May 8, 2017 Staff Report
An Astoria pizzeria has been temporarily shut down by the Health Department.
Fat Cats Pizza, located at 32-20 34th Avenue, was shut down on May 2 for racking up 53 violation points during a standard health inspection. As of Monday, the restaurant was still closed.
According to the Department of Health website, there were several critical and non-critical violations that led to the closure of the restaurant.
The critical violations included storing hot food below the required temperature, presence of live mice and preparing food in a contaminated area.
The Health Department gives out violation points based on the size and scale of each violation. Letter grades are then assigned to restaurants based on the points system. Any restaurant that receives between zero and 13 points receives an A grade, any receiving between 14 and 27 points gets a B grade, and any with 28 or more points gets a C grade.
If certain violations are considered especially problematic, the Health Department can shut down the restaurant. Once a restaurant is shut down by the Health Department, it will be re-inspected once per month until it scores below 28 points, or the Department will close it for serious and persistent violations.
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13 Comments
They should close this place down and open up a coffee shop.
yep, definitely, we don’t have many of those around. Plus, much easier to keep vermin out if you sell pastries rather than pizza….right?
The goal of food safety is to prevent the hazards that cause foodborne illness or injury. Most of the hazards in food are things you cannot see, smell, or taste. There is little margin for error in any stage of food handling, whether it is preparation, processing, packaging, storage, transportation or offering it for sale. IMO, if you prepare high risk foods the standards required of you should be much stricter than if you only prepare low risk foods. None the less, Food Safety is Everybody’s Business!
That’s not really the rules are. Get your source right.
For clerafiaction, I like the fact that astoria post infor its community which restaurant safe to eat or not… I can’t care less since I have my own restaurant to eat, however the rules how DOHMH works with restaurants does not right.
I’m a DOHMH consultant and if the place get to the point to get shutdown then mostly deserved.
That’s all.
Thank you for explaining. It is always nice to get the perspective of a restaurant owner.
I had the squirts for three days after I ate one slice
I’ll have what she had….
i noticed that another pizzeria was shut down by the Health Dept. in Astoria on 24 Ave and 28th Street. Careful what you eat. A lot of these places cater to many working families, teens/young adults and the elderly who find all the new places too expensive. Its a shame that it is hard to get a decent bite to eat around here on a budget.
Why don’t you open an eatery for people to eat on a budget? See how easy it’ll be to operate! Here’s an idea…cook at home if you cannot afford to eat out.
Handling food properly and safely is essential to preventing food borne illness. No one should get sick because they ate a two dollar slice of pizza or hundred dollar entry. All foods, if handled properly, can be safe. Most instances of food poisoning do not have to happen at all, and can be avoided by following simple guidelines!! This is about keeping the public safe it is not about how much profit a business makes. All food industry should be monitored equally.
My husband told the pizzeria guy there is a Roche inside the garlic shaker
Roche means boulder or rock in French. I highly doubt one could fit in a garlic shaker!