For Second Time in a Row Darien Restaurant Gets Lowest Health Rating — ‘C’ — in Latest Inspections

A reinspection of a restaurant that was given a “C” rating (the worst) resulted in the restaurant getting another “C” rating in the seven most recent health inspection reports released by the Darien Health Department.

Of the other six establishments, two received A ratings and four got A’s. All the inspections took place  from Aug. 6 to 15.

Editor’s note: Links to the Stamford and Norwalk online health inspections for restaurants are now included below and will be included in future reports on Darien health inspections. Although all local health departments use the state rating system, each department may vary in the way it interprets rules. Norwalk reports its 1-to-3 “Lighthouse” local ratings; Stamford lists violations and the points deducted for each.

Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results (an explanation for each part of the list, including links, is just below the list).

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

—Jake’s Place — 4 Ledge Road — Aug. 13 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 94

— Post Corner Pizza — REINSPECTION — 847 Post Road — Aug. 15 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Large bain marie on the cook line holding product between 66 and 71 degrees (this unit was making a very loud squealing sound). Meatballs at 66, sliced deli meat at 68 and chicken salad at 71 degrees. Lower food product temperature was 58 to 62 degrees. Food was discarded during inspection. Owner Peter arrived on site trying to remedy the problem, spraying degreaser on metal fins of this unit; dumping into hand sink in ware wash area and hand sink on the line used for lettuce wetting; no bleach in dish[washing] machine (unit was still in use). Told employee and owner that he must utilize the three-bay system until the dish[washing] machine is serviced and repaired; label food granular/spices not in original containers; cup used to dispense bulk food, spoon buried in product in the sugar–both in the service area; walk-in freezer floors are unclean under shelving; many ceiling tiles missing in back room storage, ice machine and walk-ins, chest freezers area.” — Inspector’s Comments: ” ‘A’ rating on the door must be removed! Note: a few portions of chicken out (not HH [hot holding?]) on the grill left from lunch–discarded during inspection. Planning to clean and repaint the shelving in produce walk-in, the other walk-in has been completely clean and all shelving repainted.”

 

—Rory’s — 416 Post Road — Aug. 13 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

—Sbarro — REINSPECTION — Interstate 95 Northbound rest stop — Aug. 10 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 93

—Subway — Interstate 95 Northbound rest stop — Aug. 6 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98

—Tengda Asian Bistro — Goodwives Shopping Center — Aug. 14 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91

—Zotos International — REINSPECTION — 100 Tokeneke Road — Aug. 14 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 96

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.

For restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “C,” 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 (“;”) 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.

_________

See also:

• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Aug. 9)
  
• STAMFORD online health inspection results
• NORWALK online health inspection ratings (explanation of ratings)

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.

_________

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.

_________

Like this article? …

• Sign up for the Darienite.com newsletter.
• Like Darienite.com on Facebook.
• Follow Darienite.com on Twitter.

_________

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.