‘Live roaches crawling’ on restaurant floor: Triangle Sanitation scores (July 18, 25)
The News & Observer publishes a weekly roundup of restaurant sanitation scores to keep you up-to-date on the health grades at Triangle dining 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 food-borne 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.
Note: This edition includes the past two weeks of sanitation scores, due to technical problems with Wake and Johnston’s systems.
Here are sanitation scores in Triangle counties for the week of July 12-25.
Wake County sanitation scores
A Wake County spokesperson provided the following information for restaurant inspections completed July 12-25.
▪ Most restaurants received an A grade, or a score of at least 90%.
▪ Three restaurants received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.
KPot Korean BBQ & Hot Pot (3105 Capital Blvd. in Raleigh) received a score of 87.5% during an inspection on July 18.
The restaurant was in violation of 24 standards. Of these, 10 were considered “priority” violations.
Critical violations included storing raw chicken, raw pork and raw beef touching each other over ice and foods were held at improper temperatures.
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
Frida’s Patio Mexican Cuisine (3470 Kildaire Farm Rd. in Cary) received a score of 83% during an inspection on July 18.
The restaurant was in violation of 21 standards. Of these, nine were considered “priority” violations.
Critical violations included finding a can of Raid on the kitchen floor and observing cornbread in the walk-in cooler with “multi-colored microbial growth.”
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
Cafe Sage at Holiday Inn Cary (5630 Dillard Dr. in Cary) received a score of 88.5% during an inspection on July 24.
The restaurant was in violation of 15 standards. Of these, six were considered “priority” violations.
Critical violations included having an ashtray at the food preparation sink and employees not washing their hands.
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
▪ No restaurants 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 60 restaurant inspections were completed July 12-25.
▪ Most restaurants received an A grade.
▪ Four restaurants received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.
Bojangles #8 (3558 Hillsborough Rd. in Durham) received a score of 87% during an inspection on July 13.
The restaurant was in violation of 14 standards. Of these, seven were considered critical violations.
Critical violations included employee “scratching hair and donning gloves without washing hands” and scratching body parts and returning to food preparation without washing hands after. Many foods were held at improper temperatures.
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
- The restaurant previously scored 98% in March 2023 and 98.5% in June 2022.
Brueggers Bagels (626 Ninth St. in Durham) received a score of 87% during an inspection on July 14.
The restaurant was in violation of 18 standards. Of these, eight were considered critical violations.
Critical violations included finding food debris on cleaned cutting boards and in stacked metal containers and dairy products were held at improper temperatures with no system in place for “recording the time the dairy product was removed from temperature control and when it was to be discarded.”
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
- The restaurant previously scored 97.5% in March 2023 and 96.5% in July 2022.
William’s Gourmet Kitchen (2114 East Highway 54 in Durham) received a score of 85% during an inspection on July 12.
The restaurant was in violation of 18 standards. Of these, eight were considered critical violations.
Critical violations included improper handwashing by food service employees, including observing three different employees handle phones and return to work without washing their hands, and dirty dishes were sanitized without first being washed.
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
- The restaurant previously scored 92% in March 2023 and 93.5% in November 2022.
Applebee’s #1089 (5340 McFarland Dr. in Durham) received a score of 86.5% during an inspection on July 24.
The restaurant was in violation of 19 standards. Of these, seven were considered critical violations.
Critical violations included an employee sweeping the floor then grabbing a bag of chicken without washing hands first and “numerous chemicals stores beside and above food and single service items.”
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
- The restaurant previously scored 96% in April 2023 and 95% in December 2022.
▪ One restaurant received a C grade, or a score of at least 70% but lower than 80%.
GG Taste of Chicago Fish and Chicken (826 Fayetteville St. #103 in Durham) received a score of 70.5% during an inspection on July 18.
The restaurant was in violation of a number of standards.
Critical violations included “live roaches crawling in the rusted hole in the floor,” no hot water at sinks and an employee taking trash to the dumpster and returning to continue cooking without first washing his hands.
Some violations were corrected during the inspection.
- The restaurant previously scored 78.5% in May 2023, 86.5% in January 2023 and 95% in April 2022.
▪ No restaurants received a failing grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Durham County at bit.ly/3pVQfpG.
Orange County sanitation scores
The Orange County inspection management system shows that six restaurant inspections were completed July 12-25.
▪ All restaurants received an A grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Orange County at bit.ly/3eQqpxc.
Johnston County sanitation scores
A Johnston County spokesperson provided the following information for restaurant inspections completed July 12-25.
▪ All 28 restaurants received an A grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Johnston County at johnston-nc.healthinspections.us.
Chatham County sanitation scores
The Chatham County inspections management system shows that that eight restaurant inspections were completed July 12-18.
▪ All restaurants received an A grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Chatham County at bit.ly/3JfiHwq.
This story was originally published July 25, 2023 at 12:30 PM.
