Uptown restaurants and bars received more than 350 health-code violations from 2007 to 2011, but health inspectors say there’s nothing to worry about.
Some residents might be disturbed to hear their favorite Uptown restaurant or bar had numerous health-code violations during its last inspection, but 229 of the 367 violations were classified as non-critical.
“Non-critical violations are housekeeping things, like broken equipment that doesn’t pose a threat,” said Adele Hanson, a health inspector for the Athens City-County Health Department.
Though Hanson said most of the violations are non-critical, 101 of the 302 inspections conducted at 23 Uptown restaurants and bars from 2007 to 2011 resulted in critical violations.
Critical violations include food not being maintained at the proper temperature, sick workers, and workers not washing hands, Hanson said.
During the five-year period, Courtside Pizza, 85 N. Court St., had the most critical violations with 15 and Big Mamma’s Burritos, 10 S. Court St., had the second most with 13. The two restaurants had the second- and third-most violations overall with 32 and 27, respectively.
China King, 21 S. Court St., came in third with 12 critical violations but first in overall violations with 33.
A manager for Courtside Pizza declined to comment. Big Mamma’s and China King management could not be reached for comment.
“Critical violations are corrected when (inspectors) are there,” Hanson said, adding that food is discarded and sanitation problems are corrected.
The average restaurant gets one or two critical violations per inspection, she said.
In 2011, Broney’s Alumni Grill, 7 W. Carpenter St., had the most violations overall with six and Courtside Pizza came in second with five. Both had two critical violations.
Management at Broney’s declined to comment.
Bagel Street Deli, 27 S. Court St., was one of the 11 restaurants that had less than four critical violations during the five-year period.
“We follow what the code wants. It’s not difficult,” manager Lori Linnevers said.
Bagel Street employees check the temperatures of the refrigerators daily and date all their food, Linnevers said.
“We’ve been very successful,” she added.
Bagel Street has a Category 3 risk level, which means it is inspected twice a year, Hanson said.
All establishments that serve food are given a category ranking from 1 to 4, which is based on menu, size of the establishment and other factors.
Category 1s and 2s are inspected once a year, Category 3s are inspected twice a year, and Category 4s are inspected four times a year, Hanson said.
“Category 4 is anywhere that food is cooked, cooled down and reheated — a lot of the ethnic places, fine dining and the dining halls,” she said. '
China King is the only Category 4 restaurant included in the records provided to The Post.
Most of the restaurants are Category 3s, except for Donkey Coffee and Espresso, 17 1/2 W. Union St., and The Union, 18 W. Union St., which fall under Category 2.
Hanson said that, whenever an inspection is conducted, “the health code is the driving force.”
“If it is a problem, we are working toward a resolution. We give them the opportunity to fix it,” she said.
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