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Five Guys Locations Closed After Visit from Inside Edition's 'Rat Patrol'

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Tom Lee
Inside Edition's "Rat Patrol" returned to the District this week, taking aim, perhaps predictably, at the various D.C. fast food joints recently frequented by the Obamas. The television program confirmed that two of the eateries featured in the upcoming episode were Five Guys restaurants, including the Dupont Circle location where Michelle Obama took members of her staff for lunch back in February. Indeed, the Five Guys located at 1645 Connecticut Ave NW is shuttered this morning, with a sign on the door explaining that the fast food restaurant is "closed until further notice."

D.C. Department of Health spokesperson Dena Iverson said that the closure was not a city action; Inside Edition says it found a pack of rats right outside the back door of the restaurant two nights in a row, and that's apparently prompted Five Guys to decide to shut down for clean up as a preventive measure.

Another Five Guy’s location, on Wisconsin Ave. in Georgetown, was also a target of the show. Inside Edition say they observed an "unwelcome visitor inside the restaurant crawling through sacks of potatoes kept right inside the front window," two nights in a row. The Georgetown location is reportedly also closed today.

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Five Guys employees milled around outside during the lunch hour today, turning away hopeful customers.
A call to Five Guys has yet to be returned, but Inside Edition forwarded us a statement they say came from the company's corporate headquarters: "The health and safety of our customers is of primary importance at Five Guys." The company told the show that the two closed stores will not reopen until they are certain they are rodent free.

Were any other restaurants nabbed in this latest "Rat Patrol" sting? They say they didn't see any vermin at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, where President Obama and Vice President Biden recently had lunch. They did, however, reportedly uncover inspection reports from the Virginia Department of Health that indicated "mouse droppings [in] the storage room" at Ray's. Hmm.

Set your TiVo to WUSA-9 tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m., when the segment is scheduled to air in the D.C. market. The "Rat Patrol" last visited D.C. in 2007, when it exposed rodent problems at Mixtec in Adams Morgan, Baja Fresh in Dupont Circle, and Popeye's in Logan Circle.

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Five Guys spokesperson Molly Catalano. She said that the footage Inside Edition showed them involved evidence of rats in a dumpster outside the Dupont Circle location, and "a couple of mice" in the Georgetown location. She said Five Guys shut down the two stores as soon as they were informed of the issues by the TV program, and have retained two pest control companies to come in and take care of the situation.

"We will not reopen until the health department and our independent pest control companies provide us with clean inspection reports," Catalano said. Five Guys hopes to have the two stores reopened within a day or two.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Sommer Mathis in , on May 14, 2009 2:20 PM

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