Restaurant Inspections: Springfield Restaurant Gets 8 Critical Violations

The state health department recently inspected a few restaurants in the Kingstowne area. For prior restaurant inspection reports, click here.

In Virginia, restaurant inspection reports aren't quite as simple as getting a letter grade or an easy-to-see number rating to post in the front window.

That said, we all want to know how our favorite restaurants stack up on cleanliness and sanitation. Inspectors grade restaurants based on critical and non-critical violations.

A "critical violation" is one that "poses a direct or immediate threat to the safety of the food being served." Non-critical violations are generally related to cleaning or maintenance.

"Ideally, an operation would have no critical violations, or none which are not corrected immediately and not repeated. In our experience, it is unrealistic to expect that a complex, full-service food operation can routinely avoid any violations," according to Virginia Department of Health's website.

The site continues: "Keep in mind that any inspection report is a 'snapshot' of the day and time of the inspection. On any given day, a restaurant could have fewer or more violations than noted in the report. An inspection conducted on any given day may not be representative of the overall, long-term cleanliness of an establishment."

Below, find the latest restaurant inspection from the Virginia Department of Health. These inspections reflect visits from inspectors during the last few weeks. Some of the violations were corrected immediately during the recent inspections.

The full reports can be accessed on the health department's website.

Momo's Nepalese Food, 6304 Springfield Plaza, Date of inspection: Aug. 9
Critical (corrected during inspection): The person in charge failed to explain the correct procedures for cleaning and sanitizing utensils and food-contact surfaces of equipment.
Critical (corrected during inspection): The person in charge failed to state the minimum cook temperatures and times for potentially hazardous food(s).
Critical (corrected during inspection): One or more of the elements of an effective employee health policy is either missing or incomplete. A complete employee health policy is required to be in place at the food establishment.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Open drinking containers stored in a manner that may contaminate food, food contact surfaces or utensils.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Observed food employees using improper hand washing procedures.
Critical (corrected during inspection): A food employee failed to wash his or her hands before engaging in food preparation, after touching bare human body parts, after coughing, sneezing, eating, after handling soiled utensils, or after engaging in any activity that could contaminate the hands.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Raw animal food holding in a manner that may cause cross contamination of ready-to-eat food.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Unwrapped or uncovered food in the following location where the food is subject to contamination: Observed uncovered butter chicken, Observed cooked cubed chicken uncovered, unwrapped, feta cheese directly on shelf of prep cooler; uncovered sugar on the bottom shelf of a shelf in the prep area.
Critical (corrected during inspection): The following food item(s) were observed cold holding at improper temperatures using a calibrated food temperature measuring device: half and half on the countertop 78f, mixed vegetables which were thawing per manager on countertop 72f.

Starbucks at Safeway, 9596 Old Keene Mill Rd., Date of inspection: Aug. 9
Critical (corrected during inspections): One or more of the elements of an effective employee health policy is either missing or incomplete. A complete employee health policy is required to be in place at the food establishment.

Dilly's Restaurant, 7708-A Backlick Rd., Date of inspection: Aug. 8
Critical (corrected during inspection): The following refrigerated, ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous food that is prepared on site is not used or discarded within 24 hours of preparation and was not observed to be date marked: chicken salad, tuna salad and coleslaw inside of 2dr prep cooler.