ZEPHYRILLS, FL -- "I love their food. Yeah, it's great," Harriet McNeal said.
McNeal is a snowbird from New Brunswick, Canada and when she's in town, she dines at Maine-Ly New England Restaurant on First Street in Zephyrhills.
The restaurant was shut down last October for a rodent infestation, but McNeal isn't at all concerned.
"I wasn't aware of that. But I know the owner so that doesn't bother me," McNeal said.
"We like the way they cook their food," said George Herman.
Herman comes to Maine-Ly New England for their deep fried oysters. He also wasn't worried about the problems they've had.
"I didn't even know about it and I know the type of people they are, that they would take care of it," Herman said.
But after finding over 100 rodent droppings in the dish area and throughout the kitchen, state inspectors closed the doors on October 30 for 24 hours.
Mike Mira has been the owner of Maine-Ly New England for the last 7 years.
He didn't want to go on camera but told me off camera he felt he hasn't been treated fairly by the state.
He said the state inspection report, which shows rodent activity "throughout the kitchen and behind the equipment" is wrong and that the rodent droppings were found where he stored old equipment. He said that was in an adjacent building next to his restaurant.
According to state records, the inspector returned the next day to make sure everything was corrected and wrote up 18 more violations, seven of which were critical.
The inspector found no thermometer in the holding unit, slime in the ice machine, and old food residue on kitchen equipment.
Mira says he took all the violations seriously and fired the manager who was on duty at the time and retrained all of his employees.
He also said he spent $80,000 redoing the kitchen floors and the patio area.
In April of 2008, state inspectors wrote up other violations including live flies in the kitchen and fire code issues.
But Mira promised his next report would be outstanding and his regulars believe it.
ABC Action News Anchor Wendy Ryan asked, "So you'll be back?"
McNeal responded, "I'll be back!"
And Ryan asked George Herman, "So you'll be back?"
"Oh yeah!" Herman replied.
