QUEENS — Popular Forest Hills restaurant Moca Asian Bistro, which was closed by the Health Department last week after inspectors found roaches in its kitchen, was allowed to reopen under a "grade pending" status, the agency said.
Inspectors who visited the eatery on Forest Hills' “Restaurant Row,” at 107-18 70th Road, on July 16 authorized the eatery to reopen despite describing the conditions as not "vermin-proof," records show.
The eatery also had to post a "grade pending" sign on its window.
“The restaurant has to be re-inspected to receive a grade,” a spokesman for the agency said in an email Monday. “That inspection will happen very shortly, followed by another inspection in several months.”
The restaurant was closed on July 13 "due to a severe pest infestation" and other violations that created "a public health hazard that could not be corrected at the time of the inspection," the agency said last week.
Health inspectors, who also cited the eatery because workers touched food that would not be cooked afterward with their bare hands, hit Moca with 46 health violation points, according to the agency's website.
Moca’s owners could not immediately be reached for comment.
