8 Leon County restaurants get perfect scores; 12 fail inspection

Staff reports
·7 min read

You can use the database to search by county or by restaurant name.

Florida's restaurant owners are not required to post restaurant inspection results where guests can see them. So every week, we provide that information for you.

For a complete list of local restaurant inspections, including violations not requiring warnings or administrative action, visit our Leon County restaurant inspections site.

Here's the breakdown for recent health inspections in Leon County, Florida, for the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2023. Please note that some more recent, follow-up inspections may not be included here.

Disclaimer: The Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation describes an inspection report as a 'snapshot' of conditions present at the time of the inspection. On any given day, an establishment may have fewer or more violations than noted in their most recent inspection. An inspection conducted on any given day may not be representative of the overall, long-term conditions at the establishment.

For full restaurant inspection details, visit our Leon County restaurant inspection site.

Which Leon County restaurants got perfect scores on their health inspections?

These restaurants met all standards during their Nov. 27-Dec. 3 inspections and no violations were found.

** Restaurants that failed an inspection and aced a follow-up inspection in the same week

Which Leon County restaurants had high priority violations?

Aaru's

1108 South Magnolia Dr, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Nov. 27

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

26 total violations, with 2 high-priority violations

  • High Priority - Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed tandoori chicken 45F stored overnight per manager and garlic in oil 50F per manager stored overnight. Manager disposed of chicken. **Corrective Action Taken**

  • High Priority - Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed tandoori chicken 45F stored overnight per manager and garlic in oil 50F per manager stored overnight.

Casa Bella

2850 Apalachee Pkwy, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Nov. 29

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

9 total violations, with 1 high-priority violation

  • High Priority - Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed milk 50F front line. Employee stated milk was put out 20 minutes ago, employee disposed of milk and replaced with cartons of milk. **Corrective Action Taken**

Doubletree Tallahassee

101 S Adams St, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Nov. 28

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

6 total violations, with 1 high-priority violation

  • High Priority - Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food marked with a date that exceeds 7 days after opening/preparation. Observed sliced chicken marked 11/9/23 in expo cooler across from prep sink. Alls observed pasta marked 11/3/23 in same expo cooler, Head chef disposed of chicken and pasta. **Corrective Action Taken**

Midtown Noodles Bar

1660-6 N Monroe St, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Nov. 29

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

8 total violations, with 3 high-priority violations

  • High Priority - Dishmachine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength. Discontinue use of dishmachine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dishmachine is repaired and sanitizing properly. Observed dish machine chlorine 0ppm. Employee primed machine with no result and set up the three compartment sink. Per employee maintenance was called to repair dish machine. **Warning**

  • High Priority - Raw animal food stored over or with ready-to-eat food in a freezer - not all products commercially packaged. Observed raw chicken stored above pork broth and shelled eggs stored above bamboo shoots. Employee properly stored chicken and eggs during inspection. Provided operator with Safe Refrigerator Storage Poster. **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation**

  • High Priority - Time/temperature control for safety food prepared from/mixed with ingredient(s) at ambient temperature not cooled to 41 degrees Fahrenheit within 4 hours. Observed marinated eggs 48F at 2:00, ambient cooling since 12:00, down to 45F at 3:30 improper cooling. Employee moved marinated eggs to walk in cooler.

Subway

2540 N Monroe St, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Nov. 29

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

4 total violations, with 2 high-priority violations

  • High Priority - Food preparation sink has soil/old food residue. Observed soiled preparation sink at dish area.

  • High Priority - Operating with an expired Division of Hotels and Restaurants license. Observed license expired 06-01-23. **Admin Complaint**

Vale Food Co

815 W Madison St Ste 106, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Nov. 27

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

7 total violations, with 1 high-priority violation

  • High Priority - Single-use gloves not changed as needed after changing tasks. Observed employee begin to serve food without putting on gloves.

Woodchucks Cafe

2520 A West Tharpe St, Tallahassee

Routine Inspection on Dec. 1

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

4 total violations, with 3 high-priority violations

  • High Priority - Dishmachine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength. Discontinue use of dishmachine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dish-machine is repaired and sanitizing properly. Observed dish machine chlorine 0ppm. Per manager maintenance will be scheduled for dish-machine repair. **Warning**

  • High Priority - Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. Observed raw chicken stored above raw sausage in the reach in cooler between kitchen area and dish machine. Manager moved chicken on bottom shelf. **Corrected On-Site**

  • High Priority - Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed sliced American cheese 51F and sliced provolone 45F in make table at 10:00. Per manager out since 8:00. Manager placed lids on food items to bring to proper temperature. New temperature at 11:30: sliced American cheese 43F and sliced provolone 43F. **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation**

What agency inspects restaurants in Florida?

Routine regulation and inspection of restaurants is conducted by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The Department of Health is responsible for investigation and control of food-borne illness outbreaks associated with all food establishments.

How do I report a dirty restaurant in Florida?

If you see abuses of state standards, report them and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation will send inspectors. Call the Florida DBPR at 850-487-1395 or report a restaurant for health violations online.

Get the whole story at our restaurant inspection database.

What does all that terminology in Florida restaurant inspections mean?

Basic violations are those considered against best practices.

A warning is issued after an inspector documents violations that must be corrected by a certain date or within a specified number of days from receipt of the inspection report.

An administrative complaint is a form of legal action taken by the division. Insufficient compliance after a warning, a pattern of repeat violations or existence of serious conditions that warrant immediate action may result in the division initiating an administrative complaint against the establishment. Says the division website: "Correcting the violations is important, but penalties may still result from violations corrected after the warning time was over."

An emergency order — when a restaurant is closed by the inspector — is based on an immediate threat to the public. Here, the Division of Hotels and Restaurants director has determined that the establishment must stop doing business and any division license is suspended to protect health, safety or welfare of the public.

A 24-hour call-back inspection will be performed after an emergency closure or suspension of license.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee area restaurant and food truck inspections Nov. 27-Dec. 3