Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:16 on 2019-01-03 Permalink Reply  

• Bill Binns 10:38 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  I always read these articles peeking through my fingers with one eye. Thankfully, the only place on the list I have been to is Double Pizza. I will sleep at night by telling myself the Double Pizza at Berri UQAM (that has since closed) was “one of the good ones”.

  I like that one of the top violations is “interfering with inspector’s job”. I’m sure these guys have some stories to tell.

• Kate 10:43 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  I was a little appalled that Basha was #1 but I’ve been eating at various Basha locations on and off for years and never had the slightest issue with them. I also wonder: if Basha is getting something wrong, I’m pretty sure the same would apply to Amir and Boustan, but they’re not on the list at all. So is it possible the ones on the list are simply the ones that failed to pass across a brown envelope when the hint was dropped?

  Also, this city is obsessed with temperature. They don’t accept that Chinese BBQ is perfectly safe done the way Chinese BBQ has been done for centuries without killing people. They want Portuguese bakeries to take newly baked pasteis de nata and put them right into the fridge, where they’ll get cardboardy and cold. It’s ridiculous.

• dwgs 10:54 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  In my experience there are some good Basha (the one on Sherbrooke in NDG) and some really scary Basha (the one on the south west corner of Sherbrooke and Robert Bourassa). It really depends on the franchisee.

• qatzelok 11:37 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  One of the problems with chains like Basha is that, when the inspectors arrive, there is no owner to “offer” some compensation to the inspectors.

• Blork 11:45 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  I wish it were easier to get more details on these places and their violations. As Kate says, there tends to be an obsession with temperature, so a restaurant that frequently gets caught with fridges at 6C will come off much worse than a restaurant that occasionally gets caught selling putrid and worm-infested wild pigeon and labeling it as “chicken.”

  Related: the Double Pizza on de Maisonneuve and Pierce was closed for several weeks a few months ago, supposedly because of a plumbing problem. It’s not the best pizza ever, but is generally OK as a by-the-slice place (of which there is a distinct shortage at that end of town). It never struck me as the most sanitary place, what with the stinky garbage bins right around the corner and the back door always open. I’ve been going less frequently since they re-opened. But sometimes you need a slice and you only have a few minutes, so what’s a guy supposed to do?

• Blork 11:47 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  Oh, and I love that “Sushi Plus” gets fined for health violations. Sushi plus what? Plus salmonella? Mouse droppings? Cockroach eggs?

• Bill Binns 12:42 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  I have had a little food safety training as part of my job and I really wish I hadn’t. It’s not the city that is “obsessed with temperature” it’s the food safety industry. Some of these older home style or ethnic methods of food prep and storage may be 99% safe but that’s not good enough for a commercial operation that serves thousands of people.

  As far as the accusations of brown envelopes…. I doubt it. I know that is really saying something in this town but from the numbers in the article, it doesn’t seem like the fines are particularly devastating. This means the bribes to prevent the fines would be correspondingly small. Once the inspector takes anything from these people, he is now their slave. No need to bribe him next time he comes by. Just threaten to rat him out for taking the first bribe. Maybe make him was some dishes while he’s there too. $50 bucks isn’t worth risking a cushy government job.

  BTW – I attended a food safety seminar given by Couche Tard a few years back. The guy giving the presentation claimed that the restaurant food responsible for more food borne illness than any other is……. bar fruit. Those little lemon wedges, cherries etc that are tossed into drinks. Why? Dirty knives and improper holding temps.

• Tim S. 13:00 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  I would agree with Bill Binns about the bribes. When I had a job in the industry, my boss certainly wouldn’t have been above giving a bribe, but he still stressed the visits and “getting in the paper.” That said, he still tried his best to charm, cajole or argue with the inspectors, and often succeeded in buying us a little more time to fix whatever the problem was.

• Ian 14:27 on 2019-01-03 Permalink

  Quinghua on St Larry or Lincoln? Kind of important to note there. Also worth noting they call themselves Qing Hua on their signage so I wonder what’s up with that. They have the best regular dumplings in Chinatown but the worst service, I’ve switched to Mai Xiang Yuan, the soup dumplings place in any case because, well, soup dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao are just that much extra and the service is good. Srsly though, if I like a restaurant, I don’t care about these ratings. I’ve worked in enough restaurants of all stripes to know that the even the fanciest place could get a violation on an off day. Anyone who asks to see the kitchen at their favourite restaurant is just asking for heartache.

• GC 23:22 on 2019-01-04 Permalink

  Some commenters seem to have missed this part of the article: “To check on individual restaurants, consult the Quebec government’s inspection database.” The link (in the original article) works just fine. [It’s properly spelled “Qing Hua” on the government site. The CBC just messed it up. And it was the St-Laurent location, unfortunately. I prefer that one, although the service is terrible at both.]

  What annoys me is that a lot of the infractions are listed as being discovered in 2016, with a 2018 judgement. I know the wheels of justice turn slowly, but that’s kind of ridiculous. If there’s any real danger, think of how many people might eat there in the intervening two years.

• Kate 23:01 on 2019-01-06 Permalink

  GC, I’ve never done restaurant work, but I had the impression the inspectors can order immediate changes be made, or indeed the place closed down on the spot if it’s bad enough. It’s adjudicating the fines that takes time, not correcting the food safety problems.

• GC 00:23 on 2019-01-07 Permalink

  I’m sure you’re right. It just a bit frustrating because I’ve eaten there who-knows-how-many times since 2016.