How do some restaurants get away with it? (restaurant, grill, health)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so if the moderators want to move it go ahead.
My question is how do some restaurants manage to stay open despite having a disgusting cooking/ prep area? I used to work in a local chain restaurant when I was in high school. We did our best to keep every thing clean, and despite our best efforts the health inspector would still find something. Now recently I went to a little ma and pa type gyro place with the grill in the eating area, and just a quick glance I saw grease everywhere, I don't think any thing had been cleaned in years, trash everywhere. The storage area, leading to the bathroom, was covered in grease and grime...well you get the idea. I just wonder how these guys are passing any kind of health inspections?
I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so if the moderators want to move it go ahead.
My question is how do some restaurants manage to stay open despite having a disgusting cooking/ prep area? I used to work in a local chain restaurant when I was in high school. We did our best to keep every thing clean, and despite our best efforts the health inspector would still find something. Now recently I went to a little ma and pa type gyro place with the grill in the eating area, and just a quick glance I saw grease everywhere, I don't think any thing had been cleaned in years, trash everywhere. The storage area, leading to the bathroom, was covered in grease and grime...well you get the idea. I just wonder how these guys are passing any kind of health inspections?
u r getting to know the world as it really is. somebody is looking the other way. the dont look dont tell is up for sale.
You can go to any restaurant of any level and the prep/cook areas will appear nasty, I would worry more about a place that looked showroom clean and neat.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,047,252 times
Reputation: 28903
Have you ever watched the show Restaurant: Impossible on the Food Network? Robert Irvine goes in, discovers all that's wrong in the kitchen, on the menu, with the service, with the cooking, with the decor, etc... and, with $10K, fixes everything.
The part where he, inevitably, shows them how filthy the kitchen is and they clean up makes me so sick. It's just vile. It makes you wish that he'd fix EVERY restaurant but it also makes you realize that it's just a matter of time before it goes back to filthy.
I will say that some of the very best food that I've ever eaten in my life came out of places that anyone who wants everything to look bright and clean rather than dingy wouldn't even enter.
even if you weren't inspected, and the cooking/ prep area was right next to the eating are wouldn't you want it to make it at least halfway decent looking.
I think the funniest thing is that my brother in law, who is pretty squeamish, would eat there three times a day if he could
Some Health Departments just don't inspect very often. When they do, those nasty places might be given a bad mark, the owners clean them up, they pass the second inspection and start bulding up the new mess again.
This will happen over and over again. Some times a place will be so bad, that it's closed. But, chances are that it will open again, same place, same people, same menu, but a different name.
Local Government is in charge of Health Inspections. It is against the law to run a food business without something called a Food Business Notification which the owner is required to log with the govt. There is a fine if you fail to lodge an FBN but the fine is around $100 and often waived so obviously you get A LOT of owners who don't bother to lodge an FBN, especially if they are also not interested in paying taxes and being liable for potential food poisoning cases. This means that the only way govt knows that a food business exists, is if someone complains (eg gets food poisoning).
So the worst happens, someone gets sick, govt realises there's a restaurant trading so ambles on out to inspect it. Inspectors here have to have a degree in food science so bear in mind they are university graduates NOT law enforcements. They go and assess, measure food hygiene standards, give the owner a list of improvements to make, then leave. The owner keeps trading. The health inspector may or may not return within a 2 week time frame to check the improvements have been made. If they have, case closed. If they haven't, they get another chance...the inspector comes back, checks again...and so on and so on.
It's a joke.
Inspectors I have worked with are usually faced with non-English speaking owners who claim to not speak english, be unaware of the legal requirements etc. Often the same cultural group will share businesses, which basically means the inspector is never really sure who owns the business, indeed which one of the faces is actually the one on the paperwork. Not that there is much paperwork...
One (young female) inspector was attacked by an owner who held a knife to her throat. Others have found owners literally slaughtering chickens in the kitchen, with accompanying squawks and feathers. The local McDonalds had NEVER BEEN INSPECTED because they had never had a poisoning complaint for 20 years...
Basically it's "buyer beware" when eating out. And btw, I would never eat from a dirty kitchen. If they can't clean their walls or floors they aren't washing their hands either and that's where 80% of contaminations come from.
I have a lovely bakery down the road from me where I will eat hot products, they have sandwiches too and I stood there and watched the girl making them go and make change for a customer and go straight back to prep. This is a massive no-no, NO ONE who is handling food should also handle money, you can actually contract hepatitis this way. This business should KNOW this law but they obviously do not...I know the owner and he would never willingly poison anyone...he's just undereducated in food safety, and when they inspect his premises are spotless so a problem is never highlighted.
This is what I wonder when I watch shows like Restaurant Impossible or the other one, aren't there Health Inspectors??
Here in Savannah, the restaurants are checked frequently, I think twice a year, and the scores are published in the paper.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
