Newsroom Cafe: I Smell a Rat

16. TMZ: Please make my day by posting pics of celebrities eating at the Newsroom (when it WAS open)!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!

Posted at 11:45PM on Jul 10th 2008 by Where'd the celebs go?

17. A vermin infestation? Hmmm...does Harvey and his TMZ twinks eat there....?

Posted at 12:00AM on Jul 11th 2008 by New Reality game.......Whack-A-Pap..

18. I deal with the health department on an ongoing basis, and I can tell you that their expectations are absolutely ridiculous. "Mold in the ice machine" transalates to "one off color spot on the rubber seal surrounding the unit". Chipping paint? Likely at floor level, way beyond the potential to contact food, and even if it's not... have you checked your kitchen lately? Or your moms? How 'bout those wine glasses you keep around in case company shows up but don't use on a regular basis? They're probably dusty cuz you never use them. Might even have a trapped gnat, much like the light fixture above your stove (a veritable gnat cemetery in most kitchens). If company came, you'd wash them before serving, yes? Betcha "Newsroom" would, too.

LA County Health Department standards are beyond ridiculous. Not one of you reading would pass with better than a B if they showed up on your doorstep. Sponges aren't allowed in the kitchen. Neither are reusable towels, unless they're kept in a bucket of sanitizer. Unless you have a three compartment sink so you can wash, rinse, dip in sanitizer and allow to air dry, you're putting your friends and family at risk according to them. And if you're not wearing a hairnet while cooking, you're in violation. Overall, according to the Health Department, it's a wonder any of us made it beyond the womb what with all the egregious violations going on in kitchens around the world.

Whatever you do, DON'T eat mom's cooking. She's probably got innumerable violations going on, and what used to be home cooking now translates into some form of genocide.

Most Americans can't drink the water in Mexico, yet Mexican citizens do so freely and with abandon. Why? Because they're immune to the "bad stuff". Keep it up, LACO Health Department, and soon we won't be able to exist without an oxygen bubble. The only way to overcome the "bad stuff" is to become immune to it, and we have over the course of time. You're trying to undo THOUSANDS of years of immunological growth, and you're doing a great job. Way to increase your state budget allowance.

What if we spent these valuable resources on something that really mattered, like child molesters or cops?

Posted at 4:42PM on Jul 11th 2008 by Give Me A Freaking Break

19. Simply too bad... after the original owner sold it 2,5 years ago... service and food have gone downhill. I used to love eating there... but never since and obviously no more.

Posted at 1:19AM on Jul 11th 2008 by Kata

20. Newsroom didn't start out bad,
Chef/Owner sold it almost three years ago
and it's spiraled ever since.
Surprised they didn't get closed down sooner!

Posted at 9:06AM on Jul 11th 2008 by Uno Eatz

21. I am not surprised. Management is weak. We ate there a few years ago, and when discovering that the waitress had almost doubled her tip (it was generous to begin with) I called the manager. She informed me that waitress had already been fired and she had done similar things to other customers. That's all she said. She did NOT offer to refund us, NOR next time you come here "desert is on us" or anything. Poor customer retention!!!!!

Posted at 11:00AM on Jul 11th 2008 by Sue

22. Damn. I have pet rats and by the sounds of it...they wouldn't eat there. My boys only eat the best (shrimp, king crap, chicken, salad, corn...etc) A place like that would kill them.

< :3 )~~~~~~~~

Posted at 1:24PM on Jul 11th 2008 by Brattus Rattus

23. THE IVY GAVE ME FOOD POISONING!!!

I got very very sick after eating at the Ivy. I called the owner and they said I was making it up. They also demanded to know if I went to an emergency room. When I got home I couldn't even get out of my bathroom for 6 hours that night and couldn't work the next day. It was horrible!

They serve the food so quickly after ordering it that my friends and I agree that they PRECOOK THE FOOD AND LEAVE IT AROUND UNTIL IT GETS ORDERED AND THEN THEY HEAT IT UP LIKE ON A GRILL!!!!!

My boyfriend had the fish and chips and mentioned that it tasted like leftovers from the day before like kind of refried fish. I had the lime chicken and swear I have never been sick like that before!

They want to turn the tables so fast so they can make $100 a person over and over and over in a day that they risk peoples lives with PRECOOKED UNSANITARILY KEPT FOOD.

NOBODY SPEAKS ENGLISH AT THE IVY - THERE IS NO MANAGEMENT WHO COULD SPEAK TO ME, THE OWNER WAS THE MOST ARROGANT & RUDE PERSON I EVER CAME ACROSS, THE WAITERS AND BUSBOYS BARELY CAN TAKE YOUR ORDER IN BROKEN ENGLISH, A VERY UNPLEASANT IRANIAN GIRL ANSWERED THE OFFICE PHONE, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHO THEY HAVE COOKING THE FOOD.

FAIR WARNING: DON'T GO TO THE IVY - THERE ARE TOO MANY OTHER GREAT PLACES TO GO.

Posted at 3:06PM on Jul 11th 2008 by Been There

24. EW. I always have high hopes this place will go back on the up. I have never gotten over the extra large long black hair that I found in my soup once. GROSSSSS

Posted at 6:56PM on Jul 11th 2008 by LaLaLa

25. Damn it why couldnt Paris and the other loser reality stars eaten there and got like ecoli posioning or something!!

Posted at 4:32PM on Jul 16th 2008 by SaraV