Saturday, August 6th, 2011

UPDATE 8/12: Uno’s has reopened (after cleverly obscuring Department of Health signage)

Tough week for Upper West Side restaurants… First Planet Sushi is accused of lacing their “spicy sauce” with jizz, and now Pizzaria Uno (432 Columbus, at 81st) has been shuttered by the Department Of Health.

While I’m loath to post stuff about restaurant grades (I think the grading system stinks), I’m willing to give the DOH the benefit of the doubt in situations where they see fit to actually close a place. In this case, there appears to be some legit nastiness going on.

MyUpperWest reader Eric sent in the photo above, taken last night. Uno’s failed a DOH inspection on Thursday due to a variety of sanitary violations, including these juicy three:

1. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
2. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
3. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

I’ve seen restaurant reports with similar violations that didn’t result in closure, so either someone at Uno’s pissed off the inspector or this place was legitimately filthy.

The inspection on Thursday was Uno’s fourth of 2011 — they had scored no lower than a “B” the previous three times, the most recent being June 14th (coincidentally, the 24 year anniversary of the “Magic Loogie”). They actually scored an “A” on February 16th.

Somehow the restaurant went from”not too shabby” in the middle of June to “unfit for humans” at the beginning of August. Again, I’m dubious of the system, but just FYI.

These closings are usually temporary (until the violations are resolved), so the restaurant will probably reopen within a few days.

Filed under: Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 2 Comments »
Tags: 432 Columbus, Department of Health, DOH, New York City, NYC, Pizzaria Uno, restaurant grades, Uno Chicago Grill, Uno's Bar And Grill, Upper West Side, UWS