One Restaurant Gets ‘C’ Rating — the Worst — in Most Recent Darien Health Inspection Reports

One Darien restaurant received a “C” rating — the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system — in the most recently released town Health Department inspection reports.

Seven other health inspection reports were released on Thursday by the department. Five of the establishments inspected received “A” ratings; two others each got a “B.” The inspections took place from  Sept. 7 to 11.

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):

—Aux Delices — Goodwives Shopping Center, 25 Old Kings Hwy. North — Sept. 10 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

—The Depot Youth Center — 25 Heights Road — Sept. 10 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100 (no violations found)

—Driftwood Diner — 171 Post Road — Sept. 10 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91

—Mather Center: Darien Senior Program — 2 Renshaw Road — Sept. 11 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Documented training for fill-in staff (Qualified Food Operator on vacation); no waste receptacle at two hand sinks; large wooden spoon and several spatulas in poor repair; no food contact shelving near surface area, unclean; odor from grease trap ………. running (on a timer?).” — Inspector’s Comments: “Replace santi [sanitizer] setup on the line, wipe down interior of microwave, calibrate probe thermometer, small herb garden, vents.”

 

—Sono Baking Company — 49 Tokeneke Road — Sept. 11 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

—Sugar Bowl — 1033 Post Road — Sept. 10 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

—Uncle’s Deli — 1041 Post Road — Sept. 7 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 89

—The Water’s Edge at Giovanni’s — 2748 Post Road — Sept. 7 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 81 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Pasta and potatoes at 48 to 52 degrees in low boy cold holding unit (must get serviced as soon as possible); foods uncovered in walk-in [refrigerator]. Breads left exposed for croutons on top of three-door fridge; no detectable sanitizer in red buckets; dish[washing] machine is scheduled for repair; utensils/slicers/food processor/blender left unclean; no soap in the employee restroom downstairs; no trash receptacles near salad/dessert stations; gaskets torn and taped on the line, tape on the microwave handle (repeat violation); no bleach test strips; grease buildup around line equipment; mice present (must move product downstairs or place bulk product in covered bins); floors unclean throughout kitchen, walk-in’s also included and floor near fryers unclean; hood has grease buildup and paint chipping on the ceiling in some areas of the kitchen, walls behind the cook line unclean; no vents in the employee restroom.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Employee training? Organization needed in chemical storage racks. Frequency of sanitizing meat sliceer in walk-in? Food was disposed of during inspect[ion]. Timeline established for all needed services.”

 

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:

• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Sept. 6)
  
• STAMFORD online health inspection results
• NORWALK online health inspection ratings (explanation of ratings)

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.

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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.

 

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.