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We Don't Care About Health Code Violations if the Food Is Cheap and Tasty

By Nicole Levy | January 4, 2016 5:28pm | Updated on January 5, 2016 6:56pm
 The city's first Chick-fil-A opened on 37th Street and 6th Avenue in October.
The city's first Chick-fil-A opened on 37th Street and 6th Avenue in October.
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Getty/Andrew Renneisen

The city’s first Chick-fil-A, which shuttered Wednesday after health inspectors cited the kitchen for several violations, just reopened for New Yorkers who were hoping to break their healthy eating resolutions as soon as possible.

The chain's Herald Square location was shut to address issues like its failure to keep food at proper temperatures and flies in the restaurant. It racked up 59 points for violations — 28 is a failing grade — during an inspection on Dec. 24. 

In general, the Health Department can order a restaurant to close temporarily if it can't correct public health hazards before an inspection's end and/or if it scores 28 or more points on three consecutive inspections.

You may be grossed out by the thought of flies setting on those Chick-n-Strips you ordered before the holidays, but take heart. Management said it closed down over the weekend at its own discretion.

"On December 30th, the decision was made to voluntarily close Chick-fil-A at 37th and 6th after a city health inspection cited the restaurant for six violations," a statement on the corporation's website said.

"We are taking these violations seriously and felt the decision to close was the right one, ensuring we could focus solely on correcting the issues reported including: fruit flies in the restaurant, maintaining cold food temperatures, improper storage of an empty container and wiping cloths not being sanitized properly."

A look at the results of city health department restaurant inspections dating back to 2012 reveals a pattern among some businesses that health officials have shut down repeatedly for the same offenses, sometimes twice in one year.

New Yorkers will make countless excuses for unsanitary restaurants that serve delicious and inexpensive food, and it would seem as though some eateries would rather pay annual fines — most ranging between $200 and $1,000 each — than the year-round expenses of maintaining health department standards. 

The legendary Brooklyn pizzeria Di Fara, considered by some to serve the best pizza in the city, has been shut down several times over the past decade — twice in 2007, once in 2011 and two times again in 2013.

That hasn't stopped loyal customers from patronizing the place.

When the Chipotle on 110th Street on the Upper West Side temporarily closed last June after earning a whopping 90 points for violations, Columbia students "t[ook] to social media outlets such as Snapchat [to express] their grief due to the loss of the much-loved eatery," the Columbia Spectator reported

Of course, not every restaurant closing gets the same kind of publicity as those of Di Fara, Chipotle or Prosperity Dumpling. You can do your research using this open data set, with entries from 2012 to 2015. Here are three restaurants that collected some of the most violations over those four years and suffered closures as a result:

Broadway Chinese Seafood, at 83-17 Broadway in Elmhurst, Queens has been closed three times. Eight months after the DOH closed the Cantonese-style restaurant after an inspection Aug. 22, 2012, it discovered repeat offenses such as the presence of roaches and "evidence of mice or live mice." That hasn't stopped some Yelp reviewers from gushing about the "amazing home cooked goodness" on the menu, all available at "cheap" prices.

Mike's Restaurant has been closed seven times since Nov. 4, 2013, repeatedly for mice and improper refrigeration of cold foods. Yelp reviewers commend the Mott Haven joint at 232 East 144th Street in the Bronx for its "good diner food" at a "good value."

El Castillo de Yaque, at 4606 5th Ave in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, ties with Mike's for seven closures. The Spanish restaurant has received several citations for hosting cockroaches, failing to keep hot and cold foods at the right temperatures and falling short when it comes to protecting food from contamination. A month after inspectors found evidence of rodents in the kitchens on March 20, 2015, they returned to find the situation unchanged. Still, Yelp users describe El Castillo as a hole-in-the-wall place that offers "authentic food" at cheap prices.

We promise we won't judge you (too harshly) if you queue up to get your $3 chicken sandwich and your $1.85 large Southern-style sweet tea when the Chick-fil-A reopens.