Why 2 eateries were cited for excessive food safety violations, but only 1 was closed down

Thurston County recently reported excessive food safety violations at two south Thurston County restaurants, but only one of them was closed down.

Inspectors closed Sonja’s Café in Rainier on March 22 and allowed it to reopen on Tuesday, said Sammy Berg, senior environmental health specialist for Thurston County. Its menu offers American and Asian cuisine for lunch and dinner.

The restaurant, located at 202 Binghampton Road, scored 125 red points and 18 blue points, according to inspection notes. Red points denote violations that are most likely to cause food-borne illness. Blue points relate to the overall cleanliness and condition of the operation.

Berg said the restaurant was experiencing electrical issues at the time of inspection that have since been corrected. Now that it’s reopened, inspectors will periodically revisit the restaurant during a probation period.

“They committed to trying to get it up and running again,” Berg said. “They took some training, they made some changes, they got some new equipment, and they did the work to get it reopened.”

The Olympian confirmed with the restaurant that they had reopened, but the owner declined to comment on the closure.

The county typically closes a restaurant for at least 72 hours if they log over 100 red points. However, that did not occur for a Yelm restaurant that exceeded that threshold.

An inspector found enough violations to close Puerto Vallarta Restaurant at 802 W. Yelm Avenue on March 24. The Mexican restaurant scored 105 red points and 15 blue points, according to inspection notes.

However, a tallying error caused them to leave without shutting down the eatery. Berg said the inspector mistakenly calculated 95 red points and the error wasn’t noticed for a couple of days.

Berg said the county opted not to enforce a late closure because the restaurant was already making progress on addressing its issues.

“Going back and closing them would have followed our procedure,” Berg said. “But it didn’t make sense to follow our procedure when the intent was being followed to make the corrections in the meanwhile. It’s not designed to be punitive. It’s designed to be effective.”

Susan Miller, a manager at Puerto Vallarta, said most of the issues noted by the inspection stemmed from a faulty cooler.

“We have, like, three main refrigeration systems and one of them went out,” Miller said. “And it was the one we keep vegetables in.”

Miller said they were actively working to fix the cooler when the inspector arrived. She said she expects to get it fixed within two weeks.

Inspectors last visited Puerto Vallarta in 2018, Miller said. When asked why it had been so long, Berg said the county has been generally short staffed on inspectors, and the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to pivot to other priorities.

Miller said she understands how difficult it may be to work with limited staffing. However, she still feels the county ought to inspect more often to help restaurants stay on track.

“If you’re going to write reports on people, on their businesses, then at least give us the tools to be better,” Miller said. “Every five years is not giving anybody any kind of tools to have a better establishment.”

Berg said the county aims to inspect restaurants twice a year in accordance with the Washington State Retail Food Code. He added that other food establishments such as grocery stores, bakeries and espresso stands would ideally be inspected once a year.

The county currently has four inspectors and one staff person that review about 1,000 food facilities a year and 300 temporary food vendors, Berg said. He said he expects to add an additional inspector soon.

Berg previously shared that there have been seven closures due to excessive food safety violations over the past six years, including two in 2017, one in 2019, two in 2021, one in 2022.

Food safety inspection notes are taken directly from the latest Thurston County inspection reports, which are available for each food establishment, at the Thurston County Environmental Health Office and its website.

Inspection notes for Sonja’s Café:

• An employee improperly washed their hands in the wrong sink.

• The handwashing facilities were inadequate. Some sinks lacked splash guards. Paper towels were absent in the women’s restroom.

• Whole shell raw eggs were stored above ready-to-eat-foods in a rear refrigerator.

• Potatoes were improperly cooled in greater than 2-inch amounts and covered.

• Rice in a rice cooker was held at 74-76 degrees rather than at or above 135 degrees.

• The rice cooker was not functioning properly to maintain safe food temperatures.

• Some foods such as leaf lettuce and tartar sauce were stored at room temperature.

• Some foods in a cold hold unit were above 41 degrees.

• Thermometers were not present and used to evaluate food temperatures.

• The menu lacked consumer advisories for cooked to order items such as eggs and burgers.

• A chlorine sanitizer solution was too strong.

• Sanitizer test kits were not available during inspection.

• In-use utensils were stored in standing water.

Inspection notes for Puerto Vallarta:

• An employee did not use a dedicated hand sink to wash their hands. Employees also washed their hands for less than 20 seconds.

• A hand sink had been removed from the bar. Workers used a dump sink/blender station as a hand sink instead.

• Some foods were improperly cooled. Sauces, rice and chicken were stored in a beer cooler in greater than 2-inch amounts. Some items were also covered while cooling.

• Buffet items and tacos were held at below 135 degrees. Items in a warming cabinet, such as tomatoes, were held at below 135 degrees.

• Several foods were held at above 41 degrees.

• Thermometers were not utilized to verify food safety temperatures.

• The menu lacked proper consumer advisories for some items that included raw or cooked to order ingredients.

• The facility used a cold hold unit known to be improperly functioning.

• Some food items were thawing at room temperature on a counter.

• A warewashing machine needed repair to properly sanitize items.

• Physical facilities, such as floors and counters, were not properly maintained.

Report restaurant, grocery store, deli or bakery complaints online via the program’s complaint form.