Eat & Drink
This week on DineSafe: 5th Element, Blarney Stone Pub, Caplansky's, Coco Rice, The Rex, Thai Basil, The Annex Live, Silver Dollar
This week on DineSafe, a handful of Toronto's live music venues were given the once-over. Actually, better make that "twice-over" since a number of those inspected were granted temporary conditional passes, meaning they will require subsequent evaluations. While the show must go on, as the late Freddie Mercury might say, he would also probably add that the show cannot go on indefinitely when paired with improperly stored food or venues of poor sanitary conditions. I'm speculating, of course, yet I remain fairly confident that Mercury wouldn't be on the side of "inadequate food temperature control."
With varying numbers and severity of infractions, jazz hub The Rex, blues room The Silver Dollar, and everything else Annex Live were handed conditional passes, along with several other notable Toronto spots where guests dine to pre-programmed soundtracks. Here are some of the DineSafe highlights for the week.
5th Element
Inspected on: January 23
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 7 (Minor: 3, Significant: 4, Crucial: 0)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Blarney Stone Pub
Inspected on: January 24
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 12 (Minor: 2, Significant: 6, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Inadequate food temperature control, failure to ensure/provide for proper employee hygiene/handwashing
Caplansky's Delicatessen
Inspected on: January 26
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 0, Significant: 2, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Inadequate food temperature control, operator fail to ensure premises cleaned to prevent food contamination
Coco Rice
Inspected on: January 23
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 2, Significant: 0, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Inadequate food temperature control
The Rex
Inspected on: January 23
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 2 (Minor: 1, Significant: 0, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Failure to protect food from contamination
Thai Basil
Inspected on: January 24
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 7 (Minor: 0, Significant: 5, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Failure to protect food from contamination, inadequate food temperature control
The Annex Live
Inspected on: January 24
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 1 (Minor: 0, Significant: 1, Crucial: 0)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
The Silver Dollar
Inspected on: January 23
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 1, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Failure to protect food form contamination
Discussion
26 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
I don't think I will go back, a one time violation is one thing, but repeated, systematic violations is another.
I wonder if it has something to do with the owner concentrating on other business initiatives and not on the restaurant.
Most of the dine safe links aren't the correct ones - someone copied the last week's dinesafe entry and forgot to update?
Pure, fanciful daydreams from a scared poet. DineSafe proves that restaurants can pass the DineSafe inspections. I'm more concerned with getting cleaning products in my food than e coli.
BTW: the Grid just did a good cover story about Toronto Health Inspectors and the dinesafe program.
Do food establishments think customers past/present/potential don't see or notice these infractions?
I'm not sure why I'm so shocked, but I am.
If the sub50% success rate of new restaurants didn't paint a grim enough small-business picture, we now broadcast which establishments to avoid!
It's hard enough to succeed in the food business as it is. Unless you're dealing in economies of scale, it's very tough to run a completely compliant restaurant (in the eyes of TPH) while being able to keep the lights on.
Why don't these articles point to the inconsistency and subjectivity that restaurant operators experience from TPH inspectors? I've seen conditional passes issued for speculative fears of pest problems. I've also seen a blind eye turned to an obvious mouse infestation in exchange for a coffee and a smile.
Are there no other meaningful stories to cover in Toronto? How about the folks living under the 401 near Weston Rd? anyone?