Mumbai: A Saturday night dinner at Mumbai’s JW Marriott Sahar took an unexpected turn when prominent cardiologist Dr Ashok Seth spotted a baby cockroach crawling around his table at the hotel’s Romano restaurant.
Seth, chairman of Cardiac Sciences at Fortis Healthcare, shared a video of the insect on X on Sunday, September 20, describing the unwelcome visitor as “Roachie” and questioning the hygiene standards at the luxury hotel.
According to Seth’s account, the cockroach was moving around the table near the diners dishes and did not leave despite their attempts to get it away. He joked that the insect may have been more interested in “pizza” than pasta.
The incident was no laughing matter for the diners for long. Seth said the sight destroyed their appetite and that he and his companions eventually left without completing their dinner.
Seth also tagged Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and JW Marriott in his post. Referring to Mundhe’s jurisdiction, he wrote that he was thankful to be in the food safety commissioner’s “territory” and suggested that the matter could be looked into.
The post quickly drew attention online, coming amid an intensified food safety enforcement campaign in Maharashtra. The state FDA has been conducting inspections of restaurants and food businesses under Mundhe, with authorities previously flagging concerns involving hygiene, food storage and pest control.
Marriott Bonvoy Assist responded to Seth on social media, saying the hotel took the complaint seriously and asking him to share his personal and booking details through a direct message so the matter could be investigated. As of the latest reports, there has been no publicly announced finding establishing that the restaurant violated a specific food safety rule.
The reported sighting itself also does not establish a wider pest infestation or determine how the insect reached the dining table. Any such conclusion would require an inspection or investigation by the hotel or relevant authorities.
Romano is JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar’s Italian restaurant and operates within the five star property in Andheri East. The incident has nevertheless placed the spotlight on food hygiene at premium hospitality establishments, where diners generally expect stringent sanitation and pest control standards.
For Seth and his companions, the evening ended before dessert. What began as a luxury dinner became an unusual social media post and an unexpected appeal to Maharashtra’s food safety machinery.
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