‘Live cockroach crawling on a bowl’: This week’s Triangle sanitation scores (Oct. 18)

The News & Observer publishes a weekly round-up of restaurant sanitation scores to keep you up-to-date on the health grades at Triangle spots.

Sanitation scores and their corresponding letter grades are used in North Carolina to assess restaurants’ adherence to rules and standards intended to mitigate and prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses.

You’ve likely seen sanitation grade cards at restaurants you’ve visited, and The N&O previously explained what those scores mean and how they’re calculated.

Here are sanitation scores in Wake and Durham counties for the week of Oct. 12-18.

Wake County sanitation scores

The Wake County sanitation grades database shows 82 inspections that were completed between Oct. 12-18.

▪ Most restaurants received an A grade, or a score of at least 90%.

▪ Two restaurants received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

Hickory Tavern #29 (401 Village Walk Drive, Holly Springs) received a score of 86.5% during an inspection on Oct. 17.

• The restaurant was in violation of 16 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to three points.
• The most serious violations included soiled plates and other kitchen equipment stored as clean, a lack of soap and paper towels at sinks and handwash stations, foods stored at improper temperatures and without proper date markings, and fly strips hanging above food prep areas.
• Some violations were repeat offenses and some were corrected during the inspection.
• The restaurant previously scored a 94% in June and a 96.5% in October 2021.

Tacos Mexico Restaurant (209 E Williams St., Apex) received a score of 89% during an inspection on Oct. 12.

• The restaurant was in violation of 13 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to two points.
• Violations included lack of shellstock tags for frozen seafood, food stored at improper temperature, foods (including chicken) stored with no date markings and restroom violations.

• Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

• The restaurant previously scored a 94.5% in July and a 97% in March.

▪ No restaurants in Wake County received a C grade, or a score of at least 70% but less than 80%.

▪ No restaurants received a failing grade, or a score below 70%.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Wake County at wake-nc.healthinspections.us.

Durham County sanitation scores

The Durham County inspection management system shows that 26 restaurant inspections were completed between Oct. 12-18.

▪ Most restaurants received an A grade.

▪ One restaurant received a B grade.

Wangs Garden (826 Fayetteville St., Durham) received a score of 81% during an inspection on Oct. 17.

• The restaurant was in violation of 16 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to four points.
• Violations included a “live cockroach crawling on a bowl stored as clean above dish sink,” an employee “changing tasks” and not washing his hands before returning to food prep, trays used to store eggrolls stored while dirty and still lined with single-use paper, food stored uncovered and on the floor in the walk-in cooler and walkin freezer, and some prepared foods stored without date markings.
  
  

• Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

• The restaurant previously scored an 80% in February and a 81.5% in May 2021.

▪ No restaurants in Durham County received a C grade.

▪ No restaurants received a failing grade, or a score below 70%.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Durham County at bit.ly/3pVQfpG.

This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 10:38 AM.