Los Angeles Travel Forum

I was noticing in the windows in Los Angeles that most of the restaurants had a sign giving them a rating of "A" and wondered if anyone ate at restaurants that had a rating below A or one that didn't have a rating posted at all, I saw a few B ratings near the Grand Central Market in downtown LA. Is a B rating or a C rating the kiss of death? How often do they get rated? Every year? What exactly does a B or C mean?

Thanks for satisfying my curiousity!

There does appear to be three grades, A, B, and C.

Quote:-
The 1996-1998 revenue data allowed us to analyze whether consumers are responsive to the grade cards. We found that before the grade cards, changes in restaurants' hygiene quality (as measured by the DHS inspection scores) had no impact on restaurant revenue. This is consistent with consumers having limited ability to assess restaurant hygiene. After the grade cards were implemented, if a restaurant received an A grade, their revenue increased by 5.7% relative to their revenue when there were no grade cards. For restaurants that received a B grade, revenue increased by 0.7%. For a C grade, revenue decreased by 1%.

Can't find out what the grades mean in real terms.

In the UK we have a similair system called scoresonthedoors.co.uk
Any business that handles food (including schools/nursing home/works canteens etc) have to be reted from 0-5. 5 being the top and 0 means we close you down until you clean up your act.

I would only go to an "A" rated restaurant in L.A.
Jeannette

It's somewhat difficult to get anything below a B in California. Even below an A has to be relatively violation-prone. It's just an informational device, so you should follow it at your own discretion.

The grading system is not just for hygiene but for all facets of the restaurant or eating place. Even a hot dog stand has the rating. "A" means that the 40 point check list that the inspector uses was 96-100% checked off at complete,"B" falls from that and "C" is the lowest without closing the facility till it meets the requirements. Things like food are the most looked after as to storage, temps, and cleanliness. The location itself must also be spotless with proper drainage, air, and water. Temps on the hand water to clean hands must reach a certain temp. Hand gloves must be available for use with handling food. Bathrooms must be spotless and must meet the handicap requirements. Employees must include at least one person on duty who has passed the food handlers exam and the certificate must be displayed. "B" is not the kiss of death but no one wants to get it. As stated, it can be a minor offense, such as the water temp for hand washing did not reach a hot enough temp to meet the standards. Closure for a day, even a week, or shut down for good is what all food locations fear the most and it does happen. What can cause it? Vermin droppings, bugs, dirt, trash, grease mold, etc. So, a "C" is a non complying location but shut doors is not happening, just not many people will trust this location. the biggest problem occurs when a ethic group brings their food into the LA area and stores, cooks, and serves as they did in their country with no regard to health matters such as chickens thawing in water, etc. All inspections are done without notification and graded on the spot. Most get rated within a rotating 3-4 month period as long as there are enough inspectors to go around. "A" means that everything was okay. Come on in and enjoy the food. After all, you don't get to see everything that goes on in a kitchen, so it is good to have everyone aware of the no-nos and earn that "A".

Thanks for the explanation! I don't think I've eaten at a place in LA that was below an "A" but honestly this is the 1st time I've noticed it even though it's a HUGE letter on the sign, we don't have a similar rating system in Chicago. The Dept of Health shuts restaurants down occasionally and I believe they get inspected once or twice a year or as needed if there is a report of illness from patrons.

Kristi, The good part about the LA letter system is that it makes everyone in the food industry a little more careful about how they prepare, clean, serve, and store food. It does make one sweat a little bit more, so that's why hats are worn. lol I still wouldn't want to p... off a server. They might have a lapse of memory on the rules of food handling. Tip big and before being served and no problems should occur. Just a joke, but something to think about.

TG wrote: ".... the biggest problem occurs when a ethic group brings their food into the LA area and stores, cooks, and serves as they did in their country with no regard to health matters..."

I sometimes suspect that there are foreign methods that work but that just aren't the ones that the law here requires.
I frequently visit a neighborhood around Western just south of Wilshire. There are a number of ethnic restaurants there that have 'C's. They haven't killed me yet.
The only sure case of food poisoning that I have gotten from an LA area restaurant was from a Denny's run by Anglos.

I suspect that I've eaten at quite a few places in my travels that wouldn't even come close to passing LAs food handling standards ;-) I'm mostly with my Grandma and dad when I travel to LA so I tend not to eat at very exotic restaurants...

Actually, a C card in the window does not mean that the food will kill you. It simple means that the standards at that restaurant aren't as high as the Health Department is looking for.

I think many home kitchens wouldn't be able to get an A card.

As said, though the B and C grades are not going to close the place, they tend to effect the bottom line at the cash register so, it encourages the owner to clean up their act.

Travelgourmet, you said, "Employees must include at least one person on duty who has passed the food handlers exam and the certificate must be displayed."

Are you sure of this? Only one employee?


Here, it's all employees, who must have taken and passed the food handlers exam. Their certificate doesn't have to be displayed, but must be available for the Health Inspector to see during their inspection.

HB, right, many food locations throughout the world do not have the same requirments as Los Angeles Health codes ask fo,r such as keeping certain foods at certain temps. Therefore, most of the problems in LA with food handling is that the facility does not understand the law in LA regarding the care and prep of certain foods. If it hurts one or not is not the main issue as the potential to hurt. Los Angeles County has strict codes to follow in food handling but as Imklugue has pointed out San Diego County has more rules. In LA County, only one has to be certified, if interested see: http://www.csupomana.edu/~ehs/ftp/cfhlac.pdf

Down in Orange County where I live, no such grading system is in place. The county wants to work with retail food establishments who do poorly on health inspections to clean up the violations rather than admonish them publicly. Instead the county opens up their database of restaurant inspections for public viewing letting the customer make the decision whether or not to eat at a particular place. The proposal to go to the ABC grade system is revisited periodically, but can never get full agreement to do it.

>>>Down in Orange County where I live, no such grading system is in place.

Wow!! Live and Learn!

The ABC coding has been in place in San Diego so long that it never occured to me that a county might not use it. I guess from what Travelgourmet says, we do have stricter regulations in San Diego.

It doesn't seem to hurt the ethnic places at all, they are getting A plaques and the flavor of the food does not suffer. However, I don't actually make a point of looking for the A plaque when I go to a new restaurant. If I like the way the place looks/smells I'll give it a try. The fact is, that as long as the place is allowed to stay open there isn't really much "danger" to eating there.

The one thing that always surprises and horrifies me is the comment people make about the possibility of cooks or food servers "contaminating" any customer's food because they don't like them or the tip wasn't good enough. Is this something any of you have done or that you've personally seen?

As long as I've worked "behind the scenes" in San Diego as a food server or manager I never once knew of a person who did anything like that. They'd get fired on the spot if caught too.

Since health inspections are often critical to the well-being of a food establishment, I wonder how often owners try to influence the inspectors into giving them good grades. I don't have any idea if this happens or to what degree, but it's a thought that has floated through my head while reading this conversation.

As far as "influencing" health inspectors, that is not something I've seen done either. They are basically people doing a job. Some take it too seriously and are humorless or rather rigid, others are easy going or kind of funny. It just depends upon who shows up at the time. They aren't really like cops catching law breakers. More like supervisors who could get the "ax" if they aren't observant enough.

The restaurants I've worked in rarely scored near a B so, it was never a big issue when they showed up. There were times that they didn't mark something minor down that would kick the A into a B but there were strong warnings to correct the problem ASAP or the A would be taken away until the next inspection.

That's my experience in San Diego, I don't know about other counties or states.

The quickest way to seeing an A go to B is by trying to talk the inspector into giving you an A. They will try extra hard to find something wrong. That's my take on the inspections. I would not mess with them at all. I would rather have someone tell me of the faults, if any, then hide them. I remember one time when I was given a 100% and the inspector said that she tried to find something wrong but couldn't. She also said that someone most likely would come by in a few weeks to double check the 100%. They do follow up and they do not give false ratings. Just accurate.

TravelGourmet is right on when it comes to this subject.

I think the grading system is draconian, personally, and a boondoggle.

A frayed rubber piping on a low boy gets you a points deduction, even if the device maintains proper temps and the premise appears free of vermin. Simple wear and tear issues inside a workplace as fast-paced and high-stress as a kitchen are to be expected, but can easily drop a facility from "A" to "B". Nevermind if a server has stashed a cup of coffee in the wait station....there go more points!

And, again this is my experience, but I have seen some influence peddling in scores. Actually, I've seen a lot.

I'll eat in A and B restaurants. C makes me pause.

But, that said, I think the system should go away. Public shaming is so Hester Prynne.... :)

It's interesting that we are discussing this topic now. In the local OC newspaper, there is an article calling for a grading system in place of what's there now (described it in an earlier post here). Trading one set of problems for another.