Weekly 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.

Happy Family

301 S. Washington St., Falls Church

Inspected Oct. 23: three critical violations, four non-critical violations

“Observed that paper towels were not provided at bathroom hand washing sink.”

McDonald’s

3009 Gallows Rd., Falls Church

Inspected Oct. 26: one non-critical violation

“The nonfood-contact surfaces of the following equipment had accumulations of grime and debris: gaskets on multiple cooling units.”

Pollo Campero

5852 Columbia Pike, Falls Church

Inspected Oct. 26: four 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.”