One Food-Serving Establishment Gets Lowest Rating — ‘C’ — in Latest Darien Health Inspection Reports

One Darien food-serving establishment received a “C” rating, the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system, in in the 11 most recently released town Health Department inspection reports.

Six establishments were rated “A,” and three more were rated “B.” Another inspection report didn’t have a town rating.

The reports, all released Thursday, were based on 11 visits by inspectors from May 30 to June 12.

Most Recent Inspection Results

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):

—The Cho Bop Inc at Fjord Fish Market — 1015 Post Road — June 11 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92

—Country Club of Darien Satellite Kitchen — re-inspection — 300 Mansfield Ave. — June 6 — Town Rating: A — State Score 95

—Espresso Neat — 20 Grove St. — June 4 — Town Rating: not given — State Score: 97 (Editor’s note: Espresso Neat’s ratings information, even for past inspections, didn’t appear to be up on the Darien Health Department website on Friday morning when this article was prepared.)

—Heights Pizza — 330 — Heights Road — June 11 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92

—Juice Press — 72 Heights Road — June 4 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 96

—Little Bites by Jen Maher Food — 2420 Post Road — June 12 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94

—Noroton Yacht Club — 23 Baywater Dr. — May 30 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 96

—Scena Wine Bar and Restaurant —1077 Post Road — June 12 — Town Rating: B — State Score 90

—Springdale Athletic Club — 2 Camp Ave. — May 30 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 81 — Inspector’s Remarks: “No sanitizer set up in kitchen; wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer between uses; items stored in hand sink; grease buildup on hood; walls behind cooking equipment unclean; no soap or paper towel at hand sink—hand sanitizer does not replace soap; inside microwave unclean; bread stored in paper bags on floor; slicer not sanitized; no training documentation; floors with grease buildup; no QFO [Qualified Food Operator] present at time of inspection; no designated alternate.” (see re-inspection, below)

—Springdale Athletic Club — re-inspection — 2 Camp Ave. — June 8 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Raw meats stored over ready-to-eat foods in reach-in freezer; sanitizer bucket for wiping cloths had insufficient amount of sanitizer (bleach), less than 50 parts per million; window cleaner in spray bottle labeled as sanitizer (corrected); dumpster overflowing. Unable to secure lids; door to kitchen left open with no screen.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Vastly improved from last inspection. Clean establishment. No hot-holding at time of inspection. Needs to better organize freezer and fridge. QFO is owner Mike Powers. Certificate displayed but no alternate. Claims he is there 95 percent of the time. Gave him training documentation sheets for him to train anyone who may fill-in for him. Discussed with owner about being more consistent with sanitizer.”

—Woodway Country Club — 540 Hoyt St. — June 6 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93

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 (June 8)

• 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 (“;”) 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.

 

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.