Ratings of “C,” the worst in the town’s A-B-C ratings system, went to two town restaurant in the five food health inspection reports released Thursday by Darien Health Department.
The most recent batch of reports are from inspections that took place from Feb. 11 to 15. Three of the five establishments inspected received a rating of “A.”
Town Health Department ratings certificates are supposed to be displayed prominently, like this one at the Frosty Bear Cafe at Darien Library.
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.
Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results (an explanation of how this list is put together is immediately below it):
—Flour Water Salt Bread — 20 Grove St. — Feb. 15 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94
Image from Darien H.D. website
Recent history of inspection ratings for Hibachi Sushi Ya, as of February 2019
—Hibachi Sushi Ya — 111 Old Kings Hwy. North — Feb. 15 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 80 — Inspector’s Remarks: “No training documentation for new employees; raw [food] over RTE [ready-to-eat food] IN BAIN MARIE; Food items stored on floor in both walk-in coolers and in prep [food preparation area]; light bulb under hood not protected; lack of hand washing in kitchen; no sanitizer set up; utensil rinsed off and not properly washed and sanitized; moist wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer between uses; hibachi knife stored in holster unclean; soap missing in prep[aration] hand sink; hand wash sinks unclean; spray bottle, other items not in original containers unlabeled; paint peeling from ceiling; door gasket in sushi cooler in disrepair; prep table shelving, cooking equipment, storage shelving unclean; floors throughout unclean; broken floor tiles at cook line; grease buildup on hood and filters; personal items on prep[aration] service. Unnecessary items outside back door and dumpster.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Lengthy discussions about hand washing, cleaning and sanitizing. Training for new employees? Dish[washing] machine O.K.”
Image from the Darien H.D. website
Part of the Feb. 15, 2019 inspection report for Hibachi Sushi Ya restaurant.
Image from the Darien H.D. website
Recent inspection ratings for Sbarro South restaurant at the Darien South rest stop on I-95
—McDonald’s — Darien South rest stop, Interstate 95 — Feb. 13 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 96
—Sbarro Darien Southbound — Darien South rest stop, Interstate 95 — Feb. 11 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “No log kept for foods on display under time in lieu of temp[erature] variance, corrected; no sanitizer setup, corrected; unclean wiping cloth stored on prep[aration] table, corrected; dust buildup on shelving in storage and walk-in cooling unit; floors unclean (prep[aration area], kitchen, walk-in [cooler]).” — Inspector’s Comments: “Had a discussion with manager/QFO [Qualified Food Operator] about changing gloves after phone use and changing tasks. No times kept for any item not being hot held—issues with Sbarro in the past. Company policy is one hour. All hot items in compliance.”
Image from the Darien H.D. website
Part of the Feb. 11 inspection report for Sbarro at the Darien South rest stop on I-95.
—Taco Bell — Darien South rest stop, Interstate 95 South — Feb. 13 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94 [Links not available on Feb. 21.]
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 (Feb. 14)
- 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.
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.
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.
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