Here’s how Darien restaurants and other food-serving places fared in the latest inspection reports, released Thursday by the Darien Health Department.
Town Health Department ratings certificates are supposed to be displayed prominently, like this one at the Frosty Bear Cafe at Darien Library.
The department released health inspection reports for 11 food-serving establishments on Thursday for inspections that took place from Aug. 15 to 31. Eight inspections resulted in an “A” rating; another two received a “B.” A food truck was inspected and received a perfect 100 score, but food trucks aren’t rated by the Health Department. No establishments were rated “C.”
Keep in mind that a food-serving establishment with a history of good ratings may occasionally get a poor inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong.
Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results:
—Aux Delices — Goodwives Shoping Center, 25 Old Kings Hwy. North — Aug. 22 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 96
—Chipotle — 71 Post Road — Aug. 29 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 96
—Fisherman’s Net — 11 Old Kings Hwy. North — Aug. 17 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92
—Fjord Fish Market — 1015 Post Road — Aug. 22 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95
—Jennifer’s Kitchen — 284 Tokeneke Road — Aug. 15 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 87
—Kona food truck — no Darien address given — Aug 24 — Town Rating: not applicable — State Score: 100
—Mama Carmela’s — 1981 Post Road — Aug. 25 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 99
—Panera Bread — Interstate 95 North rest stop — Aug. 29 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94
—Sbarro — Interstate 95 North rest stop — Aug. 29 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94
—Wee Burn Country Club, satellite kitchen — 410 Hollow Tree Ridge Road Road — Aug. 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95
—Wee Burn Country Club — 410 Hollow Tree Ridge Road — Aug. 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100
Additional information is given for restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “C,” and for some others of interest to the public (like schools). When we provide that information here, then words within brackets (“[ ]”) have been added for clarity by Darienite.com; semicolons (“;”) separate individual comments by the inspectors. Each comment separated by semicolons is about a particular violation that triggers a deduction of one or more points from a perfect state score of 100.
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See also: Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Aug. 25)
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How Darien’s Food-Serving Places Are Rated
Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own A/B/C 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.
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The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale.
The “A”, “B” and “C” letter grades a restaurant gets in its last inspection will be prominent on these certificates, which must be posted where customers can see them, and you can use your phone and the “QR” code to the right of the letter grade to get to the department’s ratings website for more information.
Any establishment actually deemed unsafe can be closed by the town Health Department until violations are fixed. Town Health Director David Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.