Restaurants & Bars

New Park Slope Mediterranean Restaurant Shuttered For Mice, Flies

The health department has closed a Baba Ghanoj Spot on 7th Street just a few months after it opened.

(Anna Quinn/Patch)

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A brand new Middle Eastern restaurant on a Fifth Avenue corner has been shut down just months after it opened its doors, records show.

Baba Ghanoj Spot, found at 339 7th St., was closed by health inspectors this week after it received more than three times the violation points required to shut a business down. Any score over 28 points requires the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to close a business and Baba Ghanoj Spot was given 96 points, records show.

Inspectors visiting the restaurant on Wednesday found evidence of mice or live mice and filth flies in the eatery, records show. They also discovered that cold food was not being kept at the proper temperature, that the staff didn't have the proper Food Protection Certificate and that food was being used from an "unapproved or unknown source."

Find out what's happening in Gowanus-Red Hookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The restaurant also did not have a hand washing facility near the food preparation area or the bathroom, didn't have a space to wash utensils and equipment and had problems with some of its "non-food contact surfaces," the records show.

The Baba Ghanoj Spot advertises itself as a high quality Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant without the high prices. The eatery appears to have opened in May, which is when the first posts started appearing on its Facebook page.

Find out what's happening in Gowanus-Red Hookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

An employee that answered the phone at the restaurant on Friday told Patch that they expect to reopen by Monday.

"They closed us because we have small sink and we need a bigger one," he said. "We are working on that."

The employee said he did not believe the violations that mentioned mice or flies in the restaurant were correct.

A sign on the restaurant Friday said that it is closed for construction.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Gowanus-Red Hook