Worst Rating, ‘C,’ for One Darien Restaurant in Latest Health Inspection Reports

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Health Certificate Frosty Bear 01-19-17

Town Health Department ratings certificates are supposed to be displayed promenently, like this one at the Frosty Bear Cafe at Darien Library.

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A rating of “C,” the worst in the town’s A-B-C ratings system, went to one town restaurant in the nine food health inspection reports released Thursday by Darien Health Department.

The most recent batch of reports are from inspections that took place from  March 8  and 11, except for one dated Feb. 8 (Darien Seafood Market). Seven of the nine establishments inspected received a rating of “A.” One more received a “B.”

Health Certificate Frosty Bear 01-19-17

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):

—Darien Seafood Market — 1941 Post Road — Feb. 8 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 93

—Dunkin Donuts — Darien North rest stop, Interstate 95 — March 11 — Town Rating: B — State Score: 89

Green & Tonic H.D. website

Image from H.D. website

Recent inspections of Green & Tonic

—Green & Tonic — 1098 Post Road — March 8 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 76 — Inspector’s Remarks: “No QFO [Qualified Food Operator] assigned to this location per Cynthia [listed elsewhere in the report as “person in charge”]; no food thermometer available; no hand washing observed–coming to work, touching hair/face, looking in purse, handling forms of payment and just putting on gloves. Have all employees been trained??????; not utilizing a three-bay system to sanitize; blenders need to be completely sanitized, large curing board in back warewash left unclean; no hot water in hand sink; items not labeled (out of original container); chipped knife blade and small plastic board in poor repair (in use) and chest freezing [freezer?] is in poor repair; three-bay sink still not repaired (dripping), bathroom sink and pump have been repaired since January inspection; no self-closer; no covered waste in use during inspection, small white waste receptacle on stairs?; many fruit flies observed, exterminator must treat ASAP (invoice required/submit to the [town] Health Department; wall in poor repair, peeling near Quat sanitizer sink; mop not hung to dry.” — Inspector’s comments: “Rating from January 2019 not posted on front window, posted on back wall. Many repeat violations cited. Expansion of baked goods coming from separate production kitchen now!”

Green & Tonic H.D. inspection

Image from the Darien H.D. website

Inspector’s remarks and comments from the March 8, 2019 inspection of Green & Tonic in Darien

—Sbarro Darien North — Darien North rest stop, Interstate 95 — March 8Town Rating: A — State Score: 94

—Starbucks Coffee Shop — 815 Post Road — March 11Town Rating: A — State Score: 98

—Taco Bell — Darien North rest stop, Interstate 95 — March 8Town Rating: A — State Score: 99

—Taco Bell — Darien South rest stop, Interstate 95 — March 8Town Rating: A — State Score: 96

—Uncle’s Deli — 1041Post Road — March 11Town Rating: A — State Score: 93

—Upper Crust Bakery & Cafe — 980 Post Road — March 11Town Rating: A — State Score: 94

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:

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.

Health Department Health Inspections Health Reports

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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