Slimy lettuce, ‘thick black residue’ in Triangle sandwich shop: Sanitation scores (Jan. 30)

Kimberly Cataudella Tutuska
·3 min read

The News & Observer publishes a weekly roundup of restaurant sanitation scores to keep you up-to-date on the health grades at Triangle dining spots.

Sanitation scores and their corresponding letter grades are used in North Carolina to assess restaurants’ adherence to rules and standards intended to mitigate and prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses.

You’ve likely seen sanitation grade cards at restaurants you’ve visited, and The N&O previously explained what those scores mean and how they’re calculated.

Here are sanitation scores in Triangle counties for the week of Jan. 24-30.

Wake County sanitation scores

The Wake County sanitation grades database shows that at least 100 restaurant inspections were completed Jan. 24-30.

▪ Most restaurants received an A grade, or a score of at least 90%.

▪ Two restaurants received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

Mami Nora’s Latin Style Rotisserie Chicken (2401 Wake Forest Rd. in Raleigh) received a score of 85.5% during an inspection on Jan. 26.

  • The restaurant was in violation of 19 standards. Of these, eight were considered critical violations.

  • Serious violations included an employee coming back from lunch to begin work without first washing their hands, and the same employee later handled dirty dishes and clean dishes without washing hands between. The inspector also observed grease accumulation along ceiling vents and “dripping down onto the floor in some areas.”

  • Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

  • The restaurant previously scored 93% in June 2023 and 92.5% in November 2022.

Which Wich of Park West (3301 Village Market Pl. in Morrisville) received a score of 88% during an inspection on Jan. 25.

  • The restaurant was in violation of seven standards. Of these, 14 were considered critical violations.

  • Critical violations included finding a bag of lettuce in the prep cooler that “had turned red and had a slimy texture” and finding many areas of the kitchen (including the prep cooler’s shelves, handles of the reach-in coolers, the bread toaster and the microwave) soiled with “food debris and thick black black residues.”

  • Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

  • The restaurant previously scored 92.5% in August 2023 and 92.5% in December 2022.

▪ No restaurants received a C grade, or a score of at least 70% but less than 80%.

▪ No restaurants received a failing grade, or a score below 70%.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Wake County at wake-nc.healthinspections.us.

Durham County sanitation scores

The Durham County inspection management system shows six restaurant inspections were completed Jan. 24-30

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Durham County at bit.ly/3pVQfpG.

Orange County sanitation scores

The Orange County inspection management system shows that six restaurant inspections were completed Jan. 24-30.

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Orange County at bit.ly/3eQqpxc.

Johnston County sanitation scores

The Johnston County sanitation inspections database shows that eight restaurant inspections were completed Jan. 24-30.

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Johnston County at johnston-nc.healthinspections.us.

Chatham County sanitation scores

The Chatham County inspections management system shows that that five restaurant inspections were completed Jan. 24-30.

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Chatham County at bit.ly/3JfiHwq.

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