Cockroach [General]

2010 Oct 18
FYI: My friend ordered the fattoush salad today from Al Pacino and found a dead cockroach after consuming almost half of the salad. Please advise anyone you know who eats there.

I know I am utterly disgusted and will not be returning to this place ever!!

2010 Oct 18
better than half a cockroach, I guess...

2010 Oct 18
.... and he didn't charge your friend extra?

Don't most places charge extra to put protein in a salad ?

e.g. A Chicken Ceaser Salad

2010 Oct 18
Grosseroni!

PS: Got any pics?

2010 Oct 18
Did your friend draw this to the attention of restaurant management?

2010 Oct 18
Was it chocolate covered? I know those are delicacies somewhere!

2010 Oct 18
That's terrible! At a higher class of restaurant, the cook or server would have picked the cockroach out of the salad before it was served to you. ;-)

In all seriousness, a cockroach is not a very good sign, but pests are a fact of life and a single insect does not constitute an infestation. On the other hand, this could be a result of their recent non-compliance to the "protection against the entrance of insects..." inspection requirement: www.ottawa.ca -- Judging by the information on the food inspection page, I'd guess this restaurant is struggling.

There are two likely outcomes of this whole situation: either they'll clean up their act and start passing inspection, or they will go out of business due to poor customer experience. In other words, if they're still in business next year, give them another chance!

2010 Oct 18
I am having more trouble than usual this fall with mice wanting to be in my house and workplace...both rural. At home and work not good. We use those electronic mouse things that emit "signals" they don't like. They do not seem to be working. We also have live traps but I think they just keep coming back to their same entry point (maybe we need to release them further away?) I really think the nasty traps are the only stop. Any thoughts?

2010 Oct 18
Back in 1997 when I first started going to one of my favorite places in Ottawa which is still one of my favorite places and is extremely popular on this site and is extremely popular in Ottawa, the place was crawling with cockroaches. Did not bother me in the least since I had once lived in a building with far more cockroaches. Far, far, far, more.

One easy way to get rid of cockroaches even if you live in a building that is infested, is to scour every square inch of the place, and plug every single hole and crack in the walls or under the cupboards with aluminum tape. It takes about a day in a small apartment, and will stem the flow of cockroaches from where you'll start out seeing hundreds a day, to the point where you may see one or two a week. I lived this for a full year so I know it very well.

Incidentally, I've been to that spot many, many times since 1997, and probably have not seen a cockroach there in 10 years.

2010 Oct 18
A week ago, my collegue found an unidentified insect in her dhal from the Indian restaurant also on the second floor of L'Esplanade Laurier...

2010 Oct 19
Exactly. If a large complex like that is infested with cockroaches, there really is little an individual tenant can do about it. Short of covering every square inch of the place as I noted above - which could be a daunting task for a restaurant

2010 Oct 19
Yessi: No pics she was way too disgusted at that point to want to take pictures.

W.C.: from experience of living out in the country for 15 years, Ive learnt that unfortunately releasing mice will just result in them coming back. They have probably found some sort of entry into your house and will continue coming back if you release them. We use the plastic traps with peanut butter to take care of them, but its that time of year where they are coming inside as it is getting colder outside.

M.E.: Thats disgusting, seems to be a trend at L'Esplande now

2010 Oct 19
I think its icky to find something like that in your food. It shows me lack of care in noticing it when plating. More than just being a turn off I am actually allergic to them so it could be more than unpleasant for me. (I went through the general allergy tests and was itchy and swollen and was shocked that that particular spot was a reaction to cockroaches. Was tested twice in a month and the more extensive testes confirmed it and others.) I don`t know too many people who would knowingly put themselves through a reaction and appreciate the heads up.

2010 Oct 19
itchy and swollen due to extensive testes? err... ;)

2010 Oct 19
WC - get a cat, we haven't noticed any mice since we got our cat, even since the cat was gotten the mice have been sparse. Other than that peanut butter on the black plastic traps is the way to go. Poison just got distributed to various corners of the basement. Live traps is way too nice - they'll be back.

2010 Oct 19
W.C. an indoor cat might do the trick, or you might consider the Rat Zapper from www.theratzapper.com/. It kills rodents with a burst of electricity from AA or C cells quite efectively if our 1st month with one is any indication. We bait it with shelled peanuts. We've killed mice, chipmunks and squirrels, and hope not to have any more $400.00, $700.00, etc. car repair bills. The Zapper is far more preferable to the spring-loaded mouse traps as you don't have to touch any dead critters and you won't maim any. We bought the "Classic" model at Home Hardware (in Winchester) - reg. price is $40.00.
I must send them our own testimonial - read the ones posted there (I believe them now!).

2010 Oct 19
ohh.. this was a good post. I have chipmunks chewing my garage door weather stripping + making a home in my summer car engine compartment. I really don't want to kill the little buggers - do you think tabasco sauce on the weather stripping would annoy them enough? :)

As for the cockroach - that is nasty. I would lose it right then and there.

2010 Oct 19
Mice:) A raccoon took up residence in my attic this week. I plugged his exit bought a live trap. The problem was this guy weighs in excess of 40lbs and when I tried to get him out of the attic the cage failed and he bent his way under the door of the cage and got out luckily he wasn't in a fighting mood he just gave me a look and waddled back into the eve. Last night he broke out of the attic. I closed up the hole early in the morning but not sure if he came back or not. Now he knows what the trap does so my options are limited. I guess it's time to hire a professional.

2010 Oct 19
40 pounds!? wow.. monster. I'd run the other way. Haha.

2010 Oct 30
Apparently Eggspectations has been closed temporarily... due to pests.

www.ottawa.ca

2010 Oct 30
Gross...

2010 Oct 30
Did you eggspect anything less?

2010 Nov 1
The thumbs-up I just gave you is the equivalent of Facebook's "You like this." Just so you know ;)

2010 Nov 2
How has no one posted this yet?

youtu.be/7MbbJ5hvdds


2010 Nov 2
Andy-tx, we will look up this method of taking care of the ittle brats. Can't do the cats because I have 2 dogs. My old dog could catch mice years ago, but she can't do it anymore and new dog is useless at mice surveillance...High tech might be an option...