Restaurant Inspections: Springfield Restaurant Receives Five Critical Violations

From March 2-8, the state health department 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.

Portales Restaurant
6148 Franconia Rd.
Date of inspection: March 7
No violations were found during the inspection.

El Rancho Restaurant
6959 Hechinger Dr.
Date of inspection: March 5
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): 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): Food items for which time rather than temperature is used as a control is not marked or otherwise identified to indicate the time that is four hours past the point in time when the food is removed from temperature control.
Critical: A review of the menu with the foodservice operator indicates that there is no consumer advisory for some food items that may be served raw and/or undercooked.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Observed an ambient temperature above 45 degrees in the refrigeration unit holding raw shells eggs.
Non-critical (corrected during inspection): Observed the handsink in the back being used storage empty plastic container.
Non-critical: There was no temperature measuring device located in the majority of the cold holding equipment.
Non-critical: Food stored on the floor and/or food stored less than six inches off the floor.

Vocelli Pizza
6973 Hechinger Dr.
Date of inspection: March 5
Critical (corrected during inspection): There is no Certified Food Manager present at the beginning of the inspection.