Can restaurants ever get higher than a "Satisfactory" sanitary rating?

Factual Questions
1

I stopped by a little ice cream store today to grab something cold, and while waiting for my order to be processed, I noticed the store had one of those “Satisfactory” sanitary ratings displayed on their walls. I began to wonder about this – I’m sure that when restaurants fail their sanitary inspections, they are (presumably) slapped with a “Failed” or “Rejected” status.

But can a restaurant ever get higher than a “Satisfactory” rating? What would it be called? “Outstanding?” “Excellent?” Or is it basically just a pass/fail system? :confused:

2

Depends on where you are, I suppose.

Around here, the restaurants get numeric scores. 100 is the highest possible, and anything below a 70 is a failure and means another visit in a short time to see if you’ve straightened up your act.

3

Around here they get numerical scores which come with letter grades. Do NOT eat at a “B”. I’m serious, man, it’s nasty.

Here where I work, our performance evaluations only go as high as “average”. Not even “satisfactory”. “Average”.

4

I was really suprised during a recent trip to North Carolina, where a restaurant I ate at proudly displayed a “101%” on its Health Dept. examination. I really want to know how they got the extra 1%!
I guess the GQ answer should be: It apparently varies from place to place depending on who or what organization devised the testing scale.

5

I suspect, a health department that grades to one tenth of a percentage point; extremely poor hygiene; and a bottle of Tipp-Ex.

6

I can’t believe I know this! A friend of mine was a health inspector in NC- they award bonus points if the restaurant sends staff members to special classes about food safety and cleanliness. I think they could get up to 6 bonus points. I asked my friend this after eating at a restaurant with a 105 score.

7

Interesting regarding the number scores. Here in New Jersey, it’s just “Satisfactory” (and, presumably, “Failed”). I’ll keep an eye out for restaurant ratings the next time I travel out of the state.

8

Seriously. North Carolina recently switched to a numerical system, but your statement pretty much holds true. A restaurant can earn a low A with some dirty restrooms and a messy salad bar, but getting into B territory typically involves some cross-contamination, insects, lack of sanitizer for the dishwasher, etc.