Don Ciccio, an Italian restaurant in Highgate, north London, was handed a zero-star hygiene rating just weeks before its permanent closure, inspectors revealed. The Food Standards Agency report, issued on August 8, cited mouse droppings, out-of-date seafood, and open jars of mayonnaise and breadcrumbs as among the violations.
The establishment shut its doors around October 21, after which owner Marco Claudio Valente criticised locals for choosing takeaways elsewhere. He said staff were often left 'humiliated' by empty tables at the restaurant, which opened in 2019 and survived the pandemic.
However, the hygiene inspection exposed further problems. Inspectors found 'pest nesting materials' in the staff changing room and out-of-date food in the fridge, including frozen pasta, sausages, salmon and prawns, which had decayed. Mouldy strawberries were also present, and items such as mussels, seafood and cured pancetta were unlabelled, making it impossible to track when they were opened.
The report noted a chaotic backroom setup and said the management team consisted of essentially one person, which 'doesn’t meet/provide capacity for delivering duties'. An opened jar of mayonnaise was stored below a slab of raw meat, while a packet of breadcrumbs sat near the nesting materials.
Mr Valente initially faced criticism for blaming locals, but he later doubled down, stating: 'When you are an Italian restaurant, and sometimes you do just £40 or £45 per day total revenue, it is very frustrating.' Local newsagent Mario Seyho commented: 'Nobody was going to his restaurant. How many times have restaurants at that spot closed down?'
