Scottsdale Chinese Restaurant Hit With 6 Health Code Violations, Is a Repeat Offender

A local restaurant struggled with its food temperatures.Photo byJames HardmanonUnsplash

The past week of restaurant inspections around greater Phoenix has, more or less, been a good thing. Of the over 1,100 restaurants inspected, only seven received automatic D scores. A restaurant receives an automatic D (or D equivalent if not participating in the voluntary letter grading system) if it is cited for three or more Priority Violations. It means, for the most part, whatever restaurants you visit while eating out in the Valley should be up to snuff. However, for the seven, you might want to look deeper into the reports. The worst performing of those seven is a Scottsdale restaurant that receives four Priority Violations. 

A Priority Violation is one that directly contributes to the increased risk of foodborne sickness or injury. During its August 27 inspection, Rice Garden at 8035 East Indian School Road was slapped with the four Priority Violations, as well as two additional Priority Foundation Violations. These are issues with the restaurant that need addressing but don’t increase illness possibilities. 

Rice Garden generally performs well with its inspections. Of the six previous inspections, a single violation was identified twice. The other four inspections were perfect. Hopefully, for both the restaurant and patrons, this is a one-time hiccup. 

While not a Priority Violation, the restaurant did not have a Certified Fodo Protection Manager certificate on hand, nor did it have an employee who had gone through the certification process. Rice Garden is a repeat offender for this violation. 

As for the Priority Violations, the first came when the inspector watched an employee place raw chicken into a container, take it to the walk-in cooler, and then immediately begin working with ready-to-handle rice all without washing their hands. The employee was instructed that even if they were wearing gloves or if they changed gloves, they needed to wash their hands when moving from uncooked meats to ready-to-eat food items. 

The second issue came when testing food at the hot-holding table. Food stored here must not dip below 135, otherwise it falls into the Danger Zone (temperatures between 41 and 135), which bacteria grow in. Despite this, food at the hot-holding table tested as low as 104 degrees. Almost nothing at the table reached 135. The staff was instructed to reheat everything to 165 before allowing it to cool to now lower than 135. 

On the flip side, food in the walk-in cooler was well above 41 degrees, including raw meats stored at 47 degrees.