Health Department Closes the Strip’s Wolfgang Pick Bar & Grill

Some of the most celebrated culinary treats you can treat your palette to on the Las Vegas Strip are found at MGM Grand’s Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, which had to be temporarily closed following an inspection by the Southern Nevada Health District last week.

Popular Las Vegas Restaurant Due to Reopen after Health Inspection

The venue, which is due to reopen on Monday, January 6 at 11 AM, failed to pass the inspection on Thursday, with officials citing concerns over “inefficient pest control,” among several other issues that tanked the venue’s temporary score. The restaurant closed operations right away and had already taken remediation steps.

Inspectors have also agreed to allow the venue to reopen providing their recommendations are implemented in full. A follow-up inspection will be conducted at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill once it reopens to ensure that all measures have been met.

The Southern Nevada Health District has cited several easily fixable issues with the way the restaurant organized its processes. For one, inspectors said that there were issues with the way food was protected from “potential contamination,” that could come from both employees and consumers.

Another issue had to do with whether the venue could guarantee that the food was not spoiled, adulterated or contaminated, and whether was protected from cross-contamination. The department also named effective pest control measures as another reason why this decision was reached in the first place.

A total of 42 demerits were handed to the venue. The demerits are a point-based penalty system that is used to identify breaches of protocol at restaurants. The violations that usually earn a demerit are improper food storage, temperature control, employee hygiene, and general cleanliness.

Las Vegas Restaurants Are Kept Under Strict Watch

A venue is usually closed when it reaches a score below 70 points, out of 100 points. The Southern Nevada Health District has a very tight rules system when it comes to eaters and food venues, regardless of whether they are on The Strip or the state’s margins.

Even scores of 80 points would still require corrective action by venues that were inspected and failed to muster a higher score. As to the restaurant itself, it is owned by the world-renowned namesake chef, Wolfgang Puck, who opened his first Las Vegas restaurant back in 1992 at the Forum Shops at Caesars, later moving the venue to the Bellagio.

Puck was also among the first star-studded chefs to actually venture into Las Vegas and explore the model where world-renowned chefs could be cooking for tourists and visitors on The Strip, giving the area an even larger economic boost and another thing for visitors to try.