Rodent Feces, Live Roach Found in Banana Cafe, D.C. Health Agency Says

Banana Cafe had rodent droppings, a live cockroach and fruit flies when a food safety and hygiene inspector visited the Barracks Row eatery last week, according to the D.C. Department of Health.

The restaurant and piano bar at 500 8th St. SE was closed temporarily last week after the inspector found a “gross insanitary occurrence or condition that may endanger public health including but not limited to heavy infestation of vermin,” DOH said at the time.

In the full inspection report released today, the agency says the inspector last Monday discovered a live roach in the kitchen, fruit flies in the upstairs bar and rodent feces in “multiple corners of [the] establishment including on several bag-in-box sodas.”

Banana Cafe was closed from last Monday until Wednesday, when the eatery passed a follow-up DOH inspection.

The restaurant has “no problem,” Banana Cafe manager Jorge Rivera said after the follow-up inspection.