Restaurant Reopens After Customer Films Rat in Drive Thru Window

Customers of a Whataburger Restaurant got a stomach-turning jolt over the weekend. This after a live rat was seen staring back at them through the store's drive-thru window. Needless to say, the customer who filmed the video could not believe her own eyes when she looked up and noticed movement in what appeared to be the restaurant's bread trays.

As you can see in the video posted by TikTok user @msnicolecovellett it was not what they were expecting to see as they pulled in for a bite to eat. If you take a closer look at the video, you can see the rat apparently munching on something and staring back at the customer as if were no big deal.

Here's the video, You tell us just how creeped out this would make you.

Before we proceed, we do want you to know that his video clip was not taken at any of our local Whataburger locations. This was filmed in Daphne Alabama. After the video was made public the restaurant was closed so crews could address the problem.

The incident was reported on Saturday night and following an inspection by local Health Department Officials in Daphne the store was allowed to reopen. Whataburger issued a statement about the video saying,

Our Daphne location has no history of this type of incident and scored high on its past two health inspections. We believe this is an isolated situation. However, we will continue to be diligent to ensure this is resolved and our restaurant exceeds our food safety standards.

Based on that statement it certainly does appear to be an isolated incident. This is not meant to be an indictment of cleanliness and hygiene procedures at this Whataburger store or any other Whataburger location. The fact is that rats and mice can and do get into just about everywhere. We applaud the swift action of the Whataburger franchisee and the Daphne Health Department for addressing the issue quickly and succinctly.

How Clean Are Louisiana Fast Food Restaurants?

If you have ever wondered about the cleanliness of any establishment in Louisiana that serves food to the public there is an online resource that houses that information. It's part of the Eat Safe Program from the Louisiana Department of Health. In fact, through that resource, you can see the latest health department inspections and see a history of previous inspections as well.

Needless to say with all the excess heat many homes and businesses across the Gulf South have experienced an influx of unwanted pests. Pest control experts tell us that creatures are searching for the same things that we humans are searching for. Namely, they want a place to cool off and a place to get water which is why you may notice more ants, roaches, or even rats and mice in places where they aren't normally found.

So, that's why now more than any other time of year it is so important to maintain even higher standards of cleanliness and to make sure that food is stored properly.