A handful of Martinsville restaurants received a few citations from Virginia Department of Health inspectors in May.
May’s inspection list is available online. The previous month’s inspections are usually published around the start of each month.
Last month, Martinsville inspectors visited five full-service restaurants: Asador El Vergel, A Touch of Soul, Skip’s Restaurant, Wild Magnolia and Rania’s Italian Restaurant.
Each of the five received minor citations ranging from no managerial presence to failing to date pre-prepared food. Most violations were the kind that could be quickly corrected without the need for follow-up inspections.
Of the inspected restaurants, Wild Magnolia is one of the oldest. Located at 730 E. Church St., the bistro has been serving made-to-order Southern fare, with a Cajun twist, since 2008.
Owner Will Pearson said maintaining the restaurant isn’t that difficult.
“We don’t have a big kitchen … so you can’t really hold food, you have to make it to order,” Pearson said. “We might be a bit slower that way, it might take a little more manpower in the kitchen.”
Pearson was no stranger to the restaurant business or the community when he opened Wild Magnolia. Born in South Carolina, Pearson moved to the Henry County area in the third grade.
“I’ve always had a fascination with restaurants,” Pearson said. “My dad was big into cooking. My first business was at the Four Lanes — there was a snack bar and I kind of turned that into a burger restaurant. When the opportunity arose I opened the Wild Magnolia.”
In the years since its creation, Wild Magnolia has built a good reputation in the community, with a largely positive online presence.
“I wanted to find a niche,” Pearson said, eventually settling on Southern and Cajun cuisine. “Nothing too fancy and nothing too casual.”
Pearson said staying in the good graces of health inspectors boils down to two things: routine and the staff.
“That’s a part everybody has to be a part of,” Pearson said. “When the kitchen staff leaves, the day shift hands things over to the night shift, they have a list of chores that they have to do to clean. Of course, at the end of the night, it’s a tough part of running a restaurant, there is a lot to clean. That is a large portion of running a restaurant.”
He believes that once a routine is established and you have a staff that works well together, the rest falls into place.
“It’s not just finding people because we can find people everyday, it’s about finding the right people,” Pearson said. “In the kitchen, you can tell the first day if someone is the right fit.”
Wild Magnolia hasn’t been without its hurdles, with the pandemic serving as a major roadblock. Pearson said the community helped them overcome that.
“During COVID, we did delivery, we put tables outside and did fresh-air dining,” Pearson said. “COVID changed everything, and the restaurant world is not going back to the way it was before. It is transitioning, and it is good and exciting. I think we’re doing pretty well.”
