One Darien Restaurant Rated ‘Poor’, Three ‘Good’ in Latest Darien Health Inspections

In the latest food inspection reports released by Darien Health Department, one inspection of a restaurant resulted in ratings of “Poor,” and another three were rated “Good.”

Details about the towns rating system for restaurants and other food serving establishments are at the bottom of this article.

The most recent inspection results

In the list of health inspection results, below, information is listed by name, address, date of inspection, Darien rating, state score, inspector’s comments that led to the state rating and additional remarks on the inspection report.

Dates link to the food establishment’s inspection report referenced here (when available, sometimes it takes a while to get posted online), and Darien GOOD/FAIR/POOR ratings link to a Web page showing several of the restaurant’s recent inspection ratings.

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See also:

• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Dec. 16)
• You Can Now Read Full Health Inspection Reports on Darien Restaurants Online

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For restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “poor,” and for some others of interest to the public (like schools) additional information is given. When we provide that information here, then words within brackets (“[ ]”) have 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 that perfect state score of 100 points.

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 get a “Fair” or “Poor” inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong):

• Bodega Taco Bar — 980 Post Road — Dec. 29 — POOR — 84 — Inspector’s remarks: “No documentation of training provided (form from DPH [Connecticut Department of Public Health] provided; no thermometer in low boy on the line with raw proteins; food uncovered in upstairs walk-in and downstairs a large volume (four plastic tubs) of chips uncovered, ice at bar uncovered; storing unclean knives in holder upstairs; unclean food contact surfaces throughout kitchen (down and up); no hot water in upstairs hand sink — when dish[washing] machine is running; no paper towels available at hand sink on the line and at bar hand sink; granular/spices on the line and upstairs dry storage not in original container, not labeled; blue metal service spoons, wooden cutting board (bar) and plastic chip tubs in poor repair; strong odor from the water wash hood grease trap — scheduled for service? Leak at three-bay sink upstairs — dripping on the floor under the first bay; fruit fly presence in the bar area — treatment plan? Last invoice requested; hood system unclean — heavy grease debris and a portion of the equipment is pulling away from the wall — repair needed?” — Inspector’s additional comments: “Hand washing must increase and be discussed during formalized training, efforts made to rapidly cool (ice wands and ice baths) large batch cooked items, but more oversight is needed — sheet trays of cooked rice and cooked peppers/onions should be cooling in the walk-in NOT left out on the shelf to air cool. Further discuss with the head chef and cooling logs produced during inspection for review.”

 

• Cheeseboy — Darien North rest stop, Interstate 95 — Dec. 27 — GOOD — 96
• Subway — 22-26 Heights Road — Dec. 27 — GOOD — 97
• Taco Bell — Darien North rest stop, Interstate 95 — Dec. 27 — GOOD — 98

 

How Darien’s restaurants are rated

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.

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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, and now you can also find copies of inspection reports, including state health code scores in the same place.

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.