Latest Health Dept Restaurant Inspections: 1 Good, 2 Fair, 2 Poor

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Two food-serving establishments in town received “Poor” ratings, two more received ratings of “Fair” and only one a “Good” rating in the latest inspection reports released by the Darien Health Department.

An inspector also found that Whole Foods Market still had fruit flies at various places around the store — also a finding in a previous (recent) inspection at the store.

How the ratings systems and scores work

Health Department Ratings Certificate

Some restaurants and other food establishments display their Darien ratings certificates on their front windows, as Darien Doughnuts did here.

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor ratings system. Health inspectors also use the state health code regulations to score restaurants, with a perfect score set at 100, and demerits (of 1 to 4 points each) for various code violations.

The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing or that have been fixed, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale, or vice versa.

You can find the past several inspection ratings under the Darien ratings system for food-serving establishments on this website.

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Our previous article listing restaurant inspection ratings (Nov. 30)

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Any establishment actually deemed unsafe can be closed by the town Health Department until violations are fixed. Darien Health Director David Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.

(In the list of health inspection results, below, information is listed by name, address, date of inspection, Darien rating, state score. For restaurants rated “poor,” additional information is given: inspector’s comments that led to the state rating and additional remarks on the inspection report [information within brackets has been added for clarity by Darienite.com; semicolons like this (“;”) separate individual comments, each one with a particular violation that triggers a point deduction from a perfect state score of 100 points]. Darienite.com will change abbreviations, punctuation and other grammar to fit our editorial style, usually silently, sometimes with brackets.)

Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released results of Darien health inspections (keep in mind that a food-serving establishment with a history of “Good” ratings may occasionally “Fair” or “Poor” inspection rating, and occasionally the best do):

Country Club of Darien — 300 Mansfield Ave. — Dec. 1 — FAIR — 97

Darien Pizza — 55 Old Kings Hwy. N. — Nov. 30 — POOR — 85 — Inspector’s comments: “Inside bain maries unclean; unclean wiping cloth stored in hand sink; hand sink unclean; no soap at hand sink; no dispenser for soap; unclean wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer; no sanitizer set up; improper sanitizing; floors under cooking equipment unclean; drinks/flour stored on floor; no QFO [person licensed in Connecticut as a Qualified Food Operator] present at inspection; no alternate present at inspection.”

Fuji’s Restaurant — 111 Old Kings Hwy. N. — Dec. 1 — POOR — 85 — Inspector’s comments: “Food containers stored on floor in walk-in cooler; item stored in hand sink; [container of] granular [substance] not labeled, not in original container; utensils stored soiled and not in use hanging from equipment; shelves in walk-in rusty; re-use of single-serve takeout containers; shelves in storage area unclean; hand sink not draining; garbage piled up outside back door; floors throughout kitchen unclean; walls behind cooking area and prep area unclean; unnecessary articles in kitchen.”

Jimmy’s Southside Tavern — 340 Heights Road — Dec. 1 — GOOD — 94

Whole Foods Market — 150 Ledge Road — Dec. 2 — FAIR — 88 — Inspector’s comments: “Food thermometer not accurate for chef upstairs temping foods in the oven; food on the floor of freezer and meat walk-in [unit]; lights uncovered in aged meat display case; cutting boards showing sign fo wear — sandwich area and seafood [area]; plumbing issue — backing up from the air break at the floor in the protein prep sink (upstairs); unclean around produce dumpster (out [by the] back door); fruit flies observed in various departments; floor in poor repair [in] meat walk-in [unit]; walls unclean in prep area [for] prepared foods.” — Additional remarks from the inspector: “Label quarter cooked chicken in display case. Some procedural improvements made in prepared foods [area] regarding reheat and hot-holding practices.”

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