We’ve noticed a number of Greenwood/Phinney restaurants with pretty poor health inspections lately, so we decided to find out a little more about how restaurants are rated during inspections.
According to Public Health – Seattle & King County, most restaurants, coffee shops, delis, etc., have two unannounced inspections every year. Inspectors tally up violation points on a Food Establishment Inspection Report. Red Critical violations represent the highest risk of food borne disease, such as adequate hand washing facilities, raw meats kept away from ready-to-eat foods, and proper heating and cooling temperatures. Blue violations relate to the maintenance and cleanliness of the establishment and don’t net as many points.
Any Red Critical violations are handled on the spot, with the inspector teaching the restaurant’s manager the proper procedures. Here are three recent bad inspections from the neighborhood:
Red Mill got tagged with 65 points of Red Critical violations on March 26, including hands not washed as required, improper methods used to prevent bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, and improper cooking and temperature of potentially hazardous foods.
Pete’s Egg Nest received 65 points of Red Critical violations on April 21, including hands not washed as required, improper cold holding temperatures, and improper handling of pooled eggs.
El Chupacabra got hit with a combined 53 points from Red Critical and Blue Critical violations on April 21, including hands not washed as required, and garbage not properly disposed.
An inspection with 45 Red Critical points requires a re-inspection within 14 days; 90 RC points would shut the place down. A combination of 120 Red and Blue Critical points also would require a shutdown.
You can check any restaurant or coffee shop’s inspection history online through Public Health’s Food Inspection Program. It takes a few weeks for them to put inspection and reinspections online, so there wasn’t an update to any of these inspections yet.
15 responses so far ↓
1 daniel // May 4, 2009 at 3:02 pm
hahahahahahaha
I wonder how many points I would get if they came into my kitchen at home. I’m sure I’d get shut down real quick!
2 Monkey Nuts // May 4, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Wow, Red Mill. A bunch of teenagers serving up yummy, cheap, greasy food in a confined space.
Why did I not imagine their kitchen was clean like an operating room at Swedish?
3 daniel // May 4, 2009 at 4:29 pm
heh – I wonder how many food violations wuld be found at an operating room at Swedish…
4 Greenwood_D // May 4, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I guess I’m kind of surprised at Red Mill with it being so “high profile” and such….
They should have been expecting a health dept. visit.
5 kim // May 4, 2009 at 4:53 pm
i routinely check out eating establishments before i try them out. check out most of the international district. that will make you think twice!
6 Travis // May 4, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Slight typo (or mistake) on the # of Red points that require the re-inspection in 14 days — it shoud be 45 (not 35):
* 45 or more red critical violation points require a re-inspection within 14 days.
* 90 or more red critical violation points require the establishment be closed.
* 120 or more total (red & blue) points also requires the establishment be closed.
7 Arizona lipo // May 5, 2009 at 2:25 am
hi all,
You all believe that they inspection done 2 times during the year because i don’t think government officers are so conscious in doing there work.
suppose by mistake if go for inspection whichever hotel pays him more they will give more points…
8 etta // May 5, 2009 at 8:13 am
That is an eye-opener! And Baranof got a clean slate!
9 Trix // May 5, 2009 at 9:03 am
Baranof got a clean slate because it’s relatively clean. Go ahead, get the laughter out of the way.
But I eat there all the time. Whatever you think of the back bar, the kitchen is well run.
10 mike // May 5, 2009 at 10:25 am
The food at the Baranof is really tasty! The service in the front is a little lacking but the food is good.
11 greenie // May 5, 2009 at 11:04 am
Arizona Lipo wins the award for the most random comment EVER haha
12 Doree // May 5, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Travis – Thanks for catching the typo. I fixed it.
13 Trix // May 5, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Well, Mike, the waitress has been there since the dawn of time. No reason to rush a meal, anyway.
14 Greenwood_D // May 6, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Trix is right.
The food at Baranoff is surprisingly pretty good for a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The restaurant and back of the house always seem pretty clean.
Remember: old doesn’t necessarily mean unclean.
15 Anson Klock // May 9, 2009 at 9:14 pm
happy to send you all to the report for Picnic with our perfect score. Proper sanitation is critical to providing good food to folks and not making them sick. basic stuff. cheers! -anson http://www.decadeonline.com/insp.phtml?agency=skc&forceresults=1&record_id=PR0077523
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