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

Three Darien restaurants received “Poor” ratings in the latest Darien Health Department inspections, two others were rated “Fair” and three more, “Good.”

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 (June 23)
• 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):

• Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant — 54 Post Road — June 23 — POOR — 82 — Inspector’s remarks: “Food thermometers must be placed in custom units; uncovered food in various refrigeration; bare-hand contact with food — line employee touching wraps; dishwashing machine in bar area only reaching 165-170 [degrees] final rinse temp; wiping cloths stored on counters between use; no paper towels at hand sink near pizza ovens; cutting boards (red and blue) showing signs of wear — deeply grooved; hand sink missing plumbing in prep/service area; dumpster lids should be closed on trash; fruit flies observed in prep area, near brooms and in bar — late invoice dated June 16, 2016; floors unclean [in] kitchen areas — dish room and downstairs floor in poor repair; wall missing tiles in prep area of the line.” — Inspector’s additional comments: “Review with employees produce prep — washing. Review cooking temps of chicken with employees and proper cooling of cooked vegetables.”
• Burgers, Shakes & Fries — 800 Post Road — June 27 — POOR — 92 — Inspector’s remarks: “Small salad cooling unit running at 50 degrees; french fried onions at cook line not covered; mixing bowl and tongs stored in top apart of bain marie; cutting board stored on floor; dish baskets stored on floor.”
• Burgers, Shakes & Fries — 800 Post Road — June 30 — GOOD — 98 — Inspector’s remarks: “Colored coatings on knives chipped. Please replace.; All violations from previous inspection taken care of.”
• Darien Diner — 275 Post Road — June 28 — POOR — 83 — Inspector’s remarks: “Upright refrigerator on the line — product temp is 50-51 degrees; six large turkey breasts at 52 degrees piled in the walk-in cooling [unit] from the previous day, seafood stuffing cooling on counter at the line at 99 degrees, chicken soup cooling on prep shelf at 111; broken thermometer in custom cold-holding case on the line; large batches of pooled eggs in the walk-in [cooling unit]; dumping into hand sink (service area and cook line); wiping cloths stored on the counters; common wiping cloths on chefs’ aprons; interior of refrigeration on the line is unclean; large potato bags x2 on prep counters; no soap at two hand sinks (prep and line); dipper well not running, large spoon handle stored inside fresh fruit — front display case; floors unclean uder cook line equipment — grease; hood filters are black near grill.” — Inspector’s additional comments: “Current rating NOT posted! Hand washing practices need to be substantially improved, documentation of employees’ training?”
• Estia’s Back Porch Cafe — 1020 Post Road — June 27 — GOOD — 97
• Panera Bread — 1063 Post Road — June 27 — GOOD — 97
• Sbarro — Interstate 95 Darien South rest stop — June 23 — FAIR — 92
• Steam — 971 Post Road — June 22 — GOOD — 94
• Tengda Asian Bistro — 25 Old Kings Hwy. N. — June 24 — FAIR — 91

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.