Eat & Drink
Mouse Spotted at Toronto Coffee Shop
Vermin sightings in Toronto restaurants and other dining establishments aren't that rare these days. But since it sometimes takes DineSafe a bit of time to react, I thought it was worth publishing this photo that Borys Machnikowski sent us of a mouse taking a liking to the mini cheese pastries at a Warden station coffee shop called Bakery on the Go.
Looking at its DineSafe record, it appears that Bakery on the Go has a less than spotless record having been hit with a conditional pass in August for "Inadequate Food Temperature Control" and "Failure to Protect Food From Contamination".
Here's an account of events as relayed to us by Borys himself:
Last night I was with two friends waiting for another friend at Warden Station. This being Toronto we decided to wait in the warmth of the coffee shop for him rather than staying out in the cold subway station. Between our conversation in the coffee shop I managed to spot a mouse chowing down on the mini-cheese rolls and pointed it out to my friends and the two other customers in there with us. I snapped a picture of the little offender without hesitation.
Here's where things get disgusting: the coffee shop continued to operate! Many people came in to buy baked goods and while the employee removed the mini-cheese rolls from the bottom rack he didn't remove everything around it and continued to sell people food even after we told him about the mouse and showed him my picture. Being thoroughly disgusted we decided to warn everyone who would listen that we just saw a mouse in plain sight and showed them the picture each time. They were grateful they hadn't eaten what they had bought yet.
That's when the employee, who had not said a word to us, called his manager to come in.
Between waiting for the manager coming in he was still selling people food! Finally, another man came in and we continued our mission to warn people. We told him about the mouse and he said "HUH? This is subway station. You see mice sometime. So WHAT?" in an irritated tone. Then we showed him the picture and his face froze. It turned out he was the manager and he promptly told us to get out, but we didn't until they turned off the lights and closed the store for fear they'd continue selling food to people while there was proof of the mouse eating it while customers were there (plus our friend still hadn't arrived).
I have sent an email to DineSafe to alert them of the problem and am currently awaiting a reply. Frankly, I am not only disgusted by the hygienic issues of the coffee shop but their business practices as well. The manager was very rude and hostile when talking to us and the employee seemed like he simply wanted to remain blissfully ignorant to the mouse encounter to cover his own ass. I will not be purchasing anything from that coffee shop again and am now skeptical of all those other 'convenient' coffee shops in the TTC system. Let me know if you would like to hear from me once I receive a reply from DineSafe.
Top photo by Borys Machnikowski. Additional photo by Toronto Slop.
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That is disgusting. The city better shut this guy down asap. I bet the workers don't even wash their hands after using the washroom. Gross. gross. gross.
Great job Borys.
Ugh. I just reviewed this place too - they have really good cheese danishes.
I think I just threw up in my mouth!
Yuck.
It's a subway grub joint guys. There are more mice and rats in that place than people. Yeah, it's gross but what did you expect?
Adrian, why does it matter that the food establishment is located in a building used for transportation? Does that, in your view, in some way excuses the owners from taking proper steps to avoid infestation?
there is no way to have food on the transit system. think of how many mice you see even daily on the rails...
i worked at the movie theater at yonge and eglinton and on top of the ant swarms we had a huge mouse problem.
baby mice with your popcorn anyone?
it's not that steps aren't being taken to prevent infestations...it's just virtually impossible to stop them.
food and subways should not mix. period.
Proper steps or not, all subway joints will definitely have roaches and mice/rats, and there's no real way to prevent it. This place has really good beef patties.
Can you describe to me what it is that makes the presence of infestation an inevitability in certain buildings (such as the station of a subway) and not others?
This is an unfortunate reality that establishments located within the subway system have to deal with, circumstances in which contact with contaminants are more likely. How much fault lies in the business owners for not adequately protecting their product, and how much fault lies in the TTC for not protecting their tenants? I guess that is up for debate.
when a smaller system has rodents, the pests are easier to control.
it's no secret that the TTC has a HUGE rodent infestation. it's too large to maintain the problem and the connection between the stations and, subsequently, the buildings housing the stations suffer.
the mice are in the subway, sense the food, then go to the food.
it's really simple, i can draw you a diagram if you'd like.
again, the best solution is to get you eats elsewhere, where the chance of the joint having mice is less than 100%.
That one is the one closer to the GATEWAY NEWSTAND right? The one that sells those microwaveable soups right? the other one sells pizza.
Anyways, have any of you ever been to the toilets at Warden station? the same status is for the whole bus bay area. dirty/wet floor, I always feared the food in the bakery.
Have any of you tweeted/e-mailed this to the TTC?
This is disgusting, but you should have been there a few weeks ago when my boyfriend and I were at Warden. After buying a couple of spring rolls from the establishment next door (Cafe on the Go), my boyfriend told me to watch the guy (apparently the cook) leave the back of the cafe, with his gloves on, go into the bathroom of the subway (which is filthy), came out (gloves still on), went to a payphone, made a call, picked his ear, and went back into the cafe kitchen with the same gloves still on!!
I forgot to mention, keep me up to date on what dinesafe says.
BOTH the food places (third one is the standard gateway newsstand) are disgusting.
Those are not raisins.
C'mon it's Warden Station. Was anyone really that surprised?
And for those of you who pass that place, I am surprised that anyone ever ate there in the first place.
uughhhh i go there all the time
someone should interview the employees and see what they say.
i never want to eat popcorn again.
Like a good mouse he's going for the mini cheese. Coconut Twist? That's for the rats.
Scarborough's gotta eat, yo.
Oh that's awful. I sometime get a beef patty at this place if I'm hungry on my way home. They are really good but I won't be going there again!
Yet another reason to avoid Scarborough.
Pastry and mouse another tasty combonation!
Yeah, those patties are really good but I don't think there's a chance in hell I'll be going back for those again. Disgusting.
So those weren't raisins?
Heh heh heh -- just like Ratatouille.
Disgusting, but again, what do you expect from a friggin' subway grub shop, folks? Only thing worse than buying food from these places is eating on the rolling urinals called subways.
Looks like a standard, unappetizing, Toronto dump.
Mice found in subway grub? No way! How is this shocking and or news?
The manager is right about one thing; we shouldn't be so naive as to assume that the same mice that creep on the TTC tracks and tunnels aren't capable for entering the moldy tiles lucid in most TTC stations. Moreover, the fact that there was shit in it proves that. Moral of the story: boycott all subway bakeries for fear of eating mouse crap with your cheese danish, chocolate dip donut, or banana muffin.
well at least the mouse is politely nibbling the mini cheese roll from the side as opposed to squatting on top of the cheese roll heap.
I don't even use the bathrooms on the TTC, much less eat the food. Although, the mouse is cute.
I could tell by the sign that this place would have mice.
I agree that the employees and manager dealt with the situation inappropriately and unprofessionally but poor guy trying to make a buck.
ICK ICK ICK!
You would think they would be a bit more concerned.
Sometimes mice turn up without an owner knowing. Case-in-point a lot of restaurants along the lake...Mice suddenly coming in from the cold, I hope THIS is the case for this establishment....again, the Owner/Manager should have taken you a bit more seriously.....ICK!
I don't think that was beef, Zack.
Big Deal A mouse.
Tons of us living in Toronto have mice in our, homes and apartments...
It strikes me as shocking people keep commenting on how it's OK for mice to be on your food.
I'm just waiting for some douche from PETA to start bombarding us with messages about how mice have rights to cheese danish too.
Its not OK but it happens.
Their either into the ingredients before it gets created and cooked, or their on it afterwards.
Yeah but (without knowing your personal stance on this) the sooner we shrug it off, the sooner we start selling food rats have had their way with to unsuspecting customers.
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/9981370-post93/
taste laaaike chiken
Our society has become to UPPITY!
Who cares about some mice.
Our forefathers would have lived and eaten amongst anything.
I'm surprised there's so many people shrugging this off because it's so close to the subway system. Yes we know the TTC has a large rodent problem. Actually the city of Toronto has a pretty significant rodent problem. The doesn't means we should simply shrug off the fact that rodents are now getting into our food in public establishments that serve our food. Some subway systems are far worse than others I might add. There's a significant difference from the cleanliness of Warden as opposed to the other side of the spectrum Kipling.
Surely you'd prefer to not eat food mice are sharing?
I have a hard time believing you would knowingly eat food a mouse or rat has nibbled.
Do you think the DineSafe program is excessive?
They have great beef patties, and a lot of their stuff is delicious! However, I'm not going to buy from that place anymore until they clean it up and have it up to standard. Mice.... that's just wrong.
cute
someone should go an adopt that mouse
OMG, this is the bakery I get treats for my workmates time to time. Their favorite - mini cheese! I've just told them about this article, and they all SCREEEEAMed. I feel sick. I've worked in several restaurants, I know you can not trust them, regardless to say coffee shop in the subway station ... but never thought of mice WALKING over food like that and get ignored by the manager. I hope this place will close, and never open again. I told my work buddies there will NOT be any baked treats, and they are fine so ...
they should get a cat.
this place still got a conditional pass today:
http://app.toronto.ca/food2/DineSafeMain?userRequest=view_history&ESTABLISHMENT_ID=9001041
anyone else notice that this place hasn't been inspected since December of last year?
this place still got a conditional pass today:
http://app.toronto.ca/food2/DineSafeMain?userRequest=view_history&ESTABLISHMENT_ID=9001041
anyone else notice that this place hasn't been inspected since December of last year?
I get food there all the time. Guess that's the end of that.
If it's impossible to keep mice out of cafes located in the subway system, then perhaps they shouldn't have cafes in the subway station.
Hey all, Borys here.
I've got an update for everyone at Tim's request. Tonight you may have briefly seen me on City TV doing an interview with Farah Nasser. While the interview went fine I'm ultimately disappointed by the outcome of all this. Bakery On The Go has been allowed to remain open; they simply need to display their 'conditional pass' sign on the front of the store for all to see.
Ultimately this is a hollow victory. While awareness of the unsanitary conditions at the bakery has been brought up they are still operating. The health inspector noted FIVE violations during today's inspection (according to their updated DineSafe profile) and mentioned that the shop is allowed to remain open due to the fact that mouse droppings were simply spotted around the store and not in the food storage area. Apparently indisputable evidence of a mouse actually consuming their baked goods in the presence of customers isn't a good enough reason to shut them down, at least temporarily.
A reporter from the Toronto Star interviewed me earlier today as well so I'm hoping this isn't over yet. Since this hits close to home as I pass through Warden station daily during the school year and get the occasional snack at the shops there I'm not letting this go. I've never done any sort of activism in the past but if I have to protest along with some of my other friends who took their part in relaying this story then I will do so. The outcome thus far is unacceptable.
Bakery On The Go needs to go.
CONDITIONAL PASS!
Sure, they can't be trusted to not feed people mouse shit, but they're trying, and that's what's important.
I don't trust dine safe either now. Who are these people.
Big deal. One little mouse. In a subway cafe. I would find something else to protest as I think your reaction is a bit overboard. Anyone buying food there is aware it is a) not the cleanest and b) not the healthiest option.
That interview can be viewed here.
Hi Borys, thanks for the update.
I passed by the store this morning, and was shocked to see it remain opening ... I mean, your story got through everywhere. I warned some people who got baked goods from that store while I was waiting for the bus, told them to read pg8 of Metro. They seem surprised and disgusted. People here commented mice infestation in the Subway system is a common sense, but many people also trust the health authority and the moral. If the government can not close that store, they should at least post what happened ... we have at least the right to know and the right to choose.
Oh, and I didn't "conditional pass" sign on their window as of Tuesday (22nd) morning ... has anyone?
Hmm, if they don't have that conditional pass sign up then I believe they're liable for a fine. They were supposed to have it posted by the end of the business day yesterday according to Farah Nasser's City News report.
... I don't need to get that close to the window to know not to buy anything from that dump. The "establishing shot" tells me that much.
F&%^#& city workers. How much more evidence does someone need that this place is unsanitary. Oh look mr.incompetent inspector ,THERES A FUCKING MOUSE ON THE FOOD!
Is this asshat on the take? Maybe we can look into the cosy relationship these guys have with restaurants and cafes and I bet we'll find alot of shady backroom deals.
Looks like some of these commenters have no problem eating pastries after a mouse or rat has been crawling all over it. Same kind of people never wash their hands after taking a shit.
Filthy sickening people.
how do you control mice in a subway station, anyway?
GROSS!!!!
GROSS!!!!
Proper storage, pest control, and display products in covered containers. Theres ways to keep rodents off the food.
Read their dinesafe report and you can see these people didn't care at all about how safe their food is.
This inspector did a disservice to the citizens of Toronto by allowing them to operate. Force them to take immediate necessary steps instead of this BS "Notice to Comply". They'll check back on them in a year like their last inspection.
"Yet another reason to avoid Scarborough."
Thats a really ignorant comment.
You obviously just follow the masses and have never bothered to explore the city. Scarborough has some dodgy areas as well as some of the most beautiful scenery, fine restaurants as well as clean safe take-out joints and more.
Get out of your bubble.
Lets get something straight. ALL restaurants in this city have had mice in them. I'm a server and have worked at some pretty decent joints. This city has a problem. You name the restaurant in TO and I'll find you server or manager or chef who will admit they saw a mouse at they're place in the last 2 weeks.
Restaurants on:
College st? Mice.
King West? Mice.
Annex? Mice.
Its the nature of the business.
Kayla not all restaurants have had mice.
By the way, a responsible owner/operator will clean daily and keep things clean everywhere. Something went wrong at Warden station.
There is no excuse for mice to be around........you do know just like humans and most animals, after they eat...it has to come out...how would you feel if you eat a beef patty which had mice feces on it and was just wiped away instead of thrown out?
People like you just give excuses after excuses for lousy owners/operators.
Coconut with raisin?!? Sick.
This store has had conditional passes as far back as 2004-5. The two times I bought a pastry from them, I got violently sick which prompted me to look at the food inspection card whenever I had to wait for the bus - 4 years later it seems like NOTHING has changed. WTF?
Miroslav - I question if YOU have ever worked in the service industry? Like Kayla - I have also worked in some of the top restaurants and there are mice! Old buildings, little cracks, food, garbage strikes = more mice living in the city.
Agree - no excuse for lack of cleanliness on owner/management part. But despite best efforts to keep mice away and restaurant clean, there will be mice.
Aside - what's with BlogTO these days - a site for mouse reporting?
If you think that's bad, check this out: http://bit.ly/5F7Wlm
Have you or Kayla been to EVERY restaurant? then you both worked with irresponsible owners/operators.
If you keep your building up to the by-laws and clean daily and do a full clean once a month or even 2 weeks then you won't have a problem. There might be an exception here or there but still.
If there are mice then the efforts are not enough. If there is mice/rat/whatever else animal poop (you do know that humans and animals eat then eventually poop). If you find a mouse/rat/cockaroach as a waiter/owner/whatever position... grab it and take it out.
That mouse seems to have been there for a long time.
Let's not forget that Warden station is one of the dirtiest stations in the system.
Why do people think wiping surfaces with Mr Clean or Fantastik or whatever will get rid of mice? They are not stains. Even if there's no food there they will continue to live there and get their food elsewhere. It has nothing to do with "cleanliness." Mice won't leave because you clean.
I worked in an office for 7 yrs that had mice. A stand-alone, single-storey building with basement. About a dozen employees. There was a little kitchen: fridge, coffee machine, microwave. Sure, people had lunch breaks but it wasn't a restaurant. I enforced clean-up and food storage rules with an iron fist. We had professional cleaners weekly. We paid a pest control company for years (who just placed poison and traps). THEY NEVER WENT AWAY. They entered through tiny cracks that were smaller than their bodies (they seem to shapeshift - I saw one pour himself through an impossibly small hole once). There wouldn't be a speck of food in the kitchen and we close for 2 weeks during the holidays, and they still didn't leave or die of starvation. They ate the poison bait in the traps, but could never be totally killed off. They LIVED there; if we didn't provide food, they got it elsewhere but stayed around anyway. Old building, too many entry points including tunnelling into that basement... nothing you can do.
Mice exist? fine.
Mice exist in food storage areas? Absolutely unacceptable.
People, don't stray from the point of the article, mice were in food containment areas (I.E. crawling on your food) AND they were still sold!
If even 30% of posters insist this is no big deal and an overreaction I call shenanigans.
this year has been bad and partial blame lies on the head of the garbage strikers. the city became infested with fruit flies and rodents because of that.
Mini-cheese? Those things are giants next to the mouse. This alone should be enough to shut down a restaurant. I bet they didn't get rid of that food either. The restaurant owners need to invest in some mouse traps. Maybe one of those Victor Multi-Kill electronic ones.
Ok let's be realistic. If every single establishment in Toronto which had a "conditional" pass was closed or shut down because of mice, cockroaches, rats, etc. there would hardly be a single place to eat in this city! Honestly take a look at the ratings for almost all restos you go to. You can even receive a "conditional" for the presence of fruit flies!
I have worked in a cafe and we had mice which snuck below the pastry case to steal the crumbs. Once we noticed them we made efforts to eliminate the situation with glue traps, however it is nearly impossible to remedy unless you can find out how they are entering the building. You get rid of one or two and a few more move in. It's a cycle which is nearly impossible to break.
What's important here is whether or not the owners are taking any action to improve the situation! They will likely never fully rid themselves of the pests, but taking steps to upgrade their pastry cases and keep the doors closed when not in use and using sealed bins to house the dry goods will all help to keep the food relatively safe!