An NYC couple claims they found a dead rodent in soup they ordered from a popular Koreatown restaurant over the weekend, but the eatery is dismissing that allegation as “nonsense.”
Eunice Lucero-Lee posted a series of photos and videos of what appears to be a dead black rat floating in the soup she said she and her husband had delivered Saturday from Gammeeok in Manhattan.
“We ordered sogogi gukbap, which is a kind of hearty Korean beef soup,” Lucero-Lee told NewsBreak by email.
The Post contacted Lucero-Lee, a magazine editor, for comment.
She reported filing a lawsuit against the restaurant, which also has a location in Fort Lee, NJ.
“After seeking legal counsel, my husband and I now feel free to share something that happened to us over the weekend,” Lucero-Lee wrote this week on Instagram.
“We ordered in from a well-known restaurant called Gammeeok in K-Town and found the most disgusting thing in our food.”
She continued: “We have been going to this restaurant for a decade and are otherwise proud supporters of Asian cuisine and culture. This incident is in no way to fuel race-based hate or prejudice, and I will have an issue with anyone who uses these posts to fit that narrative.”
Lucero-Lee said the couple are sharing their claims to “spread awareness and hopefully make sure the right people are held accountable.”
![Couple finds dead rat in soup from Gammeeok, NY](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008310484.jpg?w=819)
She also stated she contacted the NYC health department. On its website, the agency denotes a “C” rating for the Manhattan location.
A Jan. 18 inspection revealed several alleged sanitary violations, including a food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use; and food, supplies, and equipment not protected from a potential source of contamination.
The Post reached out to the health department and Gammeeok for comment. A department spokesperson said Thursday an investigation is underway.
In a set of Instagram posts Wednesday, the restaurant said the couple’s claims don’t “make sense.”
“We are open 24 hours, and there are at least 3 or 4 people in the kitchen at all times,” the restaurant wrote. “As you can see in the video, it doesn’t make sense for a rat to avoid people and enter a pot on a hot fire.”
Gammeeok added: “When we transferred the soup, we served it four times with a ladle while the staff watched it with their eyes. If there was a mouse that big, there’s no way I wouldn’t have missed it. There is also a video recording of the recording process. We checked the whole process of making the soup, but we couldn’t find any problems.”
The restaurant alleges the couple wrote a Yelp review six years ago about finding “a large bug” in takeout soup.
“It’s a rare experience to most people in their whole life,” Gammeeok wrote. “They remove the review now. Why?”