Friday, August 12th, 2011

Uno’s has reopened after being closed by the Department Of Health last week. While closed, it appears they took some clever steps to minimize the DOH’s signage.

I took this picture the other day after MUW readers Jamie & @JasonTuckerDNA mentioned that the restaurant had put up “Closed For Emergency Repairs” signs.

See that blank yellow sheet on the door? On the other side of it (the one you can’t see because the door is open), is the notice that the restaurant was shuttered by the Department of Health.

Obviously a sign saying “Closed For Emergency Repairs” is a lot less off-putting to people walking by than one that says “Closed By Order Of The Commissioner Of Health & Hygiene.”

Well played, Uno’s. Well played.

That yellow sign wasn’t the only one posted, and the restaurant couldn’t easily cover up the others. The picture below shows another window, this one on Columbus facing east.

It’s hard to appreciate the scale from the photo, but what the handmade sign did here was effectively take attention away from the DOH sign. One could see the larger sign from a good distance, but would have to get pretty close to be able to read the DOH notice. While “CLOSED” is easily visible, “By Order Of The Commissioner Of Health & Hygiene” is surprisingly small. Someone would have really had to go out of their way to inspect the smaller sign in order to realize what was going on.

Perhaps most importantly, “Closed For Emergency Repairs” sounds much better than “Closed because DOH found live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas, filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas, and inadequate personal cleanliness/ineffective hair restraint.”

As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m dubious of the whole restaurant inspection/rating system and it’s possible this situation sounds worse than it actually is. I don’t think I would automatically avoid a restaurant just because it had been closed at one point. I will, however, avoid Uno’s simply because it kind of sucks.

Filed under: Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 3 Comments »
Tags: cockroach, Department of Health, New York City, NYC, Pizzaria Uno, restaurant closure, Uno's, Uno's Bar And Grill, Uno's Chicago Grill, Upper West Side, UWS