Three ‘Poor,’ Eight ‘Fair’ and Five ‘Good’ in Most Recent Darien Restaurant Inspections

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Three restaurants in town received “Poor” ratings from Darien Health Department inspectors in the most recently released inspection reports; eight others were rated “Fair” and five “Good.”(See each restaurant’s score at the bottom of this article.)

How Darien’s restaurants are rated

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor 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 or that have been fixed, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale, or vice versa.

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. Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.

The 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 most recent inspection report online, and Darien ratings link to a Web page showing the restaurant’s recent inspection ratings.

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See also:

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For restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “poor,” and for some others of interest to the public (like schools) additional information is given. When we provide that here, then information within brackets (“[ ]”) has 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 “Fair” or “Poor” inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and everyone normally gets a few things wrong):

  • Darien Doughnut — 370 Heights Road — Feb. 1GOOD — 95
  • Darien Seafood Market — 1941 Post Road — Jan. 28FAIR — 90
  • Duchess Family Restaurant of Darien — 306 Post Road — Feb. 1FAIR — 91
  • Dunkin Donuts — 967 Post Road — Feb. 1 POOR — 80 — Inspector’s remarks: “NO documentation of training employees; slices of cheese held out on top of well at 53 degrees; using the cup to fill cup with ice; did not observe hand washing when changing job tasks (retrain employees regarding proper hand washing), working cash register and then making sandwiches — no hand washing, touching face with gloved hands; storing small white cleaning brush in the hand sink; interior of microwave unclean and interior of upright fridge in the back unclean and interior of coolatta fridge; storing utensils in food containers (handle in contact with the food); tape on the outside of the ice machine (near air filter panel); boxes left outside on the ground around dumpsters; unclean floors in back prep area.” Inspector’s additional comments: “New manager (QFO) […] dry sweeping at 12:00, lunch time???”
  • Genji Sushi (at Whole Foods Market) — 150 Ledge Road — Feb. 3GOOD — 100
  • Heights Pizza — 330 Heights Road — Jan. 21 — FAIR — 92
  • Lithos Estiatorio — 319 Post Road — Jan. 27POOR — 82 — Inspector’s remarks: “Moldy food in downstairs walk-in (onions, cucumber, beets, herb); spinach pies left out at 65 [degrees] for lunch (pan above stove); not washing produce before serving (lettuces); food uncovered in refrigerator; light uncovered in downstairs freezer; slicer should be broken down and sanitized); must label all items not in original [container] and shellfish tags not maintained with the product or stored for 90 days; replace worn cutting boards on the line; gaskets torn in low boy; keep door in kitchen closed; plate damaged in the walk-in [refrigerator] upstairs, downstairs walk-in floor in poor repair (paint chipping).” Inspector’s additional comments: “New employees in the kitchen, stress the importance of hand washing when changing tasks.”
  • Matsuri Grill — 390 Post Road — Jan. 27FAIR — 90
  • Michael Joseph’s Catering — 1405 Post Road — Feb. 2POOR — 87 —Inspector’s remarks: “Chicken out on the counter at 58 degrees, food product in sandwich bain marie at 53 to 58 degrees; keep pans with food off walk-in freezer floor; must allow contact with quat sanitizer; microwaves unclean (front and back); label food items not in original containers (back prep area); plastic cutting boards in back kitchen showing signs of wear (replace).” Inspector’s additional comments: “No backflow prevention device on the produce prep sink.”
  • New Beijing Restaurant — 5 Tokeneke Road — Jan. 29FAIR — 87
  • Panera Bread — 1063 Post Road — Jan. 29FAIR — 93
  • Papa Joe’s — 1973 Post Road — Feb. 1FAIR — 91
  • Scena Wine Bar & Restaurant — 1077 Post Road — Jan. 27GOOD — 91
  • Taco Bell — Darien South rest stop on Interstate 95 — Jan. 29GOOD — 99
  • Sugar Bowl — 1033 Post Road — Jan. 29GOOD — 96
  • The Water’s Edge at Giovanni’s — 2748 Post Road — Feb. 3FAIR — 90

One thought on “Three ‘Poor,’ Eight ‘Fair’ and Five ‘Good’ in Most Recent Darien Restaurant Inspections

  1. Pingback: Latest Darien Restaurant Health Inspection Ratings | Darienite

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