Weekly Falls Church Restaurant Inspections Report

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 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.

Jason’s Deli
7505 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church
Inspected Sept. 7: four critical violations, two non-critical violations

The nonfood-contact surfaces of the following equipment had accumulations of food debris: gaskets of prep coolers along the prep line. 

Starbucks Coffee
7501-H Leesburg Pike, Falls Church
Inspected Sept. 7: two critical violations

Due to improper operation of the hot water, mechanical ware washing machine, the thermo label did not turn black, indicating that food-contact surfaces of equipment and utensils are not being adequately sanitized. 

Italian Café
7161 Lee Hwy, Falls Church
Inspected Sept. 4: six critical violations, eight non-critical violations

The temperature measuring device in the following mechanically refrigerated unit was not properly located in the warmest part of the unit: true two-door upright cooler by hand sink, beverage air two-door upright cooler by seating area, true two-door prep cooler by seating area, true one-door cooler upright by seating area.