Health Inspectors Rate Six Restaurants ‘Good’, One ‘Fair’

Out of seven eateries in Darien recently inspected by the town Health Department, six received ratings of “Good”; one, “Fair.”

Darien Social, which had “Fair” or “Poor” ratings in its previous five most recent inspections, strongly improved by Jan. 22, receiving the highest score of the seven. The restaurant  got a 98 out of a possible 100 points in the state health code scoring system and a “Good” rating in the town’s own scoring system.

Another restaurant, Ten Twenty Post Oyster Bar and Bistro, had received a “Poor” rating on Jan. 13, but in a reinspection Jan. 25, the restaurant fared much better, with a “Good” rating in the town scale.

The one restaurant receiving a “Fair” rating in the latest reports is Sono Baking Company at 49 Tokeneke Road.

All the ratings and scores, along with links to full reports and past histories of health code inspections.

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. Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.

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 most recent inspection report online, and Darien ratings link to a Web page showing the restaurant’s recent inspection ratings.

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See also:

• Tokeneke Aces Health Inspection ‘Retest’ & All Public Schools Now Inspected (Jan. 27)
• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Jan. 20)
• Tokeneke School Gets a ‘Poor’ Health Rating in Inspection — Meat, Taters Not Hot Enough (Jan. 13)
• You Can Now Read Full Health Inspection Reports on Darien Restaurants Online (Dec. 8)

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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 here, then information within brackets (“[ ]”) has 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 “Fair” or “Poor” inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and everyone normally gets a few things wrong):

• Darien Social — 10 Center St. — Jan. 22 — GOOD — 98
• Dunkin Donuts — Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 — Jan. 20 — GOOD — 93
• Melting Pot — 14 Grove St. — Jan. 13 — GOOD — 95
• Sbarro — Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 — Jan. 20 — GOOD — 94
• Sono Baking Company — 49 Tokeneke Road — Jan. 26 — FAIR — 91
• Ten Twenty Oyster Bar and Bistro — 1020 Post Road — Jan. 25 — GOOD — 94
• Uncle’s Deli — 1041 Post Road — Jan. 25 — GOOD — 91