Woman Claims She Found a Dead Rat in Her Salad. The N.Y.C. Eatery Says a Video Tells Another Story

“I am traumatized,” Hannah Rasbach tells us of the May 5 incident at Ongi in New York City

Hannah Rasbach, 27, was picking up her go-to bowl of spring mix, grilled salmon and beef bulgogi and toppings from Ongi on West 37th Street in New York City on Monday, May 5 during her lunch break at work when she alleges she was greeted with a topping that most definitely was not on the menu – a dead rodent.

“I ate probably, like, half to maybe two-thirds of the salad, I would guess, and I just kind of saw part of it covered – I thought it was a piece of beef bulgogi that was not fully chopped up, and it was kind of buried under the lettuce,” she tells us. “So I started trying to cut it with a knife, and something didn’t feel right, so I moved the lettuce over and could tell what it was pretty quickly. I was in shock.”

Security footage from Ongi that was shared with Kemberly Richardson of Eyewitness News confirms that Rasbach was in Ongi on May 5.

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Ongi confirmed that Rasbach had been refunded immediately for her meal on May 5 and noted that the restaurant had been inspected by the New York City Health Department on May 7 after Rasbach’s initial appearance on Eyewitness News.

“Ongi prides itself on its excellent staff and training. We adhere to strict food safety standards and stand behind our staff and our production practices. We have also been consistently rated ‘A’ by the New York City Department of Health, most recently in March 2025,” a spokesperson for the restaurant said. “That ‘A’ rating was confirmed and renewed on May 7, following the health department inspection requested by the customer. The inspector provided the following report, ‘Allegation: Vermin. No vermin were observed on the premises at the time of inspection. Last extermination conducted on 5/5/25. Allegation not founded.’”

Further, the restaurant is alleging that security footage shows that Rasbach left Ongi on May 5 without a rodent her salad.

“We reviewed the security footage of the meal as it was being prepared, and we questioned the employees who prepared it. Upon review of that video and other evidence, we concluded that the contaminant was not put into the customer’s lunch at our restaurant,” the spokesperson said. “We strive for excellence and pride ourselves on delivering quality Korean-inspired food to our customers on a daily basis. We have never before been subject to allegations of contamination. Our valued customers should continue to enjoy our food with confidence.”

Rasbach estimates that the rodent was between four to five inches long, noting that she didn’t shake her salad up before eating it which left the rat at the bottom of the bowl.

“I had eaten a considerable amount by the time I got to it,” she says.

Rasbach says she then ran to her boss’s office before going to the bathroom to vomit, later returning to the restaurant with a co-worker to notify the Ongi staff of what she found.

“[The manager] was pretty nonchalant, she didn’t really act super shocked or anything, which was very confusing,” Rasbach claims.  “And she just put on some gloves, opened it up, closed it, and she asked me if I thought it came from the spring mix – which I don’t know how I was supposed to know where it came from – but I told her I thought it came from the beef bulgogi.”

The 27-year-old then went to the doctor’s office where she was put on precautionary antibiotics, noting that the doctor told her that the biggest concern would have been if the rodent defecated or urinated in her salad, since she didn’t physically eat any part of the animal.

It was at the doctor’s office where Ongi’s owner, Ray Park, called her after hearing what had happened.

“He was very apologetic, and he was like, I want to fix this. Like, let me know how we can make it up to you,” she says, noting that after their initial conversation, Park texted and called her again to follow up and check in.

A spokesperson for Park confirmed with us that Park and Rasbach spoke on the phone at 1:31 PM ET on Monday, May 5.

“He asked her to call him back after her treatment but she did not,” the spokesperson added.

Rasbach did not return to work that day.

When asked whether or not Park believes that Rasbach’s photos of the rodent in her salad are authentic, a spokesperson for Park reiterated that “the contaminant in the bowl is not something that was in the bowl when it was sealed and handed to Ms. Rasbach at the restaurant.”

The spokesperson continued, “It is implausible to suggest that such a large foreign object would not have been noticed or felt by the meal preparers. The video of the entire preparation process refutes Ms. Rasbach’s claim.”

Rasbach, however, is alleging that she is telling the truth and that the rodent did come from Ongi.

“What am I getting out of this? I am not pursuing legal action. There’s no benefit to me putting a rodent in my bowl,” she tells PEOPLE. “Where would I have gotten the rodent? I don’t understand how that would have happened.”

The 27-year-old said that she’s been “grossed out” since the incident, particularly at the thought of eating beef again.

“I’m too scared to go out and get takeout at this point for lunch at all. I’m going to bring my lunch from now on, because I just feel like I can’t trust what’s in anything,” she says. “I’m not physically sick, I’m upset. I’m traumatized. I’ll bring lunch, but I’ll be okay in the end.”