The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Restaurant passes third health inspection
EAST HAMPTON — A restaurant along the shore of Lake Pocotopaug passed its third health inspection this week after failing the first two times, officials said.
Ryan McCammon, chief sanitarian for the Chatham Health District, said Robert’s LakeHouse passed its Sept. 7 inspection, with a total score of 93 out of 100 points.
Robert’s LakeHouse failed its first inspection with a 68 out of 100, the report shows. Four-point deductions were assessed because a cook did not wash their hands at the proper times, and food did not have the correct internal temperature. The inspector noted staff needed to be retrained on “glove use, hand-washing, holding temperatures and cooling procedures,” according to inspection documents.
The LakeHouse also had points deducted for improper food and equipment storage, the reports show.
A facility can fail its health inspection in one of two ways: either its total score is less than 80 points, or there are one or more four-point violations, McCammon said.
During a subsequent inspection Aug. 12, the LakeHouse earned a score of 79, the records show.
The second inspection, conducted during nonoperating hours, again found fourpoint violations, such as food being held at improper temperatures, the records show. The restaurant also lost points for flies in the kitchen and on food contact surfaces, according to the report.
At the time, owner Robert Reneson said the restaurant was working with the health department to fix the issues, noting he had a hearing with officials scheduled and a follow-up inspection planned.
Reneson said Friday that a health inspector stopped by the eatery, and gave him and staff pointers on what needed to be done: “just making sure that we were cooling stuff to the appropriate temperatures before we store them in our refrigerators overnight, and making sure that we are washing our hands between glove changes and things like that,” he said.
In the final inspection, the health department docked points for minor violations, such as Brussels sprouts not being washed before being cut and prepped (which was corrected on site), and a case of bread being stored on the floor of a walk-in freezer.
Reneson said the business is still open and operating as a safe establishment.
“No one has ever been sick, and we plan to keep it that way,” he said.