Restaurant inspections: 6 Coachella Valley spots fail over food temps, handwashing, more

Ema Sasic, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·9 min read

It was a tough week for some Coachella Valley restaurants as six failed their health inspections, according to reports conducted March 22 through 28.

Del Taco in Coachella, Trilogy at The Polo Club in Indio, Happy Sushi in Palm Springs, and Flor de Jalisco, Woodhaven Country Club and Sottovoce Cafe in Palm Desert all struggled with a number of violations, both major and minor, during their inspections this week. None of these locations were closed by health inspectors, but they will all have an opportunity to raise their scores during reinspections.

Major violations pose an imminent risk to public health and warrant the immediate closure of a food facility or immediate correction, while minor violations do not pose an imminent public health risk, but do warrant correction.

1 major violation, 24 points deducted

Flor de Jalisco, 42-215 Washington St., Suite G, Palm Desert

  • Major violation: Improper hot and cold food holding temperatures (raw beef measuring 46- 47 degrees; raw chicken measuring 48 degrees; raw pastor pork measuring 45 degree; pinto beans and rice measuring 49 degrees; black beans measuring 52 degrees; raw fish and shrimp measuring 46 degrees; half a gallon of milk measuring 48 degrees). Food items were stored in the back reach-in cooler for one to two days prior to inspection. Employee voluntarily discarded the items

  • Other violations include: Food handling employee did not wash hands at proper sink and did not wash hands before putting on gloves; no sanitizer present in the cook line area during active food preparation; air curtain turned off at the back delivery door; restroom and back delivery doors need to be repaired to be self closing; replace weather stripping at front door sweep and side patio door; side patio door propped open and fly light above drink prep materials; two hand towels stored inside employee's apron for hand wiping and employee did not know proper temperature of cooked chicken; multiple packages of raw meats sitting out at the back prep sink drain board and sink basin for thawing; multiple uncovered food item containers inside reach-in coolers around the facility; large metal bin of raw meat and multiple boxes of food items stored on the floor of the walk-in cooler; various equipment and utensils in need of repair and cleaning; eliminate gaps between hood filters; several wet, soiled towels on the back food prep counter; plumbing needs repairs; dumpsters need to be covered when not in use and several cardboard boxes stored on the ground at the dumpster area; personal beverages and other items stored around facility; floors, walls and ceiling in need of repair and cleaning

  • "C" card posted and a reinspection has been scheduled for April 10

1 major violation, 20 points deducted

Del Taco, 85-494 Vista Del Norte, Coachella

  • Major violation: All time discard labels were observed to have time from previous night. (When time is used as a public health control, food must be marked with the time to be discarded, not to exceed four hours after being removed from temperature control.)

  • Other violations include: Employee was observed putting on gloves to prepare food without washing hands first; observed mop water to be stored unattended in the back storage and in the front of the store; observed one employee working during inspection, without a person in charge of the facility; employee working without hair properly restrained; thawed chicken left out unattended at prep sink for three hours; open box of packaged sauces and containers of oil stored on the floor of the dry storage area; various equipment and utensils in need of cleaning; nonfunctional light at hood and missing shatter-proof light cover in the storage area; water leaking from sanitizer dispenser and three-compartment sink and water pooling underneath sink; both dumpsters with lids open; women's restroom missing soap and paper towels and both restrooms had dirty and stained sinks; floors, walls and ceilings in need of cleaning

  • "B" card posted and facility has one week to comply

1 major violation, 19 points deducted

Trilogy at The Polo Club, 51-750 Polo Club Drive, Indio

  • Major violation: Improper hot and cold food holding temperatures (breaded fish, popcorn chicken and green bean fries measuring 49 degree; mahi mahi measuring 51 degrees; meatballs measuring 131 degrees; cheese measuring 54-55 degrees; sliced tomatoes measuring 59 degrees). The breaded fish, popcorn chicken and green bean fries were discarded, while other foods were relocated for proper rapid cooling or heating measures

  • Other violations include: Observed no paper towels inside the paper towel dispenser by the three-compartment sink; bar's dishwasher did not dispense sanitizer; back delivery door has a small gap at the bottom; three large pieces of salmon thawing inside the three-compartment sink; a hose inside the three-compartment sink, a round metal bin sitting on top of pizza toppings on the flip top cooler and bags of bread sitting on the drain board of the three-compartment sink; unlabeled bulk containers in the dry storage; various equipment and utensils in need of repair, cleaning and proper storage; 1-inch air gap needed from end of all drain pipes to rim of floor sink under the ice storage at bar area and the dump sink next to bar dishwasher; floors, walls and ceiling in need of cleaning; one food handler card unapproved

  • "B" card posted and facility has one week to comply

1 major violation, 17 points deducted

Happy Sushi, 155 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite B7, Palm Springs

  • Major violation: Improper hot and cold food holding temperatures (jalapenos with imitation crab, boiled eggs and soft shell crab measuring 50-55 degrees for more than four hours; fish cakes measuring 46 degrees and garlic in oil measuring 68 degrees and held adjacent to the grill for approximately one hour; cooked tempura shrimp, cooked tempura soft shell crab and cooked chicken held at 97-127 degrees) | Certain items were discarded, while others were moved for refrigeration or reheating

  • Other violations include: Employee did not wash hands at proper sink; a bottle of sanitizer stored in the basin of the hand wash sink and paper towels missing from the hand wash sink in the kitchen; oyster tags missing (they were later found) and only two were available for review; chicken thawing on a rolling cart; handle portion of scoop stored in contact with food in the dry food bins, frozen raw fish stored on shelving above frozen edamame in freezer, raw beef stored among ready-to-eat foods in refrigerator, dishes stored inside the the prep sink; light in the rear storage area non-functioning and air gap missing from the pipes underneath the dish machine and the floor sink; various equipment and utensils in need of cleaning; hot water at the kitchen hand wash sink turned off, hot water at the mop sink non-functioning and water from the soda machine motor draining into a pan in the shelf storage area; floors, walls and ceiling in need of cleaning

  • "B" card posted. Due to a second downgrade within a two-year period, this facility is required to attend an administrative hearing prior to have a scored reinspection

0 major violations, 14 points deducted

Woodhaven Country Club, 41-555 Woodhaven Drive, Palm Desert

  • Violations include: Improper hot and cold food holding temperatures (tomatoes measuring 54 degrees; pico de gallo measuring 48 degrees; shrimp, beef patties, roast beef, ground beef, eggs, cooked chicken, cooked roast beef and other items measuring 55 degrees); no sanitizer present in the kitchen area during active food preparation; replace weather stripping at the door sweep at the back delivery door; instances of lack of food separation and possible contamination (raw foods (beef patties, shrimp, roast beef) stored over ready-to-eat foods in the reach-in cooler; water hose, connected to filter behind ice machine, used to fill up drinking water pitchers); boxes of food stored on the floor in the walk-in cooler and freezer; observed a "Coca Cola" beverage cooler being used to store potentially hazardous foods at the cook line; no test strips for dish washing unit were available at the time of inspection; personal drink on the counter at the cookline; floors, walls and ceilings in need of repair and cleaning; observed one food handler certificate to be expired, one to be unapproved by Riverside County and three to be missing

  • "B" card posted and facility has one week to comply

Sottovoce Cafe, 73-575 El Paseo Drive, Suite 1320, Palm Desert

  • Violations include: Food manager certificate missing; observed a sponge, sink strainer and drain rack inside the handwashing sink at the front counter, paper towels to be missing from various locations and soap missing from restroom handwashing sink; front door to be propped open at onset of inspection; employees were unable to demonstrate adequate knowledge in manual warewashing procedures and stand-in-place cleaning procedure; employees with their hair unrestrained; prepackaged pastries without labels available for sale; no sanitizer test strips available at time of inspection; paper cups and to-go boxes stored in a cabinet and on top of the cabinet inside the restroom; towels used for multiple uses without a sanitizer solution bucket; air gap missing from drain pipes and floor sink under the three-compartment sink; three missing food handler cards

  • "B" card posted and facility has one week to comply

Grade A restaurants

An “A” grade, or a score of 90 to 100 points, means a restaurant passed an inspection and met minimum health standards.

Cathedral City

  • Monster Shakes, 68-718 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 300

Desert Hot Springs

  • Mariscocos Culiacan, 16-760 Palm Drive (passed reinspection after previous failed inspection)

Indian Wells

  • Sands Hotel & Spa, 44-985 Province Way

Palm Desert

  • Frank's Hideout, 73-338 Highway 111

  • Denny's, 42-455 Washington St., Suite 401

  • Macy's Starbucks, 72-810 Highway 111

  • Perfect Pint, 42-575 Melanie Place, Suite F

Palm Springs

  • Ice Cream & Shoppe, 1551 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite A

  • Rio Azul Restaurant, 350 S. Indian Canyon Drive

  • The Tropicale, 330 E. Amado Road

  • Wilma & Frieda's, 155 S. Palm Canyon Drive

Rancho Mirage

  • Sunrise Country Club, 71-601 Country Club Drive

Note: No restaurant inspections were reported for the week of March 22 through 28 in La Quinta.

This weekly report was compiled using restaurant grading reports from the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health, accessible at restaurantgrading.rivcoeh.org/Default.aspx

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Six Palm Springs-area restaurants fail health inspections