Roaches & mouse droppings: This week’s Triangle sanitation scores (Sept. 27)

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, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties for the week of Sept. 20-27.

Wake County sanitation scores

The Wake County sanitation grades database shows 100 inspections that were completed between Sept. 20-27.

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

One restaurant received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

Jimmy V’s Osteria & Bar (420 Fayetteville St., Raleigh) received a score of 85% during an inspection on Sept. 21.

  • The restaurant was in violation of 21 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to two points.

  • Violations included the handwashing sink in the dish area having no soap or paper towels, raw chicken being stored above ready-to-eat foods in the walk-in cooler, the ice chute on the drink machine having pink and black residue and several foods being held at incorrect temperatures.

  • Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

  • The restaurant previously scored a 93% in May, a 91.5% in November 2021 and an 87% in September 2021.

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 by using the county’s inspection grades database at wake-nc.healthinspections.us.

Durham County sanitation scores

The Durham County inspection management system shows that 38 restaurant inspections were completed between Sept. 20-27.

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

One restaurant received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

Church’s Chicken (942 N. Miami Blvd., Durham) received a score of 86% during an inspection on Sept. 26.

  • The restaurant was in violation of 17 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to 1.5 points.

  • Violations included raw chicken being stored uncovered in the walk-in cooler, all of the restaurant’s cooking equipment needed “excess cleaning,” several foods being held at incorrect temperatures and three live roaches and live flies being present in the facility.

  • Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

  • The restaurant previously scored a 97% in June, a 93.5% in September 2021 and an 85% in August 2021.

One restaurant in Durham County received a C grade, or a score of at least 70% but less than 80%.

Taqueria Don Fily (2003 Holloway St., Durham) received a score of 73.5% during an inspection on Sept. 21.

  • The restaurant was in violation of 23 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to three points.

  • Violations included one of the kitchen’s handwashing sinks being “completely filled with wet towels and dirty aprons,” raw eggs being stored above ready-to-eat foods in the walk-in cooler, several foods being held at incorrect temperatures, several foods lacking date markings and “many” live roaches crawling around in both of the facility’s bathrooms.

  • Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

  • The restaurant previously scored an 82.5% in May, an 88% in December 2021 and a 91% in May 2021.

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

You can search all restaurant inspections in Durham County using the county’s inspections database at bit.ly/3pVQfpG.

Orange County sanitation scores

The Orange County inspection management system shows that 23 restaurants were inspected between Sept. 20-27.

All 23 restaurants received an A grade, or a score of at least 90%.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Orange County using the county’s inspections database at bit.ly/3eQqpxc.

Johnston County sanitation scores

The Johnston County sanitation inspections database shows that 27 restaurants were inspected between Sept. 20-27.

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

One restaurant received a a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

Micro Minimart (102 U.S. Hwy 301 S, Micro) received a score of 85% during an inspection on Sept. 26.

  • The restaurant was in violation of 13 state standards, with point deductions ranging from zero to three points.

  • Violations included chicken wings and fried chicken being held at too low of a temperature, several foods being stored without date markings, water at the utensil sink not being hot enough and live and dead roaches, plus mouse droppings, being found around the facility.

  • Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

  • The restaurant previously scored a 91.5% in April, an 88.5% in January and an 87% in October 2021.

No restaurants in Johnston 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 Johnston County using the county’s inspections database at johnston-nc.healthinspections.us.

You’ve seen sanitation scores displayed at NC restaurants. What do they mean?

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