Latest Darien Restaurant Health Inspections: 4 ‘Poor’, 4 ‘Fair’, 2 ‘Good’

Darien food-serving establishments fared worse than usual in the latest inspection ratings released by the town Health Department.

Health / Health

A Darien Health Department inspection certificate posted on Darien Doughnuts window, near the door.

Only two inspections rated restaurants “Good” under the Darien ratings system. Of the four (or possibly five) “Poor” inspection ratings, one restaurant improved so much two weeks later that it received a perfect “100” score (Estia’s Back Porch Cafe), and another, Fjord Fish Market, received a second “Poor” rating two weeks after the first.

A third, Darien Diner, received a “Fair” rating two weeks after what appears to have been its initial “Poor” rating (the inspection report didn’t say it was “Poor” but the reinspection indicated that it was). Four other restaurant inspections around town resulted in “Fair” ratings (details below).

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.

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 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:

• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Feb. 19)
• 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 every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong):

• Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant — 54 Post Road — Feb. 23 — FAIR — 93
• Burgers Shakes & Fries — 800 Post Road — March 2 — GOOD — 93
• Darien Diner — 275 Post Road — Feb. 22 — Darien rating not given (but it appears to be “POOR,” since a reinspection was done four days later) — 80 — Inspector’s remarks: “Many new kitchen employees without training; four-door low-boy refrigerator (under grill) on cook line at 58 degrees, not plugged in—possible electricity problem?; chicken soup cooling out at 104 [degrees], cooked earlier; no food thermometer on the line, missing in some cold-holding units; produce not washed before use; bare-hand contact in kitchen with RTE [ready-to-eat] foods; misuse of sinks—three-bay sink used to wash lettuce produce, sanitizer bucket in hand sink in service area; dish[washing] machine final rinse temp[erature] btw [between] 168 and 174; unclean knives in storage rack near kettle; thawing pre-portioned raw shrimp on a cart at the end of the cook line; no test strips for quat sanitizer; unclean floors in kitchen.” Inspector’s additional comment: “Thirty-day permit inspection!”
• Darien Diner — 275 Post Road — Feb. 26 — FAIR — 85
• Estia’s Back Porch Cafe — 1020 Post Road — March 1 — POOR — 87 — Inspector’s remarks: “Cooked potatoes at 129, not on a heat source — held on the grill not turned on; clam chowder at 71 degrees, cooling from the morning prep — large batch of chowder downstairs at 80 from 7:30 a.m. still at 80 at noon; no eating on the line; misuse of a hand sink — dumping into and storing saniti [sanitary?] bucket in HS; dish[washer] machine not sanitizing with correct ppm [parts per million] of bleach (10 ppm) — last time it was serviced?; unclean utensils and knives in storage; cutting boards showing signs of wear; strong odor from water wash hood — timer out?”
• Estia’s Back Porch Cafe — 1020 Post Road — March 16 — GOOD — 100
• Fjord Fish Market — 1015 Post Road — March 2 — POOR — 86 — “No documentation of training of staff; two soups not hold holding (soup at 118 [degrees], soup at 120 [degrees]); sushi case product temping at 50-51 degrees; sushi rice at 101 [degrees], black rice at 82 [degrees]; broken display case for display—custom case; bare hand sushi station; storing items in hand sink (back kitchen); unclean equipment in sushi area, large grinders, knives; paper towel dispenser missing from wall—back kitchen/ware-wash area; tape used on product in back kitchen area.” — Inspector’s additional comments: “Hand washing is an important practice! Invoices reviewed during inspection for raw sushi grade fish.”
• Fjord Fish Market — 1015 Post Road — March 16 — POOR — 92 — Inspector’s comments: “Prepacked meals are NOT cold holding in the display case—product temp is 59-51 degrees, stacked three to four deep. Are meals properly cooled in Greenwich before transport? Product was on shelf before 9 a.m. per […] Mgr. [manager].; wiping cloths left on prep counters; off the wall in sushi area; both front doors propped open; phones on the counters.” — Inspector’s additional comments: “Sushi PH log maintained; paperwork to be completed for separate permit and time/temp[erature] variance; product out of temp[erature] was pulled off the shelf during inspection!”
• Mama Carmella’s — 1981 Post Road — March 7 — FAIR — 90
• Planet Pizza — 882 Post Road — March 1 — POOR — 79 — Inspector’s remarks: “No log for many pizzas kept out of temperature — calzones?; Food thermometer not accurate on the line, refrigerator thermometers missing/broken in three cases; hood light uncov ered over stove on the cook line; washing hands in three-bay sink; storing utensils in the line hand sink; tongs on the line and slicer in the back prep area not sanitized every four hours after use; slicer on the shelf stored unclean (black leather jacket stored on top of slicer); water turned off in back prep area hand sink; thawing several packages of squid at room temperature; paint flaking/peeling off of hand-held juicer on the line, peeling/chipped spatulas X2, cracked food storage containers; large amount of waste water frozen on food in the four-door reach-in freezer (back prep area).” — Inspector’s additional comments: “QFO Mgr [Qualified Food Operator manager] on-site […] Pizza times not labeled during inspection!”
• Post Corner Pizza — 847 Post Road — March 8 — FAIR — 92