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.

Blanca’s Restaurant

418 S. Washington St., Falls Church

Inspected Nov. 8: seven critical violations, five non-critical violations

“The person in charge failed to state the required temperatures and holding times for the potentially hazardous food items when (1) in refrigerated storage, (2) in hot holding, (3) being cooled and/or (4) being reheated.”

Jerry’s Subs & Pizza

6138 E. Arlington Blvd., Falls Church

Inspected Nov. 5: three critical violations, nine non-critical violations

“Open drinking containers stored in a manner that may contaminate food, food contact surfaces or utensils.

Arby’s

8127 Lee Highway, Falls Church

Inspected Nov. 2: two critical violations, three non-critical violations

“Surfaces of the ice chutes equipment are not being cleaned as required.”