Jul 1, 2011 3 min read marmaris

Marmaris, What The Heck Is With All The Trees?

Notice anything weird about this photo of Marmaris, at 3081 Emmons Avenue, taken on Wednesday afternoon? No? Let’s look at one of the other doors.

Hmm. Another tree in front a door. Very strange. What’s going on here? Perhaps we should take a peek behind one of the trees. Maybe there’s a hot wood nymph or something…

Oh! Bam! Look at that!

Nope, no wood nymphs here. Just some flamboyant yellow notices from the Department of Health declaring the place closed for health reasons. You know the notices, right? The ones that say “No person shall violate, obstruct, tear down or remove any notice of the Department or Board unless authorized to do so.” Those signs.

Well, good thing we have a nosy tipster to catch it for us. Otherwise we may never have known that the Department of Health closed down Marmaris on Monday, June 27, after finding a whopping 82 violations. According to the department’s website, they had a number of critical sanitation violations (marked in red):

Sanitary Violations
1)

Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

Food, food preparation area, food storage area, area used by employees or patrons, contaminated by sewage or liquid waste.

Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.

Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed.

Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

9) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
10) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.

Well, the Department of Health has been wrong before, right? I mean, back in February 2010 we discovered that a series of bungled inspections within just a couple of days caused Marmaris’ competitor (now shuttered) Halikarnas to lose business. Of course, that was several inspections within just a couple of days by various inspectors who didn’t talk to each other, and Halikarnas was not even open for business when they received violations.

Maybe that’s what happened here. Or not. According to the DOH website, Marmaris’ last visit was more than a year ago, again racking up an astounding 82 points for a number of similar violations, including not having a food protection certificate. So, in a year, they failed to get even the most basic of requirements satisfied. Yowzers.

We got word that Marmaris was open for business by Wednesday night, so we checked in with the DOH to ensure compliance. According to a department spokesperson, Marmaris “was given verbal authorization to re-open [Wednesday] after they passed inspection and complied with requests made at a re-opening meeting.” And the DOH website shows that the business reduced their violations from 82 down to just two – for an improperly constructed non-food contact surface.

That’s good news. We don’t intend to hurt a local business, and we really hope this means a turnaround for the restaurant. To that end, for those brave readers, check out this Groupon that came out today for… Marmaris! You just couldn’t ask for timing like this.