VIDEO: 2 raccoons try to fight their way into Chinese restaurant's kitchen in the Bronx

BRONX (WABC) -- The new Chinatown Restaurant in the Bronx had some very hungry guests this week, but they were not your usual paying customers.

They were two huge raccoons!

A video shows them climbing a metal gate and a restaurant worker fighting them with a broomstick.

A restaurant employee says they came in through the front door and never made it into the kitchen.

Residents in the Bronx say the raccoon problem isn't isolated to this one spot.

"Garbage cans, streets, yards, backyards, gates, under cars. They're just everywhere. You got to watch yourself when you're out here lately," said Malik Cooke, a resident.

"And they're pretty big. Even my wife says she's seen them. She said they be standing up, and they're mad tall when they stand up," said Pablo Tirado, a resident.

Residents say raccoons have been invading their neighborhood for several years.

Some say that they have been breeding at an abandoned building just down the block.

And a few houses down, garbage can lids are being held down by bricks.

"I saw a raccoon climbing up on the awning and trying to get into somebody's window. Trying to get in somebody's window! I've never seen that in my life," said Raymond Niles, a resident.

They are oftentimes seen in large groups, almost on a daily basis, and usually around 4 to 5 a.m.

"I don't go out at night. Like if I do, it's in a car. I avoid waking at night," said Ashley Prendergast, a resident. "It's just annoying because you never know if they're sick or what not. You just don't feel comfortable walking around with raccoons everywhere."

"It's scary because you can walk your dog and all of a sudden the raccoons come out from anywhere. It's from the raccoons to the skunks, even skunks are in this neighborhood," said Doris Smith, a resident.

These creatures are being spotted more frequently throughout the city.

The city's 311 help line received more than 1,500 raccoon calls last year.

That's more than 500 more calls about the problem from the previous year.

As far as this restaurant goes, the Department of Health says it does not consider this an infestation, rather a one-time event.

It is advising restaurant workers to intensively clean all surfaces the raccoons may have come in contact with.

In case you were wondering, this restaurant has an A grade.