UPDATE: Universal Joint, a popular downtown Lawrenceville restaurant, was reinspected Tuesday and scored a perfect 100.
ORIGINAL STORY, PUBLISHED OCT. 24: A popular restaurant on the downtown Lawrenceville square failed its recent inspection after both dead and live flies were reported inside the eatery.
Universal Joint, located at 181 W. Pike St., got a 57/U on the Sunday afternoon inspection.
Officials reported finding "four liquor bottles with dead fruit flies," as well as "several flies flying in the facility."
Other violations mentioned in the inspector's report included an employee using his bare hands to put a sliced orange onto a patron's drink, and another employee using bare hands to wipe debris from a plate before taking it to a customer.
Five "dented cans of pineapples" were also reported.
"Facility allows dogs into the facility but does not have written procedures in place ... for assuring employees do not touch pets," the inspection report said. The restaurant was also dinged for not having "plugs" to keep rainwater out of its dumpster.
Universal Joint, a "community oriented restaurant/bar concept" with roots near Decatur, opened its Lawrenceville location in 2014. On Monday morning, restaurant partner Mark Brennan called the inspection results "unfortunate" but said corrections were being made.
"To be quite honest and blunt," he said, "a lot of these violations are not serious."
A follow-up inspection will be completed with 10 days of Sunday's failing evaluation.
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