Italian Restaurant in Tucson Fails 3rd Inspection in As Many Weeks

A local restaurant continues to fail its health inspections.Photo byWaldemaronUnsplash

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. In the restaurant industry, sometimes it is good for a well-established restaurant to continue doing what it does best. However, when it comes to poor hygiene and food safety, restaurants need to continually evolve and improve to stay up to date with the established inspection requirements. Despite this though, one local Tucson restaurant that has been in business for over 40 years continues to fail its health inspections, without making necessary changes requested by the health department. It has now failed three consecutive inspections in as many weeks.

On July 17, we reported that Dolce Vita, located at 1800 East Fort Lowell Road (Suite 168) had failed its second health inspection, following an original visit from the health department on June 6, which resulted in initially being placed on probation.

The original visit by a health inspector turned up 17 violations, ranging from core violations to priority and priority foundation violations. For some of these violations, the restaurant was given two weeks to make the necessary improvements. However, during the first follow-up inspection, the restaurant had failed to make all the requested improvements, and as such received its first Fail grade on June 19.

When a restaurant receives a Fail grade the inspector does not just move on to the next restaurant and return the following year for its annual Standard Frequency Inspection. When a Fail grade is given the restaurant is presented with a timetable for when specific violations must be corrected. Depending on the severity and how it impacts the functionality of the restaurant (as well as the health and well-being of both patrons and employees), the amount of time given can range from immediate (next day) to 30 days.

A second follow-up inspection was performed on July 3, and, once again, Dolce Vita had not made the necessary corrections, and as such was given its second Fail grade.

A third follow-up (its fourth overall inspection in five weeks) occurred on July 13. Once again, the restaurant continued to avoid making the requested improvements. It still has one core violation, and because the violation has not been addressed Dolce Vita was given its third Fail health inspection in as many weeks.

There is no word yet as to when a fourth follow-up inspection will occur, but repeat inspections will continue until the restaurant is forced to shut down or it makes the requested improvements.