Restaurant Inspections: Pizza NY Margherita

Last month, we profiled Tony's NY Pizza's Bristow location. On the other end of Linton Hall is Pizza NY Margherita, which was recently inspected by the Prince William Health District. Pizza NY Margherita, at 5115 Wellington Road in Gainesville, received eight critical violations and 15 noncritical violations during a routine inspection on Nov. 5. According to the Health District report, critical violations includes:

Critical (Corrected During Inspection): In use open drinking containers stored in a manner that may contaminate food, food contact surfaces or utensils.

Critical (Corrected During Inspection): A food employee failed to wash his or her hands before engaging in food preparation, after handling soiled utensils, or after engaging in any activity which may have contaminated his/her hands.

Critical (Corrected During Inspection): Raw foods of animal origin stored over ready-to-eat (RTE) food in the walk-in cooler.

Critical (Corrected During Inspection): Accumulation of debris on knives and utensils in knife rack.

Critical (Corrected During Inspection): Accumulation of debris on prep cooler cutting board.

Critical (Corrected During Inspection): Accumulation of debris on lid of flour bin.

Critical: Pizza, calzones, etc. for which time rather than temperature is being used as a control was not labeled or otherwise marked with a 4 hour cook, serve or discard by time. No written procedures for the use of time as a public health control with potentially hazardous foods - pizza etc.

Critical (Repeat): A backflow or backsiphonage prevention device not available on hose reel as required by law.

Other non-critical violations included:

• (Repeat): No disposable towels were provided at the hand washing sink in the front service area.
• A sign or poster that notifies food employees to wash their hands is not provided at all handsinks.
• (Corrected During Inspection): Salt and sugar storage containers not covered.
• Wine stored under handwashing sink in front service area.
• Brush with metal band in kitchen.
• Accumulation of dust on prep cooler coils.
• Heavy accumulation of dust on back of walk-in cooler coils.
• Fan broken in walk-in freezer.
• The mop sink water line to the chemical mixer/dispenser lacks a backflow or backsiphonage prevention device identified as meeting standards set by the American Society of Sanitary Engineering.
• Handwashing sinks in dishwasher area not maintained---drain leak; water turned off.
• (Corrected During Inspection): Brooms stored between handsink and prep table.
• Dead ceiling lights in kitchen.
• (Repeat): Walls in mop sink area in bad repair.
• (Repeat): Absence of no-smoking signs or international no-smoking signs in non-smoking area.

Click here to search for detailed information about this restaurant. “Restaurant inspections are normally scheduled for one to four inspections per year, depending on the complexity of the menu, how much food is made from raw products, and how much is made in advance rather than cooked-to-order,” the agency states on their website. When inspectors observe violations during a routine inspection, they are detailed in a report and classified as either critical (posing a direct or immediate threat to consumers) or non-critical (a failure of cleaning or maintenance), they said. These inspections are considered by the Health District as a snapshot of a specific day of operation. According to the agency, “Ideally, an operation would have no critical violations, or none which are not corrected immediately and not repeated. In our experience, it is unrealistic to expect that a complex, full-service food operation can routinely avoid any violations.”