5 restaurants, food trucks and coffee stand fail Tri-Cities health inspections

The Benton Franklin Health District gave five failing grades for food safety inspections at restaurants and other establishments selling food in the Tri-Cities area from Feb. 28 to March 6.

The health district’s food safety team gave passing marks on 32 inspections, with 17 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

El Charrito, 130 N. 10th Ave., Pasco, Routine March 6 (60 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Lack of active managerial control; improper storage of raw meat to prevent contamination of ready-to-eat food; hands not washed as required (worker did not wash hands before putting on gloves); bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods (worker did not wear gloves or use tongs to handle tortillas).

JJ’s Potato & Burger La Papa Loca, 2446 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine Mar. 3 (50 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Lack of active managerial control; hot holding temperatures <135°F (bacon wrapped hot dogs as cool as 100°); cold holding temperatures >45°F (cut tomatoes and lettuce too warm); lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Muchas Gracias Mexican Food, 701 Vineyard Drive, Kennewick, Routine March 3 (110 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Lack of active managerial control; improper storage of raw eggs to prevent contamination of ready-to-eat food; food worker cards not 100%; inadequate handwashing facilities (dirty towels in handwashing sink that also had no soap or paper towels); hands not washed as required (worker used cloth towel to dry hands, worker used food sink to wash hands and worker put on gloves without washing hands); lack of conformance with approved procedures; hot holding temperatures <135°F (carne asada as cool as 90°); room temperature storage (pans of chicken left on counter).

Pearl Coffee, 2221 E. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up Mar. 3 (35 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Improper date marking of food (cream cheese); hot holding temperatures <135°F (tapioca boba).

Taco Of The Town, 610 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Routine Mar. 5 (105 Red, 0 Blue) Notes: Bare hand contact with food (worker handled tortillas with bare hands); inadequate handwashing facilities (objects blocking handwashing sink); improper cooking (bacon on bacon wrapped jalepenos not fully cooked); accurate thermometer not used (undercooked bacon not checked for temperature); lack of conformance with approved procedures; room temperature storage (bowl of shredded chicken left on table); raw meats not kept separate from ready-to-eat food to prevent contamination.

Passed inspections

Baked & Fried, 44 Lee Blvd., Richland, Routine March 5 (20 Red, 0 Blue)

Benton Franklin Head Start MLK, 331 S. Wehe, Pasco, Routine March 3 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Buffalo Wild Wings, 8551 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick, Routine March 3 (25 Red, 15 Blue)

Cafe Del Alma, Edison St., Kennewick, Routine Feb. 28 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Cap’n Dave’s Fish & Chips, 6120 Burden Blvd., Pasco, Routine March 5 (15 Red, 0 Blue)

Catfish Alley, 212 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine March 6 (20 Red, 0 Blue)

The Corndog Company, 6120 Burden Blvd., Pasco, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

The Corndog Company, 6418 W. Skagit Ave., Kennewick, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 5 Blue)

Cottonwood Elementary School, 16734 Cottonwood Creek Blvd., Kennewick, Routine March 6 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Desert Hills Middle School, 1701 S. Clodfelter Rd., Kennewick, Routine March 6 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

El Oasis, 1315 E. Lewis St., Pasco, Routine Feb. 28 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Ellen Ochoa Middle School, 1801 E. Sheppard St., Pasco, Routine March 3 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Farm Grounds Coffee, 190704 Highway 221, Paterson, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade (Cart), 109 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Follow-up Feb. 28 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, 110 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Routine Feb. 28 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Guadalajara Style Mexican Food (Limited service), 110 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Hacienda Del Sol Mexican Restaurant, 5024 N. Road 68, Pasco, Routine March 6 (25 Red, 0 Blue) (Caterer 0 Red, 0 Blue)

Hibachi Explosion, 6120 Burden Blvd., Pasco, Routine March 3 (25 Red, 0 Blue)

Imperial Bakery, 104 S. Tacoma St., Pasco, Routine Feb. 28 (20 Red, 0 Blue)

JJ’s Potato & Burger La Papa Loca (Commissary), 2446 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine March 3 (15 Red, 0 Blue)

Kona Ice Of Tri-Cities, 300 Wellhouse Loop, Richland, Routine Feb. 28 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Nana’s Kitchen, 313 E. Columbia Drive, Kennewick, Routine March 6 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

The Original Pancake House, 3717 Plaza Way, Kennewick, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Orion High School, 1901 E. Salt Lake St., Pasco, Routine March 3 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Panaderia Colima, 801 W. Clark St., Pasco, Routine March 6 (30 Red, 0 Blue)

Paterson Elementary School, 51409 W. Prior Ave., Paterson, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Porter’s Real Barbecue, 1022 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Routine March 6 (30 Red, 5 Blue)

T/C Commissary Kitchen (Commissary), 104 S. Tacoma St., Pasco, Routine Feb. 28 (10 Red, 2 Blue)

Viera’s Bakery & Espresso, 430 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Wheat Head Brewing Co., 92308 E. Locust Grove Road, Kennewick, Routine March 5 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 10:54 AM.