Latest Darien Health Inspection Ratings: 7 Good, 3 Fair, 2 Poor

Seven Darien food-serving establishments received “Good” ratings in the most recently released Darien Health Department inspections, another three were rated “Fair,” and 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 (Aug. 18)
• 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):

• Abello’s Deli — 72 Tokeneke Road — Aug. 18 — FAIR — 92
• Convent of St. Birgitta — 4 Runkenhage Road — Aug 18 — GOOD — 100
• Darien Diner — 275 Post Road — Aug. 16 — POOR — 87 — Inspector’s remarks: “Mashed potatoes hot holding at 110-115 degrees on the line (reheated on the stove during inspection); custom bain marie cases (two) not cold holding—product temperature ranging from 50 to 53 degrees; food uncovered on line (salad bain marie) and food uncovered in storage; food stored on the floor freezer walk-in; misuse of hand sink—dumping in both sinks on the line; interior of microwave unclean; large container used to scoop bulk food in dry storage, no handle; floors unclean on the line and under equipment, near fryers; hood over oven on line and back ovens are dripping—unclean.” — Inspector’s additional comments: “Work ordered provided at the end of inspection from Hellas Air Temp Inc. for the cold-holding units from Aug. 15. Units are iced down and must be fixed ASAP. Large amount of boxes piled outside back door—delivery? Hand washing and non-latex glove use observed!”
• Fisherman’s Net — 11 Old King’s Hwy. N. — Aug. 19— GOOD — 93
• The Goose American Bistro & Bar — 972 Post Road — Aug. 24 — GOOD — 93
• New Beijing Restaurant — 5 Tokeneke Road — Aug. 18 — FAIR — 90
• Stop & Shop — 25 Old Kings Hwy. N. — Aug. 25 — FAIR — 91
• Sushi by Jay at Stop & Shop — 25 Old Kings Hwy. N. — GOOD — 99
• Uncle’s Deli — 1041 Post Road — Aug. 22 — GOOD — 94
• Vavala’s Delicatessen/Caterer — 156 Heights Road — July 7 — GOOD — 94
• Whole Foods Market — 150 Ledge Road — Aug. 22 — POOR — 87 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Two whole cooked chickens at 133 degrees in hot-holding display (light bulbs burnt out—replace); whole cooked turkey breasts at 49 to 53 degrees, deli sandwiches in next case at 48 degrees (refrigerator repair person on site); items stored in hand sink (meat room); no soap in ware wash HS [hand sink?], no paper towels in meat depth HS [hand sink?]; no waste receptacle at HS [hand sink?] upstairs food prep area; torn gaskets in prepared foods area; shelving in bakery area unclean; strong odor from uncovered trash receptacles, trash overflowing, debris on the ground, grease receptacles filled with water and trash, dead bird near dumpsters (trash receptacles removed two times a week—scheduled for tomorrow); fruit flies observed in deli/prepared foods area (TX [?] of last service was today); floors unclean in large freezer walk-in and seafood freezer walk-in.”
• Woodway Country Club — 540 Hoyt St. — Aug. 19 — GOOD — 95

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.