Popular Third Ward restaurant, the Turkey Leg Hut, was shut down Thursday after the Houston Health Department issued the establishment 34 health code violations, but the location could be opening again as soon as Tuesday.
According to the inspection report, most of the violations dealt directly with possibly unsafe food storage conditions. The report claims that food was being stored in inappropriate and non-approved storage areas. Additionally, inspectors claim in the report that some food was stored in a walk-in freezer in a non-permitted building across the street due to a broken on-site freezer.
Following the first publication of the report by Fox 26, the restaurant, located at 4830 Almeda Rd., posted a notice on its Instagram account stating that it would be closed Friday, Sept. 20, through Sunday, Sept. 22. The post did not directly address the health code violations and only said that the Turkey leg Hut would be closed for “renovations.”
“We’re working on making your Turkey Leg Hut experience even better, so stay tuned for what’s coming next,” the post said. “Trust us, it’s worth the wait!”
The restaurant is not open on Mondays and normally operates Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., staying open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Since Thursday, the company has not made any additional posts on its social media and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. No closure notice was visibly present on the establishment’s front door as of late Monday morning.
The temporary closure is the most recent in a series of misfortunes the restaurant has faced this year.
In January, Turkey Leg Hut was sued by U.S. Foods, a national food distributor, for $1 million in alleged unpaid goods and services. The lawsuit alleges that the restaurant had not paid for over $85,000 in produce that was delivered between May and September of 2023 and that it had an outstanding balance of nearly $1.3 million.
Two months later, in March, Turkey Leg Hut announced via Instagram that it had filed for bankruptcy. According to the filing, the restaurant owed $1.95 million to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, $422,520 to the Small Business Administration, $158,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, more than $57,000 to American Express and more than $21,000 to the City of Houston for water bills, along with other debts.
In the post announcing the bankruptcy, owner Nakia Price said the company was taking the necessary steps in order to continue to serve its customers.
“Turkey Leg Hut remains committed to its purpose: serving the Houston community and beyond,” Nakia Price wrote on Instagram. “As we go through this process, we ask for continued support. We are determined to achieve a positive outcome.”
During that same month, Turkey Leg Hut and its former co-owner, Lyndell Price, were ordered to pay over $900,000 to Steven Rogers, another former co-owner, after Rogers had filed a lawsuit against the restaurant in Harris County.
