Decatur Diner Receives “50” On Latest Health Inspection
Decatur Metro | April 29, 2011 | 11:03 am
A reader points out this new – as of Tuesday – health score for Decatur Diner. And while I’m generally not all that influenced by health inspection scores – I’ve mentioned here numerous times before that my kitchen would almost certainly fail the tough standards – this one is quite low.
In the interest of comparison, looking through other Decatur establishments recent health scores, I couldn’t find another restaurant that had as low or a lower score on a recent inspection.
And my choice as to whether to go to the Decatur Diner or Leon’s for lunch is made. There’s low, and then there’s that score. No thanks.
Going to be interesting to see what the followup score will be…
The full report is rather stunning – go to the last pages for the specific observations. They have ten days to fix this.
http://atlanta.digitalhealthdepartment.com/_templates/22/Food/_report_full.cfm?fsimID=332805&domainID=22
I read through the violations and didn’t consider them “rather stunning” at all. One of them was an employee cutting a sandwich using “bare hands.” The suggestion was to use deli tissue. I can think of restaurants all over the city where employees violate this “code.”
Don’t shrug off these violations. Most have everything to do with the likelihood of acquiring food poisoning. What if that bare-handed sandwich maker is colonized with staph or has hepatitis? He could sicken hundreds of people.
The temperature control violations are of real concerns. The only (retaurant) food poisoning death I know of in ATL was the result of poor temperature control.
I agree – there was a floating restaurant next to where I worked in Ft. Lauderdale where about 15 customers came down with hepatitis in the 80s because of a cook’s “bare hands”
Sawicki’s — person in the front of the store, when it got busy. Handled meat, fish, made sandwiches, rang up orders, etc. No hand washing, no gloves (although he did grab the pastries with the tissue). I believe the person would have taken a minute to wash up, if I’d asked, but routine use and frequent changing of gloves should be standard (along with washing as required/needed). The sandwich, which came out of the back (20 minutes and two complaints later), was delicious.
A general observation after reading this report:
One would have thought – given the amount of time the owners spent thumb-twiddling while waiting to open – that they would have had plenty of time to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the State health codes, and that all their internal policies & procedures would be implemented and their employees thoroughly educated on them from opening day. You’d also think they would heave learned their lesson from the issues they had with building codes … it just sounds like sloppy & inept management, especially now the kitchen management.
Has anyone had a meal at the Decatur Diner? Is the food passable? I don’t expect Leon’s or Brick Store Pub quality but is it on par with a Waffle House?
For the money, I thought food was quite good – typical greek diner fare. Didn’t taste at all mousy, roachy or e-colish.
The salad was fresh and excellent, but all of our other food was greasy and inedible – have not been back since.
I was extremely disappointed with my meal. My partner and I agreed it was close to inedible. I was really looking forward to this place. I have not written them off yet. We will give them another try in six months. I am hoping they get their act together.
I think that the Waffle House is often underrated. It’s a great value, and the breakfast fare is consistently good, with better-tasting omelets than what you’d often find at more expensive restaurants.
Decatur Diner left me a bit underwhelmed, especially considering the prices. (Additionally, I had to return my drink because it was served in what appeared to be an unwashed glass.) Although I wasn’t really knocked out by the meal, I did like the very wide range of choices and I’d consider going there again after they improve their scores. These local small business owners deserve a second chance to get things right.
We went once, had the Greek platter with a little bit of everything, and it was awful. We also had an omelet, and Waffle House would have been much better. We haven’t returned and don’t plan to do so.
“but is it on par with a Waffle House?”
After two visits, I’d say it’s inferior to Waffle House, not to mention anything else in Decatur except for maybe Mcds.
I ate there once. I was underwhelmed.
Leon’s and BSP are the yardstick for quality dining in Decatur now ? Thanks but no thanks … I’ll continue to judge other restaurants by the standards set by The Iberian Pig and Cakes & Ale.
Mr. Money, I’d have dinner on you anytime!
Different strokes for different folks. We are in agreement about C&A, but I’d take Leon’s over Iberian Pig any day of the week.
I feel a bit like the odd man out, but I really like this place. I have eaten here about 10 times since they opened and I haven’t had one bad experience yet. The staff is extremely attentive and eager to please. The food is typical Greek Diner style food, similar to the Marietta Diner or the Landmark Diner. Everything I have had has been tasty and the portions ample. The health code issue does disturb me, however, and I will be looking for a big improvement before I return.
Hopefully they’ll be able to correct the problems and improve their score. I ate there once and it was fine. I’ll probably eat there again once they’ve raised their health score.
In college, I worked for a low budget Chinese restaurant and we got hit with a really low health inspection report. The owners were from China and didn’t have the English reading skills needed to understand what needed to be done. I called the inspection office and got the long document explaining the rules and regulations that needed to be followed and read through it to understand what everything meant and then I walked the owners through the restaurant and explained what the report said and created a checklist of things that needed to be fixed. We went from a failing grade to an A within the 10 day period.
Soup of the day?
Mmmm. That sounds good. I’ll have that.
nice try – but the line is “what is the Soup Du Jour?”
These are not nice people. Remember the fall of Crescent Moon? They STILL owe the dishwasher who has worked at Thumbs up/ Crescent Moon for 27 years over 5,000 in back pay. Why did this dishwasher allow this? Because he honestly doesn’t know anything else and they took advantage of a kind, simple man. Period!
Are these the same people who briefly ran the Crescent Moon at Northlake Mall before it closed.
It is a large extended family who, yes, ran it and the metro dinner on Church st. among others.
Well, it seems more of an anomaly, since their last score was a 100. Seems like there was just a confluence of things that just added up…either way, I’d still eat that mile-high cake, baby!
“since their last score was a 100”
Wouldn’t their last score had been their first score, just after they opened?
Yes. You almost always get a perfect score when the inspector does the inspection before you open because no food is actually present or if it is, it’s not being prepared.
I used to work in a deli and we always received a 95+ on health inspections. It’s really not that difficult: keep cold food refrigerated, keep raw food separated, keep food prep area clean, keep oneself clean, don’t store food next to chemicals, and keep floor swept.
I am leery of places with scores below 90 and won’t eat a place with a score below 80 because a poor health inspection report can point to a lack of attention to getting things right.
Yes, like a lot of you I worked at a restaurant — was a cook — and we considered any points off to be something that needed correction. It’s no easy, as pointed out above, to simply store things properly, keep surfaces clean, wash hands, don’t keep garbage next to food, etc. that if I see a sub-90 I won’t go in a place. It points to shoddy management, which can mean a host of things that don’t show up on a health inspection.
Really, you won’t go in? That doesn’t leave many places for you in Decatur:
Leon’s 83B, Iberian Pig 70C, Brick Store 80B, Thinking Man 70C, Universal Joint 82B, Twain’s 68U, Farm Burger 72C, Noodle 70C, Parkers 79C, Cakes & Ale, 78C, etc.
Decatur Dining: Where trendy meets unsanitary!
There was a fly in my Philly the other day. They took the sandwich off the bill, but the manager didn’t come over and do anything to make me ever want to go back again. I wont.
What was the fly doing in your Philly?
Must have been the crawl, you can’t do the backstroke in a salad.
I couldn’t resist.
Defecating.
I like the diner alright–feels like everything about it was imported from Jersey. My pet peeve? The owners and employees smoking right outside the doors to the establishment, filling the inside with smoke smell until they are done. Owner often hands my kid a cookie on the way out. Free black and white!
My neighbor got food poisoning from undercooked chicken at Decatur Diner about a month or so ago!
I didn’t have high hopes for this place. It just looks SO tacky in my opinion. I would have much rather have had a Panera, Moe’s, Willy’s, or something else that is more “order at the counter” type place rather than another sit-down option.
Interesting that it’s the same owners that took over the Northlake Crescent Moon…didn’t know that. Although the last time I went there before it closed, I remember the waiter being all nervous around the “new owners” who were apparently really awful.
I haven’t been to Decatur Diner and don’t plan on eating there anytime soon. Yuck.
Denise
I agree, the outlandish design and colors of the place is off putting. The signage is horrible – it is very obvious they are “open”. Never planned on eating there before – now it is a definite.
Went in there for a piece of pie and cup of coffee. SEVEN FREAKIN’ DOLLARS for a slice of pie. With coffee and tip, that’s over TEN DOLLARS… for pie and coffee. IN A DINER! So, I ordered rice pudding instead – which they rang up as costing a dollar MORE than what was printed on the menu. With this health report I can add “dirty” to “dishonest” and “delusional”.
Looney Mooney I think your are wrong. They still have good food and friendly service. I am sure this will be corrected.
Srdecatur,
What will be corrected? The group of people running this business is going to finally, 3 years later, pay the dishwasher his money? How about the payroll taxes that were withheld from employee checks and never deposited? Are these the items are going to corrected?
I no longer work in the food service industry, but it steams me that they are allowed to continue to screw innocent people. Staff, vendors and yes you the customer.
Ate outside on their patio once – there were bugs crawling around in the salt shaker. Of course, I did not notice until after we ate. Even without the bugs, food was really not that good and service was spotty. Won’t go back.
IN the salt shaker?!!!! Wow. That is truly bizarre. Do bugs like salt? Or was there some sugar in there? Really weird and disgusting.
If this place really is run by the Northlake Crescent Moon folks, it’ll be nothing but a bad memory within a year.
Ordinarily I’d agree, but considering how long they took to open, they could hang around for years. I still think there’s something very odd here. Plenty of other dining choices within walking distance of this place.
re-inspections don’t mean anything – they are scheduled. it’s the surprise inspection that I would pay attention to… that’s how the restaurant operates on a day-to-day basis.
You can always check out your dining destinations here:
http://atlanta.digitalhealthdepartment.com
Hmm, my link seems to be not quite right – I couldn’t get the same results there, even though that appears to be the parent directory.
Try this one:
http://atlanta.digitalhealthdepartment.com/dekalb/recent.cfm
The best time to go is right now. They are on their toes.
One would hope. But these folks are supposedly experienced restauranters and still made some bad mistakes.
Front doors kept open? That must have made a nice first impression on the inspector.
As a rule I never eat at a diner with a score above 50, so this is great news
I just rode by on my ride home from work tonight.
The front doors were both blocked open with the greeter dude standing there.
It’s clear to me now that that this restaraunt holds health regulations (and their customers) in contempt.
No one I care about will ever eat there again if I can help it.
Leon’s is designed to be wide open. How does that differ as far as front doors being open. That one confuses me.
The inspector didn’t cite the code on that issue, just said it was a violation.
The main point being-if you just got cited for something simple like keeping the doors wide open. Then why would you continue to do that?
Wife and I went to Noodle on Friday night, Noodle and the Diner had their front doors propped open, as I’ve always seen them. I’ve only been to the diner once, back on Feb 14, but it was great and cheap, Haven’t had a chance to go back yet tho.
The door propped open thing may have been the result of the inspector looking for every little thing after having found a number of fairly significant items. If the inspection was basically clean, the inspector may not started looking for other things, or if the door was only one of a small number of items, the total score of negative items would not cause a failing score.
Doors can be left open, such as garage doors (like Universal Joint) if there are special fans installed above the doors. This is health code. If you have ever walked into a business and a strong wind is blown on you from above, that is the special fan. It is meant to keep the insects out.
Gotta say I was very disappointed the one time I ate there. Enough to make me not want to return. Ordered a veggie wrap that was way too heavy on what appeared to be some kind of mayo mixed with Italian dressing. Really nice wait staff, but the dish I ordered wasn’t satisfying.
I’m confused…what about the doors being open is a huge violation?
What about when Leon’s or U Joint has their garage doors open? Is that a violation?
Ha. I should have continued reading before I repeated you just above?
“Leon’s and BSP are the yardstick for quality dining in Decatur now ? Thanks but no thanks … I’ll continue to judge other restaurants by the standards set by The Iberian Pig and Cakes & Ale.” Yeah, buddy, food doesn’t have to be expensive to be yummy. And not all of us have the paycheck to do the fine dining. BSP dining is fine for me.
“I agree, the outlandish design and colors of the place is off putting. The signage is horrible – it is very obvious they are “open”.” Outlandish!
Was that score for cleanliness or for tacky external decor?
We’ve had breakfast there a few times, and though the management is constantly lurking around behind the counter, it’s not clear what they’re managing. Last weekend all the specials were misspelled to the point of being unintelligible, and our waitress knew nothing about them. My water glass turned out to be broken and was leaking all over the table. I’ll stick to Waffle House for cheap, fast and friendly… Thumbs Up for “fancy” breakfast.
We ate at the Diner when it first opened. . The food was borderline. Wish it could have been a better experience. But we won’t be going back.
The place will be gone in less time than it took to open. And then it will be an even bigger eyesore than it already is.
At least they haven’t put giant inflatables on the roof like the guy on Park Place in Stone Mountain did some years ago. He claimed that they were the reason he was given the lowest sanitation score in Gwinnett County history.
I have only skimmed the comments and haven’t read the report but wondering if the constant group of employees smoking on the side steps on Church was made mention of at all. I keep meaning when I walk by ( and hold my breath to dash through the crowed) to go in and suggest that they have a different plan for employee smoke breaks than hovering over a very busy sidewalk. YUCK. Imagining all the employees smoking and then going to make or serve food has turned me off to eating there. I also see an abundance of cigarette butt’s in the area. It’s truly poor citizenship which I guess from comments above is a pattern.
There is a mention of employees doing personal things in other than employee personal areas. Apparently, they can smoke if they do it on their own time in a separate area and I guess the side stoop is a separate area, but I have the same reaction as you – I don’t want to be served by someone who smells like a factory. Their habits alone would deter me from going in there. There are probably other establishments with the same issues, but it’s much more obvious at DD. And, to me, that’s also indicative of the type of people they hire. Maybe I’m naive, but I can’t imagine most other Decatur restaurants even hiring someone who smokes.
Naive might be one word for it. At any rate, I guess it’s safe to assume that you’ve never worked in a restaurant…
You’re right, I have not.
“Maybe I’m naive, but I can’t imagine most other Decatur restaurants even hiring someone who smokes.”
Oh come on…
everybody, say it with me now… “you’ve got to be kidding me?!?!”
Mostly speculation on my part, but I’d guess that the restaurant industry has a much higher than average percentage of smokers.
And if you narrow it to the bar industry, the majority of the workers are smokers, I’d bet.
Wow. Is anyone here interested in shelving public opinion and thinking for oneself? That would be something new and unusual.
gross, for those that want to keep eating there you have been warned!
This establishment is already filthy, poorly managed, and bouncing checks to vendors. The employees will be next and the score will improve but the safety of the food will not. The 100 was the original inspection and is standard. While touching food with bare hands does happen and was not banned until last year, with all of the smokers employed at the diner, I would not want them touching my food. They have no one managing the safety of the food because they are there for the quick cash and will not pay anyone with knowledge, or more to the point, no one with any knowledge would want to work for these folks. They will take the cash, steal from there vendors, skip out on all taxes and leave the employees with no pay and no job in a short time. Remember what they did to my business, Crescent Moon. Thirteen years of great times destroyed by these [edited: no name calling] in under a year and they have the audacity to come back to Decatur. If you eat there, be aware and be ashamed!
BE AWARE AND BE ASHAMED!
BE AWARE AND BE ASHAMED!
Can we get that on a bumper sticker? Could apply to so many other things. Has a nice ring to it.
It’s interesting how in NYC the grades must be posted in the front window, and the letter is big enough to be seen from a passing bus.
Rob’s note is great. Right on the mark.
CMRob, Is the guy running the diner the same guy who bought Crescent Moon from you?
Sheepdog- It is his partner. They work in tandem, The guy tha bought CM and his right hand man have been spotted in the Decatur Diner.
Anything below an 80 is suicide! Nasty. This place is doomed. A diner is good, solid, food!! cheap. We need a diner, but this is not it. We need a family that is interested in passing on some family cooking. Worked in restaurants all my life. A 50, geez!!!
I know this is a bit off topic, but there was a customer in the Baby Kroger yesterday around 7 pm having a complete melt down about how dirty the store is and I believe she was saying “e coli on the cash register” or something like that and “never coming in here again” and similar things. Although I have trouble finding everything I want in there, because of size, I have not noticed it being especially dirty.
Any opinions? Any opinions based on facts?
It would be interesting to know what she was basing her remark on – you sure can’t see e-coli. Although some on this blog have knocked it around, I have never had a problem with the appearance or cleanliness of that establishment, nor have I ever experienced any health issues because of it. That woman may be related to my sister-in-law, though.
We’ve bought a gallon of milk there a couple of times only to find it spoilt when we got home. But it’s been several years since that last happened (partially because we rarely buy milk there now). And the selection isn’t comprehensive but that’s to be expected in a smaller store. Staff have always been friendly.
I had a similar milk experience a few years back – except it was at the Big Kroger. I have never gotten bad milk at the Baby Kroger and I do buy it there fairly often.
Am not a fan of (Baby) Kroger but I do go there for convenience. I do find it dirty, even the parking lot. Generally, Kroger’s staff does not impress me. I have been surprised to see staff eating at the register and checking cell phone while ringing me up.
Great location, though.
I’ve witnessed a number of meltdowns in Baby Kroger over the years, and none of the folks throwing them appeared to have a particularly strong grip on sanity. That’s one of the downsides of a store so easily accessible to foot traffic: makes it easy for the crazies to wander in.
People love to hate on this store, but I will defend it to the death. They do an astonishingly good job stocking a very wide variety of items in such a small footprint. We’ve never had a problem with premature spoilage despite buying organic milk and eggs there constantly. And if we did, we know they’d take it back, unlike YDFM (which, don’t get me wrong, we LOVE in almost all other respects).
On the flip side, we have consistently had a problem with milk from YDFM going bad prematurely (to the point that we stopped buying it there). And Even Johnston Farms (the go-to local dairy that sells at the Decatur Farmer’s Market and Whole Foods), our preferred milk when we can get it, almost always turns several days to a week before the date on the container. We just roll with this as one of the unavoidable inconveniences associated with organic, local, non-homogenized, fantastic tasting milk. But it’s annoying.
I hate to sound uninformed (or non-local! north decatur [30033] is still decatur, right?!) – but where exactly is this “baby kroger”? the one on Commerce near the cemetery (is that even a Kroger?), or the one in Sage Hill shopping center (a truly tiny Kroger)? Thanks!
BTW, I love this blog – such a good way to get the locals’ take (and grease, so the speak) on Decatur restaurants.
It is the little Kroger on Commerce next to the cemetery.
It’s the one on Commerce near the cemetery.
I think if you really want to get folks riled up… find some article – or maybe a vs. column: super H guy vs decatur diner. heads might explode. throw in a school element – a quote from dr edwards and watch the traffic roll in.
City Schools of Decatur Announces New Food Service Provider
The City Schools of Decatur announced today that they have signed a contract with the Decatur Diner to be the food service provider for all CSD schools. The Diner operators stated that they are going to use the former BIG H space in Oakhurst as the preparation and distribution center for the operation. “We don’t anticipate having to make any changes to that building” Diner management stated. CSD Superintendent Dr Phyllis Edwards called it a “win-win” for all concerned and is looking forward to have a local community-based operator provide high-quality food service for the schools.
+1
+2 awesome. so good.
This is not the perfect DM post, because it hasn’t said anything at all about cyclists, or zombies or bratty kids or parents getting drunk…
Let’s wait for the updated release.
+3
Man, I went to pick up an application last summer for a part time job and the owner [edited: no name-calling]