NYC woman finds dead rat in salad, here's what happened next
Surprise toppings on your favourite takeout are one thing that is sure to make anyone's day. However, one
NYC
woman was traumatized to find an unexpected topping in her salad takeout, which led to her avoiding eating restaurant food for the foreseeable future.
Just like any other corporate employee, Hannah Rasbach was picking up her go-to bowl of takeout from
Ongi
on West 37th Street in New York City on Monday, May 5th. However, in her bowl of spring mix, grilled salmon and beef bulgogi, she found a topping that would leave most finding the nearest bin to puke- a dead rodent.
'I ate probably, like, half to maybe two-thirds of the salad, I would guess, and I just kind of saw part of it covered – I thought it was a piece of beef bulgogi that was not fully chopped up, and it was kind of buried under the lettuce,' she told PEOPLE.
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'So I started trying to cut it with a knife, and something didn't feel right, so I moved the lettuce over and could tell what it was pretty quickly. I was in shock," she added.
According to Rasbach, the dead rodent was about 4-5 inches long and was situated at the bottom of the bowl. Since she did not shake her salad before eating, she was unable to find it before she had eaten some of the salad already.'I had eaten a considerable amount by the time I got to it,' she said.
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After finding out about the shocking rodent, Rasbach ran to her boss's office and then to the bathroom to vomit. Next, along with a co-worker, she went to notify the staff at Ongi of the incident. '[The manager] was pretty nonchalant, she didn't really act super shocked or anything, which was very confusing,' Rasbach claimed. 'And she just put on some gloves, opened it up, closed it, and she asked me if I thought it came from the spring mix – which I don't know how I was supposed to know where it came from – but I told her I thought it came from the beef bulgogi.
'
She also visited a doctor who put her on precautionary antibiotics and noted that since she had not eaten any part of the animal, the biggest concern was if it had defecated or urinated in her salad.
What does the restaurant say?
Ray Park, the owner of Ongi, called Rasbach after hearing what happened and sounded "very apologetic" asking if there was anything he could do to make it up to her. He called her again later to follow up and check in.
However, according to a spokesperson for Park, the "the contaminant in the bowl is not something that was in the bowl when it was sealed and handed to Ms.
Rasbach at the restaurant." He added that it was "impossible" that the preparers of the food would not have seen or felt such a large foreign object. Additionally, the restaurant went through the video of the preparation process of the food and claimed that it refuted Rasbach's claim.
Additionally, just a day later on May 7, the restaurant's 'A' rating by the New York City Department of Health was confirmed and renewed due to an inspection requested by Rasbach.
The inspector provided the following report, 'Allegation: Vermin. No vermin were observed on the premises at the time of inspection. Last extermination conducted on 5/5/25. Allegation not founded''.
"I'm traumatized..."
Well, while Rasbach is not pursuing any legal action, she still emphasises that the rodent came from Ongi. 'What am I getting out of this? I am not pursuing legal action. There's no benefit to me putting a rodent in my bowl,' she said.
'Where would I have gotten the rodent? I don't understand how that would have happened.'
No matter who put the rodent in the salad, for Rasbach, takeouts have become a nightmare ever since. Every time she thinks of eating beef again, she is "grossed out." And now it seems she will be saving a bunch of her money as she will be bringing her own lunch because she "can't trust what's in anything."
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