How to tell if the restaurants you dine at are clean
In school, a “C” is a passing grade but not when it comes to county restaurant inspections. An “A” is the only passing grade, and every restaurant is required to post the grade from its most recent review publicly and openly.
The Riverside County Department of Environment Health is responsible for inspecting and issuing those grades. CBS Local 2’s Kelley Moody spoke with Dottie Merki, the public information officer with this department, to learn how inspections are conducted.
“We have enforcement over anything that sells food at a retail level. That’s everything from a coffee cart to a hot dog cart to a restaurant [or] a grocery store.”
When meeting with Merki, she explained that while the goal is to have all food preparing restaurants inspected up to three times a year, that doesn’t always happen. She says complaints from the public are always looked into and all establishments are inspected at least once, but sometimes staffing doesn’t allow for more than one check in a year since inspectors are also responsible for reviewing a long list of additional pubic facilities throughout the county, outside restaurants.
All inspection reports are uploaded online, and when looking at Coachella Valley restaurants, it would appear most, if not all, receive passing “A” grades, but that’s not the case.
“If you look at the current inspection grades on our website, and you look only for the restaurants that got an A, B or C, it will be a very short list because it is probably something that was just inspected within the last few days and [the restaurant has not] had a chance to correct their violations and get their ‘A’ back. We do have a downgrade list where people can go to check and see all of the facilities that have been downgraded in the county,” said Merki.
That’s in a separate area of the website.
The county holds administrative hearings with restaurants and facilities having ongoing issues. If things get too bad, they can take legal action and issue fines.
After reviewing some of the reports, Kelley Moody rode along with environmental health specialist Brian Martinez to Palm Desert’s Hibachi City Buffet to see how an actual inspection is conducted. Hibachi City Buffet has an unsavory record. They’ve been on probation after a series of B and C grades and were even closed down after one inspection.
During the inspection Martinez noted a number of small infractions. Here were a few that stuck out:
A loose faucet on a hand-washing sink Sponges at a hand-washing sink that should not be there Unattended frozen fish thawing improperly in a sink; Martinez immediately had the owner fix this issue Unlabled containers in the dry storage area, a danger for someone with allergies Tools and chemicals stored in the dry storage area and under part of the buffet; Martinez had the owner move these during the inspection Some broken floor tiles around the kitchen Damage and grease build up on the walk-in refrigerator door Improper food storage of lettuce, shrimp, crab legs and chicken; Martinez immediately had the owner make changes Peeled caulking in multiple areas around the kitchen, something Martinez said was hazardous since it could fall in food Mold spores in one of the ice machine
Despite these and other small violations pointed out by Martinez, Hibachi City Buffet came out on top with a score of 93, a low A.
If you’re interested in seeing what some of your favorite restaurants have received infractions for during their inspections, you can check online, ask the owner of the establishment to see the last report, or scan the QR Code on the displayed grade card to get connected with the county.
