Trapped rodent, undercooked chicken: Worst January Triangle restaurant inspections
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Inspectors flagged two Triangle restaurants in January with health scores in the low 80s.
- Sushi Thai scored 83.5% for violations including partial cooking and temperature issues.
- Jamaica Jamaica scored 84.5% after rodent evidence, and hot-water temperature failures.
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, and here, we’ve rounded up the lowest restaurant ratings for the month of January 2026 — including if the restaurants have since been reinspected.
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.
No restaurants in the Triangle earned a “C” grade last month (a score under 80%), but some did earn low “B” grades (a score between 80 and 85%). Here’s a roundup of the restaurants that received some of the lowest ratings in January.
Sushi Thai Restaurant (2434 Wycliff Rd, Raleigh)
Sushi Thai Restaurant (2434 Wycliff Rd, Raleigh) received a score of 83.5% on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
- The restaurant was in violation of 19 standards.
- Violations included finding that the facility is “partially cooking chicken” without an approved procedure, fish at too-warm temperatures on ice baths, kimchi in the reach-in cooler from Jan. 13 and raw fish stored over fully cooked sushi rolls.
- The restaurant previously scored 97% in March 2025 and 92% in January 2025.
- Note: Google and the restaurant’s social media pages call this location Sushi-Thai Raleigh.
- The restaurant has not yet been reinspected, as of Monday, Feb. 2 records.
Jamaica Jamaica (4853 NC 55 HWY, Durham)
Jamaica Jamaica received a score of 84.5% on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
- The restaurant was in violation of 14 standards.
- Violations included finding “a rodent on the trap in the storage area,” as well as several foods holding above 41 degrees in the tall reach-in cooler, no hot water at the prep sink due to a leak, and several foods cooling from the previous night were placed in the walk-in cooler, which was not maintaining proper temperature.
- The restaurant previously scored 87.5% in September and 90% in May.
- The restaurant has not yet been reinspected, as of Monday, Feb. 2 records.
