Politics & Government

Inspection Reports: Which Mentor Restaurants Had Fewest Violations?

Here are some of the Mentor restaurants where state inspectors found few or no violations

Editor's note: This story was updated on March 20.

Each month, the Lake County Health District conducts inspection reports on area restaurants in compliance with the Ohio Department of Health and the state's revised code.

Based on their size and risk, most restaurants are inspected at least twice a year. Some inspectors determine that an eatery's violations require follow-up visits, county district Director of Environmental Health Nancy Niehus said.

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There are more than 40 possible violations a food service business can receive. Niehus stressed that the majority of restaurants in Mentor and the county perform well on inspection day. A look through reports at the district's Painesville office shows that few Mentor restaurants received more than three violations in late January and February.

Here are some of the restaurants in Mentor where inspectors found zero or one violations during that time frame. This is not a full listing of restaurants in city, as businesses are inspected at various times of the year. View an explanation of categories below.

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Business Category No. of Violations Report Excerpt Bob Evans (9235 Mentor Ave.) C4S 1 Inspection took just 40 mins. Bravo Cucina Italiana C4S 0 "Restrooms are clean ... coolers are in good working order." Fuji Japanese Steakhouse C4S 1 No violations other than cardboard on the ground/open dumpster. Hooley House C3S 1 "Roofing repairs from Hurricane Sandy were complete as soon as it was dry enough." Jade Tree C4S 1 "(Restaurant should) clean exterior of bulk food containers ... everything else is clean and sanitary throughout." Max & Erma's C4S 1 No food or waste violations Maxim's Pizza Shoppe C4S 1

"All previous violations noted on 7/8/12 have been corrected except one."

McDonald's (7700 Reynolds Road) C3S 1 "Restrooms are properly supplied and clean and sanitary." Panera Bread (9587 Mentor Ave.) C4S 1 Inspection revealed no food or equipment violations Papa Joe's Subs CS3 1

No follow-up required

Starbucks Coffee (9372 Mentor Ave.) C3S 0 "No violations at time of inspection." Taco Bell/Long John Silver C4S 0 "Inspection satisfactory."

The food service businesses each carry a category with a numerical ranking that is indicative of the risk the state believes there is for a customer to become ill. Most restaurants receive the highest risk rankings — CS3 or CS4. The "s" stands for small, which is how the state describes most restaurants in the city. Grocery stores are the only food service businesses that would be listed as large.

Restaurants listed as CS4 have the highest risk because of the heating and cooling of foods at those locations, Niehus said. These businesses receive standard inspections and critical point inspections.

While the state does not provide letter grades on its reports, Niehus says multiple violations on a report typically do not add up to an unsafe place to eat. The Mentor-on-the-Lake Giant Eagle, for example, had three violations, but all of them were corrected the same day.

"That's pretty good," Niehus said of the report.

The store's violations, such as high meat stacking, were not considered as critical as examples like a malfunctioning sink or food temperatures that give way to bacterial growth.

"Many things, they can correct while we're right there," Niehus said. "Others, they cannot."


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