Am Thai Closed by DOH, Expects to Reopen Soon

If you tried to stop by Am Thai Bistro on Church Avenue in the past two days, you probably noticed that they were closed. They were shut down by the Department of Health on Thursday, but they say they expect to reopen soon.

Owner Boonnum “Num” Thongngoen told us on Thursday afternoon that the day the DOH inspector came was a hot and busy day, and that their refrigerator was being opened and closed frequently. As a result, she said, the temperature of the fridge was above what it should have been, and the inspector shut them down. Am Thai had a crew on site working on things to fix the problem, and she told us they expect to be back open shortly.

The restaurant received an A grade at their one graded inspection in March, with 11 violation points at that time. According to the DOH website (can’t link directly to a restaurant’s page–you have to search by name), at an inspection on August 1, the restaurant had 57 violation points. Three of the four “critical” violations were for temperature-related violations. We reached out to the DOH for more details, but we have not yet heard back.

Several restaurants in the neighborhood have experienced DOH closures in the past, have dealt with them, and have improved. A recent example is Catskill Bagels on Cortelyou, which was shut down back in February–the shop now has a B grade, and has had 18 violation points or fewer in its last two inspections since reopening.