Unless you are out to lunch, figuratively, not literally, you’ve probably noticed the grades being posted in restaurants all over NYC…because literally you would have to be blind not to notice. The grades are seemingly meaningless as they don’t appear to have affected business at all, probably because diners are in the dark as to what these grades mean. Eaters, it’s time to get educated, before you wake up and realize one of your favorite lunch time spots has a B for all the wrong reasons!
The Health Department is rating restaurants based on sanitary conditions to help consumers make better decisions. It’s also kind of genius as it works to
incentivize restaurants to keep it clean. Looks like someone is looking out for us, so thank you to the HD of NYC. But what do these grades actually mean? Grades are given out based on the number of violations a restaurant receives. Unlike basketball, points are the enemy here, not the goal, but what does the NBA know about points these days anyway? The more violations you have, the more points you get. Points are based on just how gross bad the violation is; expect a violation such as mice or roaches to carry more than let’s say, not properly sanitizing utensils.
Taking a note from Tosh.O, in this week’s breakdown, here’s how the grades work:
Grade A. 0 to 13 points for sanitary violations.
Grade B. 14 to 27 points for sanitary violations.
Grade C. 28 or more points for sanitary violations.
If a restaurant has a sign that says “grade pending”, that means they didn’t get an A the first time around. So, the restaurant is contesting the violations, aka stay tuned…
Of course, the Health Department wouldn’t let a restaurant operate if the violations were fatal. But, do you really want to knowingly eat at a restaurant that has a mouse problem? Unless I’m visiting Disney, I don’t need to eat lunch with Mickey.
Not only does this post serves as a little nip of knowledge, it’s also my official declaration of a lockout. A lockout from what you say? Glaze, a former favorite lunch spot. After further inspection, I learned the reason for their B rating was live roaches and mice. So, Glaze, unless you can give me what I want, a clean restaurant, I’m walking out.
Wanna know how you can check your favorite restaurants? Click here. Be forewarned, you might be upset with the results, since it’s basically the same as Facebook stalking your boyfriend to find out if he is cheating on you.
Bite Sized Banter 