Three Darien restaurants received “Good” ratings in the latest eight Darien Health Department inspections, one was deemed “Fair” and one was 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 22)
- 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):
- Heights Pizza — 330 Heights Road — July 22 — GOOD — 95
- Jimmy’s Southside Tavern — 340 Heights Road — July 25 — GOOD — 92
- Michael Joseph’s Catering — 1405 Post Road — July 26 — FAIR — 91
- Post Corner Pizza — 847 Post Road — July 27 — POOR — 85 — Inspector’s remarks: “Product temp[erature] in salad/pasta bain marie was 53 degrees on line. Product temp[erature] in pizza station bain marie was 51 to 53 [degrees] (iced over); dish machine with 10 ppm [parts per million] (must be minimum of 50 ppm); front cover panel missing on ice machine … mold growth observed, unclean rusty-looking drip inside machine, mold growth inside produce walk-in [refrigerator?] on walls/ceiling/shelving; cup without handle used to dispense bulk foods … sugar in dry storage area; torn/unclean gaskets in line bain marie; top of range unclean; bulky waste observed near dumpsters; fruit flies observed (behind freezer walk-in dry storage area); floors in walk-in freezer unclean—under shelving.” Inspector’s additional comments: “Odor observed during inspection … grease trap smell?? H2O [water] in basement? hand washing/glove use observed … vinyl gloves in use!”
- Vavala’s Delicatessan/Caterer — 156 Heights Road — July 7 — GOOD — 94
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.