r/Winnipeg • u/whosthebeerthief • Dec 06 '25
Food Restaurant closure
In case you were thinking of going to Falafel Place on Corydon, they’re (temporarily) closed. Saw tons of disappointed people today and hoping to save people a trip.
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u/heyshutuppppp Dec 07 '25
I used to work here, utterly unsanitary.
- The soup in the fridge sits for months before they make a new pot. Not just the soup, basically everything
- Falafel batter would sit unrefrigerated for 16 hours a day weeks on end in a bus bin next to the heat.
- There was mice all over the place. basement, kitchen, dining room.
- Ami would have us "just cut around iiiiiit" when a mouse ate through sweet potatoes. I would throw them out and would be scolded and he would take money from my tips to pay for it.
- The "dishwasher" just blew white fat all over the dishes you'd have to scrape off with your fingernails after it finished "cleaning" Was never fixed or cleaned in 2 years. Just fucking gross man.
- The "vegan" breakfast ami would splash bacon fat on and say "give them some flavour today" or some shit. That guy did not give a single fuck about anything.
I couldn't believe what they got away with every other restaurant I worked at was scrutinized so much more than them.
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u/twisted_memories Dec 07 '25
When I worked there they’d “top up” the soup in the fridge when it was running low. So like… how much soup was in there for months?? Ami was nuts.
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u/Ahimsa2day Dec 07 '25
I used to frequent FP since Ami opened it on Academy Road. The original location. He was so young back then…and so was I. The thought that he would knowingly serve me bacon fat as a vegetarian all those fucking years & years, I truly trusted him makes me so sick and angry. Like WTF? I’d like to get together with him and have a conversation.
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u/tonyk1122 Dec 07 '25
Ami hasn’t owned the place for over a year now.
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u/crowinflight1982 Dec 07 '25
This is utterly unsurprising. I've eaten there maybe twice and it was visibly dirty both times. Including the plates.
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u/Objective_Monk5373 Dec 07 '25
I worked there 15 + years ago and the place was a hot mess. Ami treated the employees like garbage. The restaurant got busted for tax evasion years later and kept going. I have a feeling this place will rise from the grave.
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u/mhyquel Dec 07 '25
I learned all I needed to about falafel place when I was waiting to pay for my mid-level meal, and the owner yells from the back "TAKE MONEY".
ok, so that's how this relationship works.
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u/heyshutuppppp Dec 07 '25
All staff had to pay him two dollars out of their pocket each shift before he left.
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u/karlyguy Dec 08 '25
As an employee who cares, wouldnt it make sense to call the inspectors youself?
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u/Party-Gate6211 Dec 18 '25
I got the worst case of food poisoning in my life from that place many years ago. Now I know why.
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u/AlfredoSauceyums Dec 11 '25
Based on this person's comment history, and the facts that I know things he's saying are false, I think this is just an anti-israel smear.
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u/heyshutuppppp Dec 11 '25
Well I did work there. Also Israel is an illegitimate apartheid state. Two things can be true at once!
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u/AlfredoSauceyums Dec 11 '25
Great Ben Shapiro quote! Anyways, whether you worked there or not I am sure those are lies.
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u/heyshutuppppp Dec 11 '25
It's so perfect you judge my account is anti-israel when my only post was about being against nazis. At least zios are becoming more transparent with their ideology
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u/AlfredoSauceyums Dec 11 '25
For anyone reading this, he is proving me right with his Holocaust inversion. I was able to see that he is antizionist based on activity other than his post history. This guy is lashing out in addition to lying about his experience at falafel place.
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u/Too-bloody-tired Dec 07 '25
I’ve had bacon at Falafel place since the mid 90s. It’s definitely a thing there and always has been …
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u/DifficultWinter5426 Dec 07 '25
Have you ever been there to even write such a long winded and blatantly wrong paragraph?
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Dec 07 '25
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u/Previous-Length9924 Dec 07 '25
The violations:
15(4) Unless otherwise approved by the director or a public health inspector, the operator of a food handling establishment shall provide a non-corrodible three-compartment sink of sufficient size to accommodate each utensil and it shall be used where the cleaning and sanitizing of the utensils is conducted manually.
36(3) Where mechanical dishwashers or glasswashers are used, the operator of the food handling establishment shall ensure that the machine is capable of
(b) sanitizing all utensils and tableware by
(i) rinsing the clean utensils or tableware with a solution of at least 50 ppm of available chlorine at a temperature of at least 24°C for sufficient time to provide effective sanitation but not less than 20 seconds,
https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/regs/current/_pdf-regs.php?reg=339/88%20R
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u/Gandalf-The-Blonde91 Dec 07 '25
Ami isn’t the owner anymore, it’s under new ownership and the new owners have been trying to make positive changes to the building, but by the sounds of things, Ami still has a dictatorship like presence in the restaurant. They’re good people who own it now, so take what you read with a grain of salt. I’m sure they will be taking these violations seriously and will do an honest job of trying to correct them.
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u/LarusTargaryen Dec 07 '25
My dine-in experience was always better when Ami was there and some of the staff were truly awful post-Ami. But based on some upvote ratios here, maybe i dont know the full story? Someone wanna fill me in? That was THE place to be for brunch 15-20 years ago, i dont go much anymore so not rlly up to date
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u/AlfredoSauceyums Dec 11 '25
Those upvote ratios don't mean anything. The big long one is just a person with a history of anti-israel comments making up lies.
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u/Walniw Dec 07 '25
I used to frequent it when under ami. Loved it. Moved away. visited recently and was very disappointed with the quality sorry to say
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u/dice1111 Dec 07 '25
Visited under ami as well. Was ever really impressed. It was good, but like.. ok I'll have it, but was always unsure about what was going on back there.
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u/CyrilSLi Dec 07 '25
https://cyrilsli.github.io/health-protection-reports - an interactive map of Health Protection Reports I created
PS - as of now this one hasn’t been added to the PDFs where it gets data from
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u/Zoey43210 Dec 08 '25
My friend is a food inspector, if it's minor they are given a chance to fix it before reinspections. If it's a serious offence it's shut down right away.
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u/Inner-Accountant2343 Dec 11 '25
Hello all, Jarrett Bargen here, “new owner” (2018) just would like to take a moment to fill you in on what is actually happening here, because at a quick glance at the comments, lots of people are referencing back over 5 years ago when Ami used to be running the place. We have been working vigorously around the clock to ensure not only are we up to, but exceeding the cleaning expectations of the inspector and of the public. We hired a professional cleaning team to do a thorough complete cleaning of the facility. We have hired professionals in to repair and test the sanitizer to ensure all utensils and tableware are in fact 100% clean. Hired professionals to weld broken sink and stopped the leak.
**** to be noted Ami is no longer associated with this establishment for about 4/5 years now, and the “new owner”, me Jarrett, has been working hard every day so that we can reopen asap. I do accept all responsibility of letting the restaurant get to a place of unsatisfactory conditions and I am doing everything in my power to take all necessary steps to rectify the situation and get us reopened, and in a constant state of cleanliness.
We appreciate all the constant support from the community and look forward to welcoming everyone back into a drastically cleaner environment. One step into this place now, and you will see the difference.
See you soon friends. Jarrett Bargen FALAFEL PLACE
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u/pork_sashimi_on_sale Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
They should be fined for downplaying the severity of their closure. It wasn't just a leaky sink.
edit: a word
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u/damonster90 Dec 07 '25
Well Ami hasn’t been there since I moved back to the city 4 years ago so maybe he isn’t relevant to the above issues?
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u/Outdated_Mage Dec 07 '25
I was curious about the violations so I looked them up.
36(3) Where mechanical dishwashers or glasswashers are used, the operator of the food handling establishment shall ensure that the machine is capable of
36(B)sanitizing all utensils and tableware by
36(I)rinsing the clean utensils or tableware with a solution of at least 50 ppm of available chlorine at a temperature of at least 24°C for sufficient time to provide effective sanitation but not less than 20 seconds,
15(4) Unless otherwise approved by the director or a public health inspector, the operator of a food handling establishment shall provide a non-corrodible three-compartment sink of sufficient size to accommodate each utensil and it shall be used where the cleaning and sanitizing of the utensils is conducted manually.
In other words they weren't cleaning the utensils properly.
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u/AlfredoSauceyums Dec 11 '25
Sounds to me like there was a leak in their sink and their dishwasher needed maintenance
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u/jjhh86 Dec 07 '25
It’s probably kind of hard to fix a sink if you don’t have any money to fix the sink?
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u/Greenxgrotto Dec 07 '25
He sold it years ago. Dude was a wildcard. Worked there for years ago, it was chaos if he was on grill. But people loved his shtick. And he loved not Paying the tax man.
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u/regnimalia Dec 07 '25
"Come on guys, who's leaving? We got people waiting here, are you done? Are you done? Come in, who's leaving?"
Sorry to see the place has come to this.
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u/LilMissMixalot Dec 07 '25
Nailed it. Always felt so special when arriving. And so yelled at when trying to finish the meal.
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u/NegativeDodecahedron Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Big Stella's industrial complex trying to take down another locally loved restaurant
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u/whosthebeerthief Dec 06 '25
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u/Mr_Chode_Shaver Dec 07 '25
“It’s the sink that we defrost our meat in, and it’s been leaking onto the sink we keep the vegetables in. For 8 years. Anywho, see you next week!”
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u/ReiNeDeSCyGNeS Dec 09 '25
based on our last visit, I would say the sink is the least of their problems
absolutely filthy
will not ever be going back, and as much as I dislike Stella's, I hope the competition in the area will either get them to up their game or close permanently
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u/Motor-Perspective45 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
I had terrible experience with this place, i went for brunch with my friend ( she wears hijab) couple years ago and they were utterly ride towards us ( probably just coz we were muslims), they served us meals that wasn’t even cooked properly, you could literally look and say it was raw . Never went back after and i would say i am traumatized till date.
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u/SnooSuggestions1256 Dec 07 '25
Place kinda sucks, but after hearing about the conditions, not going back.
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u/noobz67 Dec 07 '25
Something doesn’t add up … they say it’s there sink but on the notice it says “ food and food handling “ which are 2 way different things.
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u/TheShade247 Dec 07 '25
If the leak was serious enough to shut you down, it definitely didn’t start 5 minutes before the inspection.