A Gwinnett County health inspector told Mike’s Mexican Grill to stop using pesticides and hire a commercial exterminator instead.

The restaurant at 2522 Cruse Road received a failing health score after an inspector observed live roaches crawling in the kitchen and found several residential pesticides in the facility.

Roaches were seen near the grill and behind the freezer, and pesticides were found near the freezer, underneath the three-compartment sink and in the storage room. All were discarded.

The inspector told management while it needed to minimize the presence of pests, the pesticides used must be commercial and administered by a licensed professional.

Mike’s Mexican Grill scored a 61/U on the routine inspection. The restaurant has previous scores of 87/B and 93/A.

Among other violations, hand sanitizer was being used in place of soap at the employee hand sink. An employee was observed handling a cell phone then putting on gloves to remove a sliced lime from the cooler. The inspector said the employee should have washed his hands before putting on the gloves and working with the food.

Mike’s manager said the restaurant is ready for a follow-up inspection. He said the score dropped because the soap was missing, and he wasn’t there when the inspector showed up.

“When the manager is out you lose 10 points,” he said. “We’ve gotten everything taken care of and we’re just waiting for (the inspector) to come back.”

Here are other recent inspection scores from area restaurants.

Clayton County

• California Fish Market, 6534 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro. 97/A
• Gina’s Bistro, 253 N. Main St., Jonesboro. 99/A
• No. 1 Chinese Restaurant, 7887 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro. 85/B
• Ranchero, 11175 Tara Blvd., Hampton. 90/A
• Ruby Tuesday, 11473 Tara Blvd., Hampton. 97/A

Cobb County

• American Grill, 3150 Highlands Parkway, Smyrna. 81/B
• Caper’s, 1635 Old 41 Highway, Kennesaw. 91/A
• Country Style Jamaican Restaurant, 3349 Canton Road, Marietta. 100/A
• Donny’s Home Cooking, 4674 Sandy Plains Road, Roswell. 98/A
• Hoki Japanese Restaurant, 3300 Cobb Parkway, Atlanta. 100/A

DeKalb County

• Bad Dog Taqueria, 1579 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. 78/C
• Bahel Ethiopian Restaurant, 3125 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta. 83/B
• Lalibela Café, 3096 N. Decatur Road, Scottdale. 79/C
• Luqma, 1706 Church St., Decatur. 83/B
• Old Tucker Fountain, 2329 Main St., Tucker. 81/B

Fulton County

• Atkins Park Restaurant, 794 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. 77/C
• Daddy D’z, 264 Memorial Drive, Atlanta. 81/B
• Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, 13075 Highway 9, Milton. 100/A
• Great Wall Restaurant, 6035 Bakers Ferry Road, Atlanta. 82/B
• Smokejack, 29 S. Main St., Alpharetta. 88/B

Gwinnett County

• Baby Jane’s Home Cooking, 2054 Main St. E., Snellville. 85/B
• Carrabba’s Italian Grill, 2030 Sugarloaf Circle, Duluth. 91/A
• Dos Pancakes, 2525 Hamilton Mill Road, Buford. 95/A
• Fork Story, 2550 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth. 86/B
• Pupuseria Los Campos, 706 Grayson Highway, Lawrenceville. 93/A

– by Laura Berrios for the Food & More blog

(Commenting is closed on this post.)

– Previous reports | Search inspections by county