Some people are calling for the community to rally in support of the owner.
Lee's Diner on Route 30 just west of York has been found out of compliance in 16 of its last 20 state health inspections. The owner, Omar Ilayan, says he does his best to keep the place up to standards, but he contends an inspector has it out for him.
Every restaurant in Pennsylvania must be inspected by the state Department of Agriculture. Those inspections typically occur once a year, but follow-up inspections can happen more frequently.
Each inspection report is available online, but the state's site is not easy to navigate.
Lee's Diner was last inspected on Dec. 27 and was found to be out of compliance. The two inspectors who visited the restaurant at 4320 W. Market St., just west of York, listed 16 violations.
Ilayan contends an inspector has a vendetta against him and cites him for minor infractions.
Lee's did pass a follow-up inspection Sept. 28, 2016.
If a restaurant is found to be out of compliance, it can stay open for business. However, it faces a follow-up inspection. Barring any immediate threat to the public's health and safety, the state will not force a restaurant to close.
Lee's has been around since the 1950s. It is a classic trolley-style diner wrapped in stainless steel featuring Formica tabletops, vinyl booths and mini-jukeboxes at every table. Ilayan bought the diner 11 years ago for about half a million dollars.
A thread on the Fixing York Facebook group calls on the community to stop by the diner and judge for themselves how clean the operation is.