cleanliness standards. One would have to have ZERO concern for doing any of the above. It is hard to comprehend that they did nit get their pest control company into the restaurant to treat this filthy issue.
I do hope that once they re-open, NOBODY goes there and they close for good. Is this too critical? HELL NO they are disgusting and do not care. Shame on you Sweetgreen.
Name me a NYC restaurant that DON’T have cockroach 🪳🪳🪳 and you got a free meal 🥩😱🤣😂
There will be a few days at least of cleanliness
“Anti-siphonage or back-flow prevention device not provided where required;”
My question is, how were they permitted to open in the first place if this is the case?
Or how could they pass past inspections? “Prior to the failed August 24 inspection, Sweetgreen had passed an inspection in May of this year by one point, and comfortably passed an inspection in October of 2024.”
Bribery of inspectors is common.
You have any evidence of this, or just saying stuff that isn’t true?
That’s a turn off. I’ve seen large rats climbing over fruit stands at farmers’ markets overnight. The sellers would come in that morning before opening and just start discarding gnawed on fruit. My philosophy is this: I know they’re always around us, As long as I don’t see them, I’ll bury my head in the sand, like the Democrats do with things.
Now where will I get my cyclospora? https://carlkissin.substack.com
We are grateful that the NYC Health Dept. Is organized and diligent about inspections and closures when necessary. It is disgusting to imagine these conditions. Thank you, inspectors!
Did they charge extra for the extra crunch?
Not a menu item?
All these comments, all valid, make me want to throw up and never go grocery shopping again What’s a person to do???