Broken fridge and food too warm: Tri-Cities restaurant safety inspections
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Five failing food safety inspections in Tri‑Cities from May 2–8.
- Follow-ups are required for establishments with at least 35 red points.
- Violations included inadequate hot/cold holding, handwashing and improper cooling.
The Benton Franklin Health District gave five failing grades on food safety inspections at restaurants and other establishments selling food in the Tri-Cities area from May 2-8.
The health district’s food safety team gave passing marks on 15 inspections, with eight of those earning perfect scores.
In the district’s routine inspections, businesses or organizations that receive at least 35 points for the more serious red violations are required to have additional inspections and must meet a tougher standard on those.
To pass follow-up inspections, they must have fewer than 25 red points and fewer than 10 repeat red points for previous issues.
Scores of 85 or more red points result in establishments remaining on probation until they pass two follow-up inspections, the first one within 72 hours.
Red violations are those most likely to cause food-borne illnesses, such as not keeping hot food hot enough or cold food cold enough, inadequate handwashing, bare-hand contact with foods or refrigerating meat in a way that could contaminate other food.
Blue violations are low risk factors related to the cleanliness and physical condition of an establishment.
No notice is given before the inspections.
Businesses may have separate inspections of business lines with different health safety risks, such as grocery sales and a deli that prepares food, with one business line passing and another failing.
Information about passed and failed inspections includes only licensed establishments. The health district also responds to complaints of unlicensed pop-up food vendors in Benton and Franklin counties.
To see more inspection results or details of the past week’s inspections, go to inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/bfhd.
For questions or complaints about food safety in Benton or Franklin counties, email contactusfoodsafety@BFHD.WA.GOV.
Food customers may take a survey at bit.ly/FoodSafetyConsumerSurvey, and owners and employees of food establishments may take a survey at bit.ly/FoodSafetyIndustrySurvey.
Failed inspections
Casa de Los Chilaquiles, 1315 N. 20th Ave., Pasco, Follow-up May 6 (80 Red, 0 Blue)
Notes: No certified food protection manager on staff; raw meats not stored away from ready-to-eat food to prevent contamination; lack of conformance with approved procedures; potentially unsafe high risk food (no date on opened milk, no date on containers of cooked and cooled food, and some containers with month-old dates due to not removing stickers before reusing containers); improper noncontinuous cooking; improper cooling procedures.
Doggie Style Gourmet (Cart), 591 Stevens Drive, Richland, Routine May 6 (60 Red, 12 Blue)
Notes: Inadequate handwashing facilities and hands not washed as required (no water turned on and soap left in car); lack of adequate managerial control of food safety; lack of conformance with approved procedures; cold holding temperatures >45°F (cooked and cooled onions in cooler with little ice).
Muchas Gracias Mexican Food, 701 Vineyard Drive, Kennewick, Follow-up May 6 (85 Red, 5 Blue) Notes: Food worker cards not 100%; lack of adequate managerial control over food safety; eggs not stored away from ready-to-eat food to prevent contamination; lack of conformance with approved procedures; cold holding temperatures >45°F (walk-in fridge too warm and a large quantity of food was discarded — fridge may not be used until professionally repaired); inadequate hot holding temperatures (red enchilada salsa on steam table was not hot enough); improper cooling procedures.
Osaka Teriyaki & Sushi, 4101 W. 27th Place, Kennewick, Follow-up May 5 (40 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Potentially unsafe high risk food (containers of cooked meat had no dates); raw meats not correctly stored (raw tuna stored with pre-cooked shrimp and eggs not stored away from cooked meats); improper use of time as a temperature control (cooked and cooled chicken too warm and should have been marked for use or discard within four hours).
Ty’s Bar & Grill, 3880 W. Van Giesen St., West Richland, Follow-up May 5 (15 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Food worker cards not 100%; lack of conformance with approved procedures.
Passed inspections
Churros Y Mas, 115 S. 10th Ave., Pasco, Routine May 2 (30 Red, 0 Blue)
Explosion de Sabor, 251 N. Columbia Ave., Connell, Follow-up May 8 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
Fiesta Foods (Mobile), 110 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Routine May 2 (10 Red, 0 Blue)
J’s Asian Flaming Grill, 2632 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine May 4 (25 Red, 5 Blue)
Keg Alehouse & Spirits, 718 W. Canal Drive, Kennewick, Routine May 7 (25 Red, 5 Blue)
Ki-Be Elementary & Middle School, 913 Horne Drive, Benton City, Routine May 7 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
Ki-Be High School Kitchen, 1205 Horne Drive, Benton City, Routine May 7 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
McDonalds, 2751 Queensgate Drive, Richland, Follow-up May 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
Mercy’s Pizza Taco, 524 N. Third Ave., Pasco, Routine May 8 (5 Red, 0 Blue)
Paterson Elementary School, 51409 W. Prior Ave., Paterson, Routine May 7 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
Pit Stop Mini Mart, 6193 W. Van Giesen St., West Richland, Follow-up May 5 (15 Red, 0 Blue)
Rise & Shine Bake Shop, 308 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine May 7 (10 Red, 0 Blue)
Round Table Pizza, 3300 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Routine May 4 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
Tri-Cities Afghan Food, 110 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Routine May 2 (0 Red, 0 Blue)
Yoke’s Fresh Market (Deli), 1410 W. 27th Ave., Kennewick, Follow-up May 4 (0 Red, 0 Blue)