First off, Ya know Chinese restaurants have a tendency not to perform preventative maintinance at proper intervals.
You will find this to be true across the Continental United States,from New York to California. Ask any hood cleaner on this board who neglects preventative maintinance the most.
Your problem is with the owner operator of the restaurant. Not the hood cleaner.Im shure the hood cleaner has contacted the restaurant in question for a regular scheduled cleaning and was shot down. Hood cleaner is NOT responsible for owners neglect. Try getting someone to sign of on a "pass of service",Not going to happen.
Stan, I know it was not your point to hang the hood cleaner simply making my point clear for future referance.
MR. Penny, The restaurant may never have been turned in to the Fire marshall or the Code inspector. So that takes them (Hood Cleaner & Fire/Code) out of the loop,Ya cant fix what you dont know is wrong. If the proper people didnt see it they cant be held responsible and or liable unless it was neglect of inforcement. Not every Fire inspector is up to Stans caliber.
I commend Stan for his commintment to professionalism. Go Stan!
Health Dept concerns- What usually happens is the Health Dept. goes in and does there required inspections and they point out everything BELOW the hood line. The way of thinking is that its not there issue it is a code or fire issue.I have found this to be true just about in every major city. How could this not be a health concern as the hood is directly over the main food preperation area.
Not only should the Fire and Code people be notified the Health Dept should be notified it seems they have been left out.
Stan, I suggest you set up a meeting with your Healt Dept counter parts and attack this problem from all angles.
As far as time frame goes sounds like David answered this one. It will take the 2 or 3 evenings to get it to a reasonable level. I would mandate that the establishment be given 2 weeks to comply. And as previously stated theres a good chance that it will not be up to reasonable standards the first time out. There after I would require the system to be cleaned atleast 4 times a year to prevent health and fire issues. Notice I stated HEALTH and FIRE issues. Its time to get the Healt Dept involved also. This isnt just a fire issue.
Alot of the emphasis is put on fire. Wich is true but there are many Health concerns at neglected locations that really need to be addressed. If you think the hood sytem is ugly take a look under and around all the cooking apparatus.
This is a topic that should be brought to your local Health Inspectors.
As far as the cleanable or not cleanable question we would have to see it. We would love to see some pictures of the place in question. Fire up the digital camera and start clikin.
Goat.