Critical Violations at Three Falls Church Restaurants

In Virginia, restaurant inspection reports are not quite as simple as getting a letter grade or an easy-to-see number rating to post in the front window.

With that said, we all want to know how our favorite restaurants stack up on cleanliness and sanitation.

A "critical violation" is one that "poses a direct or immediate threat to the safety of the food being served." Non-critical violations are generally related to cleaning or maintenance.

"Ideally, an operation would have no critical violations, or none which are not corrected immediately and not repeated. In our experience, it is unrealistic to expect that a complex, full-service food operation can routinely avoid any violations," according to the Virginia Department of Health's website.

The site continues: "Keep in mind that any inspection report is a 'snapshot' of the day and time of the inspection. On any given day, a restaurant could have fewer or more violations than noted in the report. An inspection conducted on any given day may not be representative of the overall, long-term cleanliness of an establishment."

In the past month, the following Falls Church restaurants have been inspected by the VDH. The full reports can be accessed on the health department's website.

Burger King #316

700 W. Broad St., Falls Church

Inspected March 5: two critical violations, four non-critical violations

Observed the hand sink at the burger line being used as a dump sink.

Full Kee Restaurant

5830 Columbia Pike, Falls Church

Inspected March 7: three critical violations, eight non-critical violations

Observed the hand sink at the dishwashing area being used to store soiled wiping towels.

Uptown Bistro

6400 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church

Inspected March 7: four critical violations, one non-critical violation

Raw animal food holding in a manner that may cause cross contamination of ready-to-eat food as follows: raw chicken over pupusa dough in walk-in cooler- food employee rearranged chicken to the bottom shelf. raw beef in the same container as bologna in turbo air 3dr prep top cooler, raw bacon over cooked bacon in 3dr prep top cooler-CFM removed and rearranged items.