Restaurant Inspections: Ireland's Four Provinces, Super Chicken, Seaside Crab House

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

With that said, we all want to know how our favorite restaurants stack up on cleanliness and sanitation.

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 the Virginia Department of Health's (VDH) 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."

In the past month, the following Falls Church restaurants have been inspected by the VDH. The full reports can be accessed on the health department's website.

Ireland's Four Provinces Restaurant, 105 Broad St. West, Nov. 4 (date of inspection)

3 critical violations: No certified food manager present (corrected during inspection); tags missing from the molluscan shellfish containers (corrected during inspection); methods not being used to control pests. Health inspector observed fruit flies in wait staff area near soda gun.

12 non-critical violations: Including no hand-washing sign, no soap or paper towels at sinks; window or door kept open for ventilation with no screens; refrigeration unit unable to cool to 41 degrees (50 degrees). See the full report here.

Super Chicken, 422 Washington St. S, Oct. 24 

4 critical violations, corrected during inspection: A food employee failed to wash his or her hands before engaging in food preparation/putting on gloves; observed cutting boards located at customer serving area are not being cleaned at least every 4 hours; food item(s) were found hot holding at improper temperatures; working containers of poisonous and toxic materials are not properly labeled with a common name: cleaning spray bottles. 

1 non-critical violation: Observed the hand sink in the kitchen being used as dump station. See the full report here.

Seaside Crab House, 6799 Wilson Blvd., Oct. 24

3 critical violations (corrected during inspection): There is no Certified Food Manager present at the beginning of the inspection. The date when the last shellstock from the container is sold or served is not recorded on the tag or label. The following equipment/utensils were observed soiled to sight and touch: -----cutting boards

2 non-critical violations, including: Observed that paper towels were not provided at kitchen hand-washing sink. See the full report here.