By Mike Napolitano
Restaurants surrounding Northeastern’s campus like Quiznos, University House of Pizza and Boston Market all passed follow-up health inspections by the City of Boston in October after initally failing on multiple violations.
A review by The News of 32 restaurants within 0.3 miles of the Curry Student Center found that 10 failed city health inspections on critical or critical foodborne illness violations during the last year, according to the Mayor Thomas Menino’s Food Court website. Each of the restaurants passed on follow-up inspections less than two weeks after the initial failings.
On Oct. 14, Quiznos on Huntington Avenue failed to provide a proper holding temperature to meatballs and to remove all evidence of live Fruit flies in the rear storage area. On Oct. 22, the restaurant passed.
University House of Pizza on Huntington Avenue was cited on Oct. 1 for failing to properly label all chemical spray bottles and remove all evidence of mice droppings in the basement. They passed on Oct. 8 and 9 with minor violations, which were not listed on the City of Boston website.
Boston Market on Mass Ave. failed on Oct. 16 for not providing a proper holding temperature to squash and for fruit flies in the storage area, but passed on Oct. 22.
The managers of these establishments were not available to comment as of press time.
Bill Miller, manager of Qdoba on Huntington Ave, said failing city health inspections is nothing new.
“I’ve been in this business for 25 years, and I’ve never gotten 100 percent,” he said. “We use [health inspections] as another set of eyes. We usually have a pretty good working relationship with [health inspectors].”
Qdoba passed its most recent health inspection on Sept. 3, after failing on Aug. 12 for dead insects on top of the dishwasher and not putting enough chlorine in the dishwasher, and again on Aug. 26 and 27 for not providing enough chlorine for the dishwasher.
The Mayor’s Food Court website, Cityofboston.gov, says food service establishments fail due to accumulation of violations. Violations are ranked in one of three categories: non-critical, critical and critical foodborne illness. All food establishments in the city are inspected twice annually, according to the website.
Miller said most health inspectors come back for follow-ups unless there’s a very serious issue with the restaurant.
“It’s generally pretty standard if you see them come back in two weeks,” he said. “If it’s something as far as a food safety issue, they may close you down for that. If it’s critical but can be fixed, they might give you 24 to 48 hours.”
Dave Ferretti, manager of Chicken Lou’s, said inspectors often come at inopportune times.
“A lot of the times they’ll come in in the middle of a rush,” he said. “We do such a high volume, sometimes it’s a little messier than we’d like. We do cleaning, but only during break times.”
Chicken Lou’s passed its last inspection July 18 after failing July 11 for storing raw egg shells near cooked foods and leaving mice droppings on the shelving in the storage area.
Our House East failed its inspection June 3 for mouse droppings on shelving in the basement, but passed the follow-up inspection June 11.
In addition to standard bi-annual inspections, the city website says consumers can file complaints with the Division of Health Inspections. An inspector, the site says, will then be dispatched to follow-up with the restaurant manager based on such complaints.
Students said the recent health inspections would not deter them from eating at nearby restaurants.
“If they passed it the second time, that would mean that it was clean,” middler biochemistry major Alexandra Zaitsev said. Zaitsev said she would continue to eat at the restaurants that got cited.
Middler english and economics major Rebecca Rabino said she believes ignorance is bliss.
“I would eat [at a cited restaurant], but I don’t want to know which ones they are,” she said.
