The News & Observer publishes a weekly roundup of restaurant sanitation scores to keep you up-to-date on the health grades at Triangle dining spots.

Sanitation scores and their corresponding letter grades are used in North Carolina to assess restaurants’ adherence to rules and standards intended to mitigate and prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses.

You’ve likely seen sanitation grade cards at restaurants you’ve visited, and The N&O previously explained what those scores mean and how they’re calculated.

Here are sanitation scores in Triangle counties for the week of Feb. 21-27.

Wake County sanitation scores

The Wake County sanitation grades database shows that 86 restaurant inspections were completed Feb. 21-27.

▪ Most restaurants received an A grade, or a score of at least 90%.

▪ Two restaurants received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

Q Noodles (1026 Ryan Rd. in Cary) received a score of 89% during an inspection on Feb. 26.

• The restaurant was in violation of 11 standards. Of these, six were considered critical violations.

• Critical violations included finding the slicer and mixer still dirty from the day prior, “pink residue” in the ice machine and refrigerated foods without date markings.

• Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

• The restaurant previously scored 97% in September 2023 and 95% in June 2023.

Tikka Taco (3212 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh) received a score of 88% during an inspection on Feb. 26.

Note: DoorDash and Yelp say the restaurant at this address is called Milad Indian Cuisine, and Grubhub and Postmates say it’s The Wild Cook’s Indian Grill.

• The restaurant was in violation of 13 standards. Of these, four were considered critical violations.

• Critical violations included finding “Razol pellet bait pesticide stored on a stack of lids being used by the facility to store food” and a large container of raw chicken on the floor holding above the required 41 degrees F.

• Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

• The restaurant previously scored 76.5% in June 2023 and 90% upon reinspection in July.

▪ No restaurants received a C grade, or a score of at least 70% but less than 80%.

▪ No restaurants received a failing grade, or a score below 70%.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Wake County at wake-nc.healthinspections.us.

Durham County sanitation scores

The Durham County inspection management system shows 17 restaurant inspections were completed Feb. 21-27.

▪ Most restaurants received an A grade.

Carrabba’s Italian Grill (5312 New Hope Common Dr. in Durham) received a score of 87.5% during an inspection on Feb. 26.

• The restaurant was in violation of 10 standards. Of these, four were considered critical violations.

• Critical violations included finding many foods in the walk-in cooler and three containers of pasta stored on the front line past their expiration date, plus the hot water in the dish machine only measured 144 degrees F (when at least 160 degrees F is required for proper sanitation).

• Some violations were corrected during the inspection.

• The restaurant previously scored 93.5% in March 2023 and 93% in August 2022.

▪ One restaurant received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.

▪ No restaurants received a C grade, or a score of at least 70% but lower than 80%.

▪ No restaurants received a failing grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Durham County at bit.ly/3pVQfpG.

Orange County sanitation scores

The Orange County inspection management system shows that 14 restaurant inspections were completed Feb. 21-27.

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Orange County at bit.ly/3eQqpxc.

Johnston County sanitation scores

The Johnston County sanitation inspections database shows that 13 restaurant inspections were completed Feb. 21-27.

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Johnston County at johnston-nc.healthinspections.us.

Chatham County sanitation scores

The Chatham County inspections management system shows that that two restaurant inspections were completed Feb. 21-27.

▪ All restaurants received an A grade.

You can search all restaurant inspections in Chatham County at bit.ly/3JfiHwq.

Triangle Asked & Answered: What do you want to know?

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