Worst Health Rating for Two Darien Restaurants in Latest Inspections

Two Darien restaurants received “C” grades, the lowest of the three town Health Department ratings, in the most recently released health inspections. Both restaurants were reinspected and each received a “B.”

In six other inspections, two food-serving establishments in town received an “A,” and four others got a “B.” The nine inspections were conducted from Nov. 15 to 29.

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):

—Atria Darien — 50 Ledge Road — Nov. 21 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 95

—Aux Delices — 25 Old Kings Hwy. North — Nov. 15 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 88 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Several baked goods on display (not covered/protected); bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food (two employees, kitchen area); changing tasks: cleaning with wiping cloths and not changing gloves or washing hands; do not dry-sweep in kichen during lunch with exposed food, dumping in hand sink (service area); dish washing machine not sanitizing (final rinse at 181 degrees). — Inspector’s Comments: “Sprouts must be washed in walk-in [cooler] before use (discussion with Qualified Food Operator); [Food in display cooling from] morning prep at 51 degrees. Salads made and stored in three-door refrigerator should be uncovered to cool. Boxes overflowing in dumpster scheduled to be picked up Thursday.” [The words “Food in display cooling from” in the “Inspector’s Comments” section appear to have been moved inadvertently in the report. We’ve moved them again and put them in brackets. You can see what the report looks like just below.]

 

—Aux Delices — 25 Old Kings Hwy. North — Nov. 27 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 98 

 

—Hibachi Sushi Ya — 111 Old Kings Hwy. North — Nov. 28 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 91

—Little Thai Kitchen — 4 West Ave. — Nov. 28 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 94

—Louie’s Italian Restaurant — 10 Center St. — Nov. 15 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 94

—Shake Shack — 1340 Post Road — Nov. 27 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98

—Steam-Darien — 971 Post Road — Nov. 21 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 84 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Cooked chicken piled high on bain marie (51 to 57 degrees), only two customers during inspection; raw chicken stored over ready-to-eat foods in walk-in [cooler]; onion stored on the floor in dry storage, carrots on the floor of walk-in; no glove use, prep work happening; hand sink completely blocked in prep area; no santi buckets set up: raw chicken in the prep sink (must sanitize between chicken and onion prep), set up bucket, no bleach [..]; wastewater frozen on food in walk-in freezer and on fans/floors.” Inspector’s Comments: “Spoke with owner—do not block hand sink and it was completely blocked today during inspection. Training documentation needed and invoice for fruit fly treatment.”

 

—Steam-Darien — 971 Post Road — Nov. 30 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 92

 

—Tengda Asian Bistro — 25 Old Kings Hwy. N. — Nov. 29 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 88

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 (Nov. 16)
• 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 like this (“;”) separate individual comments by the inspectors. Each comment is about a particular violation that triggers a deduction of one or more points from a perfect state score of 100.

How Darien’s Restaurants 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 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. Town Health Director David Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.