Three Establishments Get Lowest Rating — ‘C’ — in Latest Health Inspections of Restaurants, Schools

Three Darien food-serving establishments received a grade of “C,” the lowest of the three A-B-C town Health Department ratings, among the 11 most recently released health inspections. 

Four establishments received an “A” rating — the best in the town’s A-B-C rating system. None received a “B,” and three others got a “C.” The inspections were conducted from Jan. 27 to 30.

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):

SCHOOLS:

—Holmes School — 18 Hoyt St. — Jan. 30 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98 — Inspectors Remarks: “Food stored on the walk-in freezer floor.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Clean and organized! Vent soup in walk-in (crockpot)to cool.”

—Ox Ridge School — 395 Mansfield Ave. — Jan. 30 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Food stored on the walk-in floors.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Excellent hand-washing practices observed!”

—Royle School — 133 Mansfield Ave. — Jan. 30 — Town Rating: A — State Score; 96 — Inspector’s Remarks: Food stored on the floor of the freezer walk-in; break down slicer and completely sanitize.”

OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS:

—Estia’s Back Porch Cafe — 1020 Post Road — Jan. 27 (inspection date, not the date uploaded on the website) — Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Milk in small refrigerator at bar: 57 degrees. Refrigerator needs to be repaired/replaced; thawing fish in stagnant water; concentration of sanitizer in two wiping cloth bucket [less than] 50 ppm [parts per million concentration]; cuting board stored by hand sink; hand soap at bar hand sink not working.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Rating posted.”

 

—Genji (at Whole Foods Market) — 150 Ledge Road — Jan. 29 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

—New Beijing Restaurant — 5 Tokeneke Road — Jan. 27 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Several cans dented on seam; bare-hand contact while cutting cooked pork; cup used to dispense bulk food stored in food product; raw chicken bins stored on top of cooked chicken buckets; knife stored between table and bain marie; torn gaskets on bain marie and freezer; hood getting cleaned Friday; large single-service bags reused; shelving rusty/peeling [in] walk-in cooler.”

 

—Upper Crust Bakery and Cafe — 980 Post Road — Jan. 27 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 79 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Dented food cans (large tuna) (corrected); no visible thermometer available for food temps; bare-hand contact when making bagels; sanitizer concentration too weak in wiping cloth bucket, less than 50 ppm [parts per million] chlorine (O.K. in three-bay sink, 1 ppm chlorine); soap dispenser not working properly at three-bay hand sink; chemicals on shelf next to bulk food bin (corrected); unlabeled oil spray bottle; torn gasket on glass front cooler; interior of front cabinets not clean; cold water handle leaking at back hand sink; floor around some equipment not clean; mop not hung to dry; coat on top of single service items in cabinet; interior of some reach-in [coolers] not clean; Class 4 — cooling and reheating soups.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Unable to find old rating card.”

 

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 (Jan. 26)

• Dentists Rejoice: Darien Dessert War Declared — Sample and Vote on Your Favorite (Jan. 29)
• Roost — a New, Restaurant/Coffee Shop — Opens Monday at 1950 Post Rd in Noroton (Jan. 26)
• 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.