You might expect one or two of the cooks to be on something when you go out to eat, but you certainly don’t expect any drugs to be in your food…
A Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar in Pace, Florida has permanently shut its doors following an investigation by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department. According to WKRG News 5, seven people were hospitalized after eating at Nikko Japanese Steak House on June 9th.
Detectives did multiple tests and found that two soy sauce bottles, as well as unopened packets of soy sauce, contained methamphetamine. The investigative report also contained statements from employees saying a co-worker was acting erratically the day the people became sick and they believe he may have accidentally contaminated the food.
However, no arrests were made due to a lack of evidence to back up those claims.
Nikko had shut its doors for the investigation and then reopened following approval from the health department, but in a July 7th statement, they announced their permanent closure, and placed the blame on social media.
“After more than ten years of serving the Pace community, we have decided to close Nikko Japanese Steakhouse. On June 10th, we heard, just like many of you did, of people being injured after eating at our restaurant…
It was determined by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s office that there was nothing linking the restaurant to the accusations, and after a clear survey by the health department, we re-open our doors. We are so thankful to our regulars who came back to support us, unfortunately it just wasn’t enough to keep the doors open.
Since then, we have been brutally harassed, daily, by various media outlets, who have slandered and defamed every aspect of our business. Today, a family owned and operated business is closed, 20 employees are out of work, all because of the power of social media.”
On one hand, I really do feel for these restaurant owners.
The amount of physical and mental effort that’s required to own and run a successful restaurant is insane and anytime a family owned place shuts down is a sad day.
But with that being said, you fed your customers meth… not just a little either, enough that seven people had to be hospitalized. Who knows how many more just felt funny for the rest of the day.
A story like this truly only makes sense in the great state of Florida.
