It’s rare that a restaurant would even want to publicly acknowledge it has a pest problem — after all, no one wants to associate bugs with the food business — however, a California eatery has gone so far as to not only inform its patrons that it’s been infested by German cockroaches, but it also reported itself to the county health department.

The organic restaurant in Marin County put up a sign near the front door alerting customers to the infestation, reports the Contra Costa Times.

“The owner decided, if I can’t tell the truth to my customers, then why have a restaurant,” said a manager.

Customers don’t seem to be totally turned off that the restaurant has remained open during the ordeal.

“I was stunned because I’ve been a customer for a while and I know how much energy they put into putting out a good product and being ethical and doing the right thing,” said one patron, adding, “I’m a bit surprised about how un-fussed I am about it. Cafes have roaches, restaurants have problems. It’s not like I haven’t seen a bug in my own house.”

The restaurant’s bosses also spoke up and informed the county environmental health services department about the problem, which is an odd move.

“That hardly ever happens,” said the supervising health inspector. “We’ll get an inspector over to see what’s going on.”

The restaurant is shutting down just for today so a pest control company can come in and try to stem the infestation. The bugs apparently started showing up in May and the fear is that now they’ve spread throughout the entire shopping complex.

Marin eatery admits it has cockroaches, stays open [Contra Costa Times]

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