‘C’ Rating for One Darien Restaurant in Latest Health Inspection Reports

One restaurant in Darien received a “C” rating, the worst grade in town Health Department’s A/B/C ratings system, in the inspection reports released Thursday by the Darien Health Department.

The department released health inspection reports for four food-serving establishments on Thursday for inspections that took place from Sept. 4 to 9. In addition to the “C” rating, two inspections resulted in an “A,” another received a “B.”

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 (an explanation of how this list is put together is immediately below it):

—Dunkin Donuts — 967 Post Road — Sept. 4 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 97

—Flour Water Salt Bread — 20 Grove St. — Sept. 4 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93

—Hibachi Sushi Ya — 111 Old King’s Hwy. North — Sept. 9 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 70 — Inspector’s Remarks: [This handwritten document was partly unreadable, as noted; “NOTE” means the comment does not refer to a violation under the state health code.] [PAGE ONE] “NOTE: no hibachi, no bar seating, OK; NOTE: sushi bar–no bar service, OK; unlabeled chemical spray bottles at sushi bar; unlabeled ingredients and liquid [unreadable]; dishware not inverted; butane stored with box of spices; personal items (many[?]) stored with foods; toaster oven at three-bay [sink] at sushi bar; water took a long time to get hot, OK; paper towels not in a holder; cutting boards deteriorated [readable]; all dishware going to kitchen in ware wash, OK; dirty cooler, wash floor; dark [unreadable] to see need improved lighting; seaweed sheets in rusty metal tray; coolers 41, 42 degrees, sushi fish display 41 degrees, OK; sushi rice[?] not time labeled in log; using middle of three-bay [sinks] as hand sink; scoops stored in tubs of ingredients; thermometers missing; [PAGE TWO] DRINK SERVICE AREA: bottle of lemons stored in drink ice; floor under drink service very dirty; soup crock rusty and very dirty, soup at 158 degrees, OK; underneath of stainless shelves very dirty and rusty; KITCHEN: walk-in cooler 40 degrees, OK; very dark inside; walk in freezer – food stored on the floor; dishwasher area dirty, caulk[?] moldy, walls dirty, floor dirty; saving used egg cartons; sanitizer empty for dishwasher; dirty gloves on shelves; personal items on food shelves; unlabeled spices; hand sink clogged next to spice shelf, no barrier; [PAGE THREE] NOTE: sanitizer bucket 100 ppm [parts per million] chlorine; thermometers missing in most coolers; dish, wiping cloths on counters; very cluttered; unlabeled spray chemical bottle and chemicals stored with food; using shelves as steps; using bowls as scoops; [unreadable] veggies while prepping squash; facility walls, ceilings in some disrepair, not smooth and easily cleaned; NOTE: no COVID signs, no ill worker[?] policy available, no sanitizing procedure written; NOTE: manager new – not food trained […]; NOTE: employee training not observed; NOTE: Pest control – ? (owner to provide).”

EDITOR’S NOTE: As noted in previous Darienite.com articles, Hibachi Sushi Ya also received a “C” rating in February 2019 and in July 2019. In October 2019, Darienite.com noted that the restaurant received “C” ratings four times in seven inspections.

UPDATE, Sept. 25, 2020: The image immediately below this note shows how the Darien Health Department published the Sept. 9 Hibachi Sushi Ya inspection report. The three pages of the report initially given to Darienite.com was hand-written (an alternate way for inspectors to write them up initially, for various reasons). The report on the website should clear up confusion over difficult-to-read parts of the handwritten report.

 

—Starbucks — 815 Post Road — Sept. 4 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98

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

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:

You can find the past several inspection ratings under the Darien ratings system for food-serving establishments along with copies of inspection reports, including state health code scores on this website.

• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Sept. 8)
• STAMFORD online health inspection results
• NORWALK online health inspection ratings (explanation of ratings)

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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.

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.