Two Darien Restaurants Get Lowest Rating — ‘C’ — in Most Recent Health Inspection Reports

Two Darien restaurants each received a “C” rating, the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system, in in the nine most recently released town Health Department inspection reports, including three schools.

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

The reports, all released Thursday, were based on inspectors’ visits from May 9 to 16.

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. — May 16 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100

—Middlesex Middle School —  204 Hollow Tree Ridge Road — May 9 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100

—Ox Ridge School — 395 Mansfield Ave. — May 16 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100

OTHER:

—Bodega Taco Bar — 980 Post Road — May 15 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 82 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Thermometers located in the back of refrigerators; raw fish above lime juice in walk-in cooler; food containers on floor in walk-in; no sanitizer in wiping-cloth buckets; spray hose at dishwasher below overflow rim of sink: potential cross-connection; broken spice container and cracked lime container need replacement; continued presence of fruit flies; missing ceiling tile upstairs; hang mops head-side down.”

 

—Darien Diner — 275 Post Road — May 15 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 96

—Genji @ Whole Foods Market — 150 Ledge Road — May 11 — Town Rating: A — State Score: A

—The Goose American Bistro & Bar — 972 Post Road — May 12 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92

—Uncle’s Deli — 1041 Post Road — May 14 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “No QFO [qualified food operator] present at time of inspection; no QFO alternate present at time of inspection; no employee training records presented at time of inspection; raw hamburgers stored over ready-to-eat cold cuts in sandwich prep unit; drinks stored on floor in walk-in cooler; light bulb in walk-in cooler not shatterproof or protected; no sanitizer set up at three-bay sink; not sanitizing ware wash properly; wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer between uses.” — Inspector’s Comments. “No formal training for staff. One worker states it’s more or less ‘on-the-job training.’ Hot holding and refrigeration all OK. Hand washing and glove use observed.”

 

—Whole Foods Market — 150 Ledge Road — May 11 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 87

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 (May 12)

• 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.