Kozy Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant on Boston University’s campus, failed a health inspection following a customer complaint filed to the Boston Inspectional Services Department Health Division Sept. 24.
Kozy Kitchen moved into 728 Commonwealth Ave., located on Central Campus, in 2024. The restaurant serves a “diverse menu” of Chinese dishes, according to its website.
The complaint sent to Boston Inspectional Services claimed there was “what appeared to be a cockroach” in the customer’s food.
The inspector, sent by Boston’s Health Division, found seven other code violations, including prepared food without expiration dates, hand sinks without soap and more, which Kozy Kitchen was required to address before a Sept. 30 compliance inspection.
The restaurant was unable to provide extermination reports for the inspector to review, ISD director of communications Lisa Timberlake wrote in a statement to The Daily Free Press.
Timberlake said the health inspector “did not observe any cockroach activity.”
Upon reinspection last Wednesday, two outstanding cleaning violations remained. An administrative pre-hearing compliance inspection was scheduled for Oct. 7., in which the restaurant will again be assessed on addressing the remaining violations.
Kozy Kitchen’s manager declined to comment.
The restaurant is described on its website as the “best Chinese in Boston.”
Junior Meah Yorke said the food at Kozy Kitchen was “solid” and the service was quick when she ate there. Yorke said she found it “unfortunate” that the restaurant was under fire, since she saw it as a small, family-owned business, but acknowledged the severity of the violations.
“Your stuff needs to be clean, and you don’t want people eating in that environment and possibly getting sick,” Yorke said. “I understand the concern.”
Junior Conrad Martinez said he thought Kozy Kitchen’s food was “really good,” but described the incident in the complaint as “heinous.”
“I’m shocked … I don’t know if I’ll be eating there again,” he said.
To other students, Kozy Kitchen’s health inspection violations weren’t a surprise.
Junior Becca Wu said she ordered from the restaurant last year and got food poisoning. She said she was surprised an inspection “didn’t happen sooner.”
“It is unfortunate because it is such a small business … But I don’t want to be throwing up after I eat dinner,” Wu said.
Freshman Isabel Caceres said she ate at Kozy Kitchen twice but plans to avoid it in the future.
“In that street I’ve seen a lot of rats running around in front of Insomnia [Cookies], and so it’s not a huge shock,” she said.
Becca Wu was formerly a staff member of The Daily Free Press. Wu was not involved in the writing, reporting or editing of this article.
Dining and Cooking