Long John’s Silver, CS Café in Falls Church Have a Critical Violation Each

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.

Long John’s Silver

7049 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church

Inspected Jan. 24: one critical violation, three non-critical violations

Sewage is leaking from one or both bathrooms from a pipe running along basement ceiling, into a plastic trash receptacle.

CS Café

3170 Fairview Park Drive, Falls Church

Inspected Jan. 24: one critical violation and one non-critical violation

Upon discussion with the person-in-charge, one or more of the elements of an effective employee health policy is either missing or incomplete. A complete employee health policy is required to be in place at the food establishment.