Lafayette Coney Island still has more to do before the restaurant can open back up, the City of Detroit confirmed on Wednesday.
The popular Downtown Detroit coney spot has been closed since Sept. 7 after social media video showed rats inside the restaurant.
Related: Tracking inspections of the iconic Lafayette Coney Island, which is closed due to rats
According to the city health officials, progress has been made on improving the building, but the process is not complete.
“We did see substantial evidence that suggested there were rodents running throughout the facility in the form of droppings,” Detroit Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair Razo said earlier this month. "That is a huge violation that goes against our food code and that does require a shutdown.”
Fair Razo says while the restaurant immediately shut down, they opened up again later that night leading to the cease and desist posted on the door Wednesday.
“We worked very closely with Lafayette. They were really compliant. They temporarily and voluntarily shut down their facility, but they reopened later that afternoon,” Fair Razo said. "So what we did this morning is we issued a cease and desist."
The owner's son Samir Provic claims the restaurant didn't reopen.
"We voluntarily shut down to clean up. We cleaned up all day yesterday, went home, came back today," Provic said. "We haven’t reopened. We want to fix the problem completely.
“It’s an old building, very old building. We got a small basement. There’s a bunch of holes that she said we need to patch up to fix up,” Provic said. "What we’re doing now is we’re actually discussing to bring a renovation company in to fix the whole basement — that’s the plan.”
