One Darien restaurants received a “C” rating, the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system, in in the six most recently released Health Department inspection reports.
Three other establishments were rated “B”, and two more received an “A.”
The seven inspection reports released Thursday were based on inspectors’ visits on March 31 to April 4.
Most Recent Inspection Results
Town Health Department ratings certificates are supposed to be displayed prominently, like this one at the Frosty Bear Cafe at Darien Library.
Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results (an explanation for each part of the list, including links, is just below the list).
Keep in mind that a food-serving establishment with a history of good ratings may occasionally get a poor inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong (an explanation of how this list is put together is immediately below it):
—Burgers, Shakes and Fries —800 Post Road — March 31 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91
—Jake’s Place — 884 Ledge Road — March 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93
—Jimmy’s Southside Tavern — 340 Heights Road — April 4 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 88
—Papa Joe’s — 1973 Post Road — April 4 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93
—Planet Pizza —882 Post Road — March 31 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91
—Sugar Bowl — 1033 Post Road — March 31 —Town Rating: C — State Score: 86 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Sausages in oven: 59 to 68 degrees (discarded); home fries in steam table: 98 degrees (discarded); pastries uncovered on counter (corrected); slicer not clean; ice buildup: ice cream freezer; small fryers in kitchen not commercial grade; milk crate used as shelf; cardboard lining some shelves; torn gasket on bain marie; interior of several refrigerators have rusty/peeling shelving; sides of cooking equipment not clean; small noncommercial fryers not properly vented; bottom half of walls behind cook line not clean.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Dish [washing] machine: 167 degrees.”
Report from March 31, 2017 inspection of Sugar Bowl
Dates link to the food establishment’s inspection report referenced here (when available, sometimes it takes a while to get posted online), and Darien’s own A/B/C 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 (March 30)
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For restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “C,” 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 (“;”) separate individual comments by the inspectors. Each comment separated by semicolons is about a particular violation that triggers a deduction of one or more points from a perfect state score of 100.
How Darien’s Food-Serving Places Are Rated
Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own A/B/C 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, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale.
The “A”, “B” and “C” letter grades a restaurant gets in its last inspection will be prominent on these certificates, which must be posted where customers can see them, and you can use your phone and the “QR” code to the right of the letter grade to get to the department’s ratings website for more information.
You can find the past several inspection ratings under the Darien ratings system for food-serving establishments along with copies of inspection reports, including state health code scores on this website.
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.