Tarrant County inspections find health concerns in school cafeterias
Tarrant County restaurant inspectors found rodent droppings at one eatery and refrigeration issues at several county schools in the latest round of health inspections, according to the reports.
The reports compiled by the Star-Telegram contain health violations from Aug. 24 through Sep. 6 and the results of 283 inspections.
Tarrant County inspects all food-service establishments in the county except for those in Fort Worth, Arlington, Euless and North Richland Hills, which conduct their own inspections.
The county inspections are graded on a scale similar to Fort Worth’s system: Demerits are subtracted from a starting score of 100, which is a perfect score. A score of 70 is considered extremely poor.
Holy Frijole, a food truck, had a score of 98. But inspectors observed no running water in the truck and advised operators to close until the water had been restored.
El Pollo Loco, located at 1900 Central Drive in Bedford, had a score of 92. Inspectors observed rodent droppings near the restaurant’s soda fountain.
La Capital 2, located at 200 W. Pipeline Road in Hurst, had a score of 84. Inspectors noted problems with roaches at the restaurant.
The following Tarrant County schools were noted to have issues with refrigeration and cold holding temperatures:
- South Hi Mount Elementary in Fort Worth had a score of 92. The school’s cold holding equipment has not been working properly since the start of the school year, inspectors said. Lactose-free milk was sitting at 66 degrees Fahrenheit for over 12 hours and was discarded. At the time of the inspection, the school did not have a certified food manager on site.
- Harleen Beal Elementary in Forest Hill had a score of 94. The majority of the school’s equipment, including coolers, the dishwasher and hot holding equipment, was out of order.
- Eaton High School in Fort Worth had a score of 93. The school’s cold holding unit was not cooling properly, and prepared salads and pudding cups that were held at unsafe temperatures were discarded.
- William James Middle School in Fort Worth had a score of 100. The school’s walk-in cooler was not working and a work order has been placed.
- Heritage Middle School in Colleyville had a score of 98. The school’s walk-in cooler was down and food left overnight was discarded.
- Creekview Middle School in Fort Worth had a score of 90. A power outage caused the school’s cooler to fail. Lunch meat and milk were discarded due to unsafe temperatures.
Here are the inspection scores and violations for restaurants that Tarrant County Public Health (TCPH) inspected for Aug. 24th - Sept. 6th, 2025. TCPH inspects and scores all restaurants in Tarrant County except for those located in Fort Worth, Arlington, Euless and North Richland Hills. Scores are based on a 100-point scale. When the score is below 70, a follow-up inspection is required. To search the restaurant inspections, type in a keyword or restaurant name. You can also sort by score.
Some data analysis in this story was conducted using AI. For more information on how the Star-Telegram and McClatchy newsrooms are using AI, go here.
