Here’s how Darien restaurants and other food-serving places fared in the latest inspection reports, released Thursday by the Darien Health Department.
Town Health Department ratings certificates are supposed to be displayed prominently, like this one at the Frosty Bear Cafe at Darien Library.
The department released seven health inspection reports on Thursday, and every single one of the inspections took place on Jan. 31, according to the department. Of those, four inspections resulted in a “B” rating and “A” was the rating for four others. No establishment was rated “C.”
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.
Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results (an explanation of how this list is put together is immediately below it):
SCHOOLS
—Holmes School — 18 Hoyt St. — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100
—Middlesex Middle School — 204 Hollow Tree Ridge Road — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Ware at three-bay [sink] needs to come in contact with sanitizer for a minimum of one minute. Dipping is not compliant.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Discussion with staff about contact time with sanitizer at three-bay [sink]. Other than that, no issues observed.”
Image from Darien H.D. website
Part of the Jan. 31 inspection report for Middlesex Middle School.
—Tokeneke School — 7 Old Farm Road — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Service steam table in disrepair, three of five bays working. Tape and wood used to prevent burns.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Steam table has been an ongoing issue with this school. New food service company has taken this very seriously and has ordered a new unit.”
Image from Darien H.D. website
Part of the Jan. 31 inspection report for Tokeneke School
OTHER
—Coromandel Cuisine of India — 25-11 Old Kings Hwy. North — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 92
—Fisherman’s Net — 11 Old King’s Hwy. North — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: B — State Score:93
—Frosty Bear Cafe — at Darien Library, 1441 Post Road — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91
—Chipotle Mexican Grill — Darien North rest stop, Interstate 95 — Jan. 31 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91
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.
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.
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See also:
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.
- Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Jan. 30)
- STAMFORD online health inspection results
- NORWALK online health inspection ratings (explanation of ratings)
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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.
Any establishment actually deemed unsafe can be closed by the town Health Department until violations are fixed.