NYC restaurants are inspected by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the records are made public on their website. Like the dorks that we are, we sat in front of the computer last night (joined by our friends Angie and Scott) and spent at least 45 minutes looking up the restaurants that we frequent.
The inspections work on a point system and the less points the better, 27 or under being passing (with some fines of course), 28 and above equals a fail and the restaurant must be re-inspected after being given some time to correct the problems. It takes some serious points to get closed down by the DOHMH, like Veniero’s did recently (with 73 violation points), and almost gaurantees I will never eat there again. (I really didn’t like Veniero’s much anyway.)
However, don’t get scared by a few points. Almost all restaurants have some. The inspectors search pretty hard for at least a few and some rules are such bull anyway and some have nothing to do with the cleanliness of your food. All those restaurants in Chinatown that hang meats in the windows are violating rules by not storing the meats in correct temperatures, all sushi chefs working on sushi with bare hands are in violation as well. Any guy you see at a deli or pizzeria making food without a hat on is at risk of being caught. Those things don’t stop me from eating in Chinatown, enjoying sushi, or pigging out on pizza. So, when you look up your favorite places, you might see things like “Choking first aid” poster not posted or “wash hands” sign not posted, which would never stop me from visiting a restaurant but the violations related to mice or roaches definitely scare me. Keep in mind, the average is 15 points and it definitely makes a difference, what the points are from.
Some notables….
27 Violations and up is pretty bad in my book but again, check what they are for. It annoys me even more when it’s the expensive restaurants cause they’re charging so much, you’d think they could keep clean.
- Chickpea – 27 Violation Points
- Nobu – 27 Violation Points including “Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
- Oyster bar (Grand Central) – 38 Violation Points including “Food item spoiled, adulterated, contaminated or cross-contaminated.”
- Sushi of Gari – 27 Violation Points
- Two Boots (avenue A location) – 45 Violation Points including “Evidence of roaches or live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.”
- Zerza - 40 Violation Points including “Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. (Crap! We just went there. See, I should have checked first.)
Gold stars go to the places with 8 or less, especially if they are dumb, non-food related violations:
- Beyoglu – 6 Violation Points
- Gramercy Tavern – 6 Violation Points
- Grimaldi’s – 8 Violation Points
- Perilla – 6 Violation Points
- Sripraphai – 5 Violation Points
- Wildwood – 0 Violation Points
I don’t think in every case it takes a lot to get shut down. Magnolia Bakery was shut down for having “Plumbing not properly installed or maintained”. A co-worker’s sister worked there when they got shut down for this and she said they had a sink there but they were supposed to have another one for another area. They had just been using that one sink, so they just re-arranged the place to re-open.
According to the past records, that time Magnolia was shut down, they had several other violations including “Evidence of mice….”
Some of these are just disturbing, especially Nobu and Oyster Bar. But thumbs up for Grimaldi’s, they are awesome!
Abbie, have you heard? Grimaldi’s has lost their lease in Brooklyn. I haven’t heard anything about relocation yet. =(