One ‘C’, Four ‘B’ Ratings and 8 ‘A’ Ratings in Latest Health Inspections of Darien Restaurants

One local restaurant received a “C” rating, four others each received a rating of “B”; and “A” ratings went to eight others in the latest food-serving establishment health inspection reports released by Darien Health Department.

Details about the towns rating system for restaurants and other food serving establishments are at the bottom of this article, and you can find an article about the ratings system here.

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’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 (Feb. 3)
• Darien Health Department Starts Letter Grades for Food Service Inspections
  

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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 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 poor inspection rating, sometimes even the best do, and every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong):

• Burgers, Shakes & Fries — 800 Post Road — Feb. 1 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95
• Cesco’s Trattoria — 25 Old King’s Hwy. North — Feb 1 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93
• Duchess Family Restaurant of Darien — 306 Post Road — Feb. 10 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93
• Estia’s Back Porch Cafe — 1020 Post Road — Feb. 6 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93
• Genji (at Whole Foods Market) — 150 Ledge Road — Feb. 6 — Town Rating A — State Score: 100
• Hibachi Sushi Ya — 111 Old Kings Hwy. N. — Jan. 25 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 90
• Jake’s Place — 4 Ledge Road — Feb. 8 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94
• Scena Wine Bar & Restaurant — 1077 Post Road — Feb. 8 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92
• Sugar Bowl — 1033 Post Road — Feb. 6 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 97
• Tengda Asian Bistro — 25 Old Kings Hwy. South — Feb. 13 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 85 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Raw meat stored over ready-to-eat food; uncovered food in storage (dry storage area and walk-in [unit]s); only a Band Aid on a finger in the kitchen [on a cook who was] prepping; misuse of prep sinks (washing dishes) and misuse of hand sink (thawing seafood); not sanitizing at three-bay sink: cutting boards and bowls; cutting boards (two) lower shelf and some bowls in storage unclean; no hot water: low water pressure in sushi area hand sink; granular [container]s not labeled: not in original containers; knife in use stored between equipment; raw meats frozen in grocery bags (in walk-in [unit]); duct tape on rice cooker and tape/paper on the sushi bar glass slicer: upper display fridge.” — Inspector’s additional comments: […] Manager […] has started training but must formalize for next inspection.”
  

  Inspector’s remarks and comments for the Tengda Asian Bistro inspection on Feb. 13.

• HERE’S WHAT THE PREVIOUS INSPECTION OF TENGDA ASIAN BISTRO SAID (FROM OUR FEB. 3 ARTICLE):  — Feb. 1 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 81 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Lowboy refrigerator (sushi area) not cold holding (57 degrees) quail eggs stacked in fridge, large piece of yellowtail tuna; time/temperature logs not maintained for sushi rice (four-hour rule); washing hands in three-bay sink; washing cutting boards in prep sink with soap […]; no hot water and poor water pressure at hand sink in sushi area; paper towel unit […] in sushi area; duct tape inside bain marie unit, screws missing; plumbing issue at hand sink on the line, large amount of water on the floor.” Inspector’s additional comments: “Raw fish offered: striped bass, fluke, red snapper, salmon, uni, eel-cooked coming in fresh not frozen (frozen on-site at 10 degrees for 5 days per sushi head chef), escolar mackerel, yellowtail arrives frozen […] Discussion with the manager about removing bulky waste from outside, training logs and sushi freezing parameters left for review and implementation.”

• Ten Twenty Post Oyster Bar and Bistro — 1020 Post Road — Feb. 8 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91
• Vavala’s Delicatessan/Caterer — 156 Heights Road — Feb. 13 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94
• The Waters Edge at Giovanni’s — 2748 Post Road — Feb. 3 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92

How Darien’s restaurants are now 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.

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.