Patrons of the Tavern at Camp Creek in East Point may rethink eating there after the restaurant got a 49 on its health inspection.

But owner Ronnie Cotton said the score isn’t an accurate reflection of the restaurant, formerly known as J.R. Crickets.

Cotton told Channel 2 Action News inspectors were looking for items unrelated to the food, such as flies floating around the restaurant.

“I don’t know any restaurant you go into that you’re not going to find a fly,” Cotton said.

The restaurant was also cited for old used-by dates on frozen food and debris inside a beverage dispenser.

“That doesn’t mean it’s been there for eight years and they’ve never cleaned it,” Cotton said. “Again, very misleading.”

Still, Cotton told Channel 2 he met with staff Sunday to discuss the score and plans to get them training from the health department Thursday.

Cotton warned customers against reading too much into the 49 score, insisting violations were fixed in a few hours.

“Maybe this happened for a reason,” he said. “We got too complacent to realize we let things slip.”

The restaurant chain has three other stores in the Atlanta area.

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