Eight Darien food-serving establishments received “Good” ratings in the latest eight Darien Health Department inspections, one was deemed “Fair” and another two were rated “Poor.”
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 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 (July 29)
- 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):
- Browne & Company — 865 Post Road — Aug. 3 — GOOD — 95
- Chipotle — 71 Post Road — Aug. 1 — POOR — 92 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Hand sink unclean; thermometer not working properly in cooling unit (cook line); cooling unit at 63 degrees; cell phone stored in prep area.”
- Duchess Family Restaurant — 306 Post Road — Aug. 1 — GOOD — 96
- Embody Fitness Gourmet — 72 Heights Road (at Equinox) — Aug. 2 — GOOD — 95
- Little Thai Kitchen — 4 West Ave. — Aug. 2 — GOOD — 95
- Matsuri — 390 Post Road — Aug. 1 — FAIR — 92
- McDonald’s — Interstate 95 Darien North rest stop — July 29 — GOOD — 97
- Palmer’s Market — 264 Heights Road — July 25 — FAIR — 90
- Rory’s — 416 Post Road — July 29 — POOR — 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Cooling unit not working properly. No food items in lower compartment. Food items stored in top compartment at 75 degrees (discarded); hand sink used as dump sink (ice); personal items stored on prep table and not sanitized after use; no hot water at one kitchen hand sink; non-commercial cooling unit in use.”
- Subway — Interstate 95 Darien North rest stop — July 29 — GOOD — 97
- Taco Bell — Interstate 95 Darien South rest stop — July 29 — 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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Health / Health
A Darien Health Department inspection certificate posted on Darien Doughnuts window, near the door.
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.