FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A viral video showing a filthy kitchen in a popular metro Atlanta restaurant has state health inspectors planning a visit to see the conditions.
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The video is from the LongHorn Steakhouse on Camp Creek Parkway in East Point and was shot by a now-former restaurant cook, who had worked there since April. Sean Headley, 36, said he recorded the video in August.
It shows food scraps, trash and a roach on the kitchen floor. It also shows what appears to be a cooked steak on a shelf.
“And it was just gross,” Headley told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims.
He said he recorded servers picking and eating food off plates that were then delivered to customers: “They were eating the food, right in front of the manager, and dipping it in the sauce. And I said, ‘Nah, this can’t be real.’”
Headley said he confronted his co-workers about their behavior and the conditions in the kitchen.
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“So when I asked them, why don’t they clean up? Their reply is, ‘This is a million-dollar store. We ain’t got no time to be cleaning up. We’ve got this money coming in.’”
Headley said the restaurant’s leadership is fully to blame for the unsanitary environment.
“The most important part is the management,” he said. “If the management was a better place, I feel like there would be more standards and structure.”
Carly Maddock, a spokesperson for LongHorn Steakhouse and its parent company, Darden Restaurants, sent Channel 2 Action News a statement:
“While this video was recorded several months ago, the conditions shown are unacceptable and have been addressed. We continue to take the necessary steps to ensure a safe experience for our Guests and Team Members and recently placed a new leader in the restaurant to ensure our strict standards are maintained.”
She went on to say the restaurant has regular pest control treatments and a professional cleaning crew nightly.
The Fulton County Board of Health also issued a brief statement: “Though the restaurant recently received an inspection, we plan to revisit the establishment in light of this information.”
It did not say when the inspectors will return to the restaurant or what, if any, action they will take based on the video.
The Georgia Department of Public Health last inspected the East Point LongHorn on Aug. 25 and gave it a score of 90 – an “A.” Inspections from the last two years show scores ranging from 88 to 91.
There is a discrepancy in the restaurant’s statement of when the video was shot and when Headley said he recorded it. Headley initially told Mims he was still a LongHorn employee as of Thursday, but the LongHorn spokesperson said the cook last clocked in Aug. 13 and worked three hours.
Headley later told Mims his last day on the job was Aug. 19 – and that’s when he shot the video.
“It’s not sanitary,” Headley said. “There’s a lot of customer complaints about roaches and bugs and stuff like that. Hopefully something happens sooner than later.”
He said he felt compelled to shoot the footage in hopes of changing the leadership and improving the conditions before they threaten the health of customers.
“I just want to see a better environment,” he said. “I’m happy I’m the one who spoke up against it and hopefully these people can be in a better work environment.”
A woman who did not want to provide her name spoke to Channel 2 outside the restaurant. She said she has been a regular at the East Point LongHorn for nearly a decade and had no complaints about the food or service. But then she saw the video, which had more than a half million views on Instagram as of 6 p.m. Thursday.
“I’m really sad, I’m sad,” she said. “So I hope they improve it. I’d like to come back, but not anytime soon. Not after that video.”
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