Three Darien Food-Serving Establishments Get Lowest Rating (‘C’) in Latest Health Inspection Reports

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Health Department Inspection Ratings Restaurants 11-17-17
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Three Darien food-serving establishments each received a “C” rating, the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system, in in the 10 most recently released town Health Department inspection reports.

Four establishments were rated “A,” and three more were rated “B.”

The reports, all released Thursday, were based on inspectors’ visits from May 30 to June 2, except for a re-inspection of the Country Club of Darien satellite kitchen, which initially received a “C” and on the follow-up inspection on June 6 received an “A.”

Most Recent Inspection Results

Health Certificate Frosty Bear 01-19-17

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):

—Blue Wave Taco — 205 Post Road — June 1 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93

—Bodega Taco Bar — 980 Post Road — June 2Town Rating: B — State Score: 92

—Country Club of Darien — 300 Mansfield Ave. — May 30Town Rating: A — State Score: 94

—Country Club of Darien, satellite kitchen —  May 30Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Training need for new line employee; (1) unit not working (not holding food during inspection). (2) drawer unit under the grill holding food at 48 to 52 degrees product temperature and upright salad two-door refrigerator with product temp at 44 degrees; missing in cold holding unit; must sanitize slicer, just cleaning with soap and water; product labeling issues; plumbing issues at two different sinks (faucet at three-bay and dripping under a HS[?].” — Inspector’s Comments: “Cracked wooden spoon discussion with staff … sous vide eggs during inspection. Executive chef had the variance form ready for submission to DPH [state Department of Public Health] for special processing approval.” [See the reinspection report below]

Inspection report CC of Darien satellite kitchen

Image from the town Health Department website

Part of the May 30 inspection of the Country Club of Darien satellite kitchen

 

— Country Club of Darien, satellite kitchen — June 6Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

June 6 health inspection of the Country Club of Darien satellite kitchen

Image from the town Health Department website

Part of the June 6 health inspection of the Country Club of Darien satellite kitchen.

—Darien Doughnut — 370 Heights Road — June 1 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 97

—Dunkin Donuts —967 Post Road — June 2Town Rating: C — State Score: 92 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Hot-holding front sandwich unit not maintaining adequate temperatures; hand sink being used as dump sink; no sanitizer in wiping cloth buckets; mop not being hung up to dry.”

Inspection report Dunkin Donuts downtown

Image from town Health Department website

June 2 inspection report for Dunkin Donuts at 967 Post Road

 

—Jennifer’s Kitchen at White Bridge —284 Tokeneke Road — June 1 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 90

—New Beijing Restaurant — 5 Tokeneke Road — June 2Town Rating: B — State Score: 87

—Upper Crust Bakery & Cafe — 980 Post Road — June 2Town Rating: C — State Score: 86 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Front cooler out of temp; cell phone on prep table; milk crate being used as a shelf; sanitizer not strong enough in three-bay sink; keep wiping cloths in sanitizer buckets between use; ice machine and bottom of freezer need cleaning; cold water faucet at back hand sink leaking; cracked floor tiles; mop not hung to dry.”

Inspection report Upper Crust Bakery and Cafe

Image from town Health Department website

Part of June 2 inspection report for Upper Crust Bakery & Cafe

 

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:

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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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Like this article? …

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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.

Health Department Health Inspections Health Reports

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.

One thought on “Three Darien Food-Serving Establishments Get Lowest Rating (‘C’) in Latest Health Inspection Reports

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