Restaurant Inspections: 5 Old Town Cafes, Restaurants Checked for Violations

Alexandria Health Department officials inspected numerous restaurants in Old Town Alexandria in recent weeks. We all want to know how our favorite restaurants stack up on cleanliness and sanitation.

"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 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."

These are the most recent inspection reports available from the health department.

Click on the restaurant names above for links to restaurant inspection reports.

Vaso's Kitchen, 1225 Powhatan St., May 6: 5 core items, 1 priority item; 2 corrected during inspection. 

Teaism Old Town, 628 St. Asaph St., May 3: 2 core items, 1 priority item; 1 corrected during inspection. 

Virtue Feed and Grain, 106 S. Union St., May 3: 2 priority items, 4 priority foundation items; 3 corrected during inspection.

Plaza Gourmet, 1940 Duke St., April 30: 3 core items; 1 corrected during inspection.

Vermilion, 1120 King St., April 30: 2 core items, 1 priority item, 1 priority foundation item; 1 corrected during inspection. 

There are three main types of violations, according to the health department:

• A core item "usually relates to general sanitation, operational controls, sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOPs), facilities or structures, equipment design, or general maintenance."
• A priority item is "a provision in this Code whose application contributes directly to the elimination, prevention or reduction to an acceptable level, hazards associated with foodborne illness or injury and there is no other provision that more directly controls the hazard," and "includes items with a quantifiable measure to show control of hazards such as cooking, reheating, cooling, handwashing."
• A priority foundation item "includes an item that requires the purposeful incorporation of specific actions, equipment or procedures by industry management to attain control of risk factors that contribute to foodborne illness or injury such as personnel training, infrastructure or necessary equipment, HACCP plans, documentation or record keeping, and labeling."