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NYC Restaurant Rating System - FAIL?

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Despite an inspector finding "a small number of mice droppings" on the floor, a cafe in an Upper West Side New York City Barnes & Noble bookstore was awarded an "A" grade under the city's new restaurant rating system.
"While this presents evidence of a problem, there was no evidence that the problem was widespread or had contaminated food," Celina De Leon, a spokeswoman from the NYC Health Department said via email.
In addition to finding the mouse droppings, inspectors cited the cafe for not being "vermin-proof" as well as for inadequate lighting.  These offenses were considered minor, and after the overall inspection the restaurant was given the A grade.
According to the Health Department, all of New York's restaurants, approximately 24,000, will have letter grades posted in their windows to alert consumers of the establishment's cleanliness.  
Until inspectors have gone through each restaurant, diners can go online to the Health Department's website and search the online database to get information about their favorite restaurants.
Under the city's new restaurant inspection system, unveiled last month, eateries will have two weeks to clean their premises after the initial inspection and can appeal levied ratings to a Health Department tribunal.
According to officials, some highly attended restaurants did not fare well during inspections. 

A couple of local Upper West Side favorites' grades:
Barney Greengrass - CShake Shack (Columbus Ave) - BCalle Ocho (Columbus Ave) - ANew Wave Cafe (Broadway at West 79th) - C

Full post as published by Food Safety News on August 12, 2010 (boomark / email).