I just moved back to a place where i lived a few years ago. While away I had dreams about this pizza place. Best pie I have ever had. Yes I have eaten pie at several places in NYC and Chicago. So of course I want to spread my love for this place to others. I invite friends to come over and eat, they suggest we go eat in. So we walk in to the place where I had only previously gotten delivery or had someone else carry it out, and right there behind the register is the sanitation score. I worked in a deli during college and I remember the owner telling me once that anything under about 98% means either you had a very surprise inspection on your worst day, or you just operate a very dirty nasty establishment. He said anything under 93 or 94 and he wouldn’t eat there. So back to my favorite place… the score is 88.5% I say again, 88.5% My jaw nearly dropped as I handed my credit card over. I didn’t enjoy the pie nearly as much as before and don’t know if my love for it will ever come back.
What score is your bottom line? How many of you totally ignore this and just eat? Any food service people or health department peeps want to sooth my worried mind?
I am sure the low score is Bush’s fault on some level for you libs…
Is it a mom and pop operation? Those small restaurants, in older premises with older equipment, have a tougher time getting higher scores.
Does Bush like pizza?
I have eaten some highly repugnent foods in some very dirty places; I would have absolutely no trouble eating food from a restaurant that scored 88 in the U. S.
I spent 15 days in Rwanda. Most of the food was very good. I’m sure they wouldn’t stand up to the good scoring that is in the US. I managed just fine while we were there. Never got sick and even managed to lose 8 pounds.
p.s. something in me tells me not to worry about scores that are in restaurants as long as it’s cooked food. Seeing that all bacteria dies once it hits boiling temperature, as long as you’re not eating sushi type food, I’d bet you’ll be okay.
Don’t worry, the pizza oven is hot enough to kill anything nasty. Just don’t order a salad.
The reports I’ve seen generally have an explanation for violations. Storing meat at an improper temperature, and I’m not going to eat there.
But there are a ton of small issues that can add up, and if it’s issues like storing their lysol in a shelf above the cans of tomatoes, problems with the fire exit door signage, having the right number and types of sinks, having a dirty floor, then I’d enjoy the pizza.
unless you have personally worked in food service (not mcndonalds or taco bell, more cheap sit-down mom & pop places, or chains like pizza hut and denny’s), you have no idea of the nasty and totally illegal horrors that take place behind the scenes.
trust me, if you knew what really happened, you would rather starve than patronize them.
a score of 88.5 ? you better run out that door, and fast …
I did work at a deli for a few years, and as a waiter for a few. I don’t recall the restaurants having any issues, but the deli guy was fairly obsessed about cleanliness and they consistently scored 100.
trust me, if you knew what really happened, you would rather starve than patronize them.
Don’t be such a wuss. People eats bugs (or worse) in parts of the world. I had a roommate in college who would not eat peanut butter because of the xxx/billion allowance of rat hair. Toughen up. And yes, I’ve worked in a few restaurants in my time.
well, i think your deli guy may have been the exception to the rule. nearly all my restaurant experience (at a number of different establishments) showed me some pretty amazing and highly illegal food service practices.
Don’t be such a wuss. People eats bugs (or worse) in parts of the world. I had a roommate in college who would not eat peanut butter because of the xxx/billion allowance of rat hair. Toughen up.
well, i appreciate your highly intelligent advice. of course, usually the folks that tell others to toughen up need to look in the mirror. i’d love to know what *you *do for a living, perhaps walk down the street and fish half eaten sandwhiches out of dumpsters? in any case, my thoughts on this topic are not what kind bizzarre crap i can force into my stomach to prove my toughness to others. the question really is: do some people give a shit about following reasonable and well-intentioned rules about sanitation? my obeservation is that very few do. end of story.
Good grief. Did someone kill your dog and turn it into a deli sandwich or something?
Lighten up.
**i’d love to know what you do for a living, perhaps walk down the street and fish half eaten sandwhiches out of dumpsters?
Yes, I’m a professional dumpster diver. But I won’t eat any sandwiches with sprouts, that’s where I draw the line. That crap’s just nasty.
usually the folks that tell others to toughen up need to look in the mirror.
I look in the mirror every morning, this kind of fabulous doesn’t just happen.
My foodservice days are long over, but I paid my dues. I am well aware of what goes on in kitchens.
Do you eat anything from aid stations?
bums fish half eaten sammages out of the garbage and they just…wont…die.
OK, I may be way off base on this but I believe these scores (and the systems that produce them )vary widely by state to state, city to city, etc. I believe they are rated by departments within local (not even state) governments. So asking someone on a national (even international) message board is not really gonna give you the comparison you are seeking.
I worked at a pizza hut for a few weeks back in 91.
sometimes, when things got backed up, we’d just take the dirty pizza pans and put them in the ‘clean’ pile.
(you could always tell which pans had had the meat lover’s pizza. yechh.)
but i’ve eaten at pizza huts since then. not my favorite, but edible. I’ll echo the ‘stay away from the salads’ of an earlier poster, though.
I am sure the low score is Bush’s fault on some level for you libs…
well, i don’t blame Bush at all for your pizza place. my understanding is that most of that enforcement is based in local politics, not national. (although even with no enforcement at all, it would behoove a good restaurateur to keep the place clean and sanitary).
as for the food that gets to your pizza place, though - you should take a look at Molly Ivin’s essay “Ready to Eat?” in Bushwhacked. It contains one of my favorite quotes, from Carol Foreman of the Food Policy Institute. It was about how they were speeding up production at food processing plants, and couldn’t get as much fecal matter off of the meet, so they irradiated the meat to kill the bacteria. Foreman’s quote was “You can kill the bacteria by irradiating the fecal matter on the meat. But irradiated feces is still-still… well, it’s still…”
Don’t worry, the pizza oven is hot enough to kill anything nasty. Just don’t order a salad.
TRUE. Plus, how many times in your life have you eaten there? Ever gotten sick? Ever hear of anyone else getting sick? If not, what’s the worry?
BTW - what is the name of the place? where is it?
vitus telling me to lighten up ?
ha ha ha ha ha ha, that’s a good one !
kettle, meet pot …
I have eaten some highly repugnent foods in some very dirty places; I would have absolutely no trouble eating food from a restaurant that scored 88 in the U. S.
I Hear that!!!
TDZ - TEMPERATURE DANGER ZONE 41*- 140* Bacteria forms, lives, and multiplies between these temps. so if your local salad bar keeps its “stuff” below 40* you’ll be safe from Bacteria. No worries. So go ahead and next time take your Carbon Fiber thermometers out and go at it.
As far as scores go, you loose points and are fined if you leave the scoop in the ice bin. yep. If you have a major violation ( Rats inside the coolers ect…) you will be shut down immediately. So if they are still open go for it. The best way to get an idea of the general upkeep of the restaurant in question is go look at the back door area and dumpster area. Dirty filthy and disgusting, chances are the kitchen isn’t much better. But if it is swept, free of old food “scraps”, and organized, go inside and have a bite. Our restaurant has an open kitchen. You can sit literally on the other side of the work space, feel the heat from the grill, And hear some interesting stories too.
Then again, What you don’t know, can’t hurt you. Ignorance is bliss.
