Forum Topic

Restaurent and Takeaway food hygiene ratings

I got this from one of the other forums: The council no longer use the scores on the doors website, so for up to date information on food business hygiene ratings visit the food hygiene rating scheme at http://ratings.food.gov.uk/search/en-GB?refla=IaF9unN08vE%3d&sm=1I was happy to see my favouriate indian takeaway (Mumbai 2 Go) has a 5/5 rating.

S Bradford ● 5196d21 Comments

Message removed at author's request

Helen ODoherty ● 5195d

Oh dear, Anokha only has a 1 too :-(  North China has a 3.

Amanda Knights ● 5195d

Goodness - only '1' for Lavelli? It's a miracle you're still with us, Sara!

Steve Donnelly ● 5195d

North China would certainly get a 5/5 in my books...

Ellie Rose ● 5195d

All the shops at the end of Churchfield Road in which Lavelli is located all look as though they would have a 1 rating if that.  All could do with a good window and frontage clean up.  The flats above look as though they are in a terrible state.Are the pigeons still nesting in the rooftops/gutterings at that end of Churchfield Road.

Dee Cook ● 5194d

Wrong end of Churchfield Road maybe?  Lavelli is at the opposite end to the pigeons.It's odd that all these places with 1-2 ratings haven't been inspected in over a year, so have they improved?

N Roberts ● 5194d

There are a lot of food outlets in W3 with a 0, 1 or 2 rating, ie "Urgent Improvement", "Major Improvement" or "Improvement" needed.  I wonder if there are any common problems? e.g staff toilet facilities, waste food collection facilities, or worse. Given there are so many, Ealing Council should be getting to grips with this and advise / help / penalise businesses a lot more. How can so many outlets be allowed to operate long term with such low ratings?

S Bradford ● 5194d

Dee you surely have the wrong end of Churchfield Rd?  I am surprised as I got the impression you live in Poets Corner?  Surely you know Lavelli is the nice end of Churchfield Rd near Anglea Malik,  The Rocket,  Station House etc.

Jen Morty ● 5194d

whoops, got confused with the couple of resturants the other end who had pigeon droppings on the pavement outside their premises.  Apologies to Lavelli.I would say however, that one person's 'hygenic' is not necessarily the view of the Council's Environmental Health Department.There are many educated people where I work who do not wash their hands after using the toilet!

Dee Cook ● 5193d

Not only restaurants listed on there...Here's a few others I found... Londis - 0: Urgent improvement needed!Morrisons - 5. The Rocket - 4.

James Vertigan ● 5193d

It would appear that corporate run businesses generally have a better rating than smaller independant ones - for example McDonalds gets a 5, but Chicken Spot gets a 0.Lets hope that some of the low scoring ones have improved since their last inspection!

Amanda Knights ● 5192d

My guess is that the majority of customers will never bother to look online and so will be none the wiser.  That gives the outlet very little incentive to improve.If, as in New York, caterers were obligated to display their rating in the window, they would soon improve.

N Roberts ● 5192d

It would be a good idea then to copy New York and ensure that the food hygiene ratings are displayed in the shop. This way we can perhaps feel more confident eating food from that establishment.Another thought, how often are the premises checked? If it is only every few years the situation may well have change, say under new management etc, so the good rating (or bad) may no longer apply!

Jean F Fernandez ● 5192d

According to the website, the frequency of inspection is related to the urgency, which is why I wonder how useful this is.Anokha and Laveli, which both scored 1 haven't been inspected since last Aug/Sept.  Bombay Bistro scored a 2 and hasn't been inspected for well over a year.They need to put more pressure for the business to improve quickly but, without showing signs on the premises and more frequent inspections for low-scoring outlets, the customer has to risk food poisoning for maybe a year or two...  Doesn't seem a particularly useful programme for anyone but the food outlet who seems to have little to lose.

N Roberts ● 5192d

Whoever came up with this scoring system needs to be sacked.Several places (Anokha, Laveli, Station Cafe, Londis, Rocket) are now displaying Food Standards Agency score stickers in their windows.Trouble is, they're completely different to the scores on the website, making the entire thing useless.For example, Anokha scores 1 on the website, but shows a 5 in the window.  Which is correct?  Do I go, safe in the knowledge I can enjoy my meal, or risk food poisoning? Since the window stickers have no date, they're pointless!  They're also a lot more easily forged than the website scores.Is this just Ealing council's ongoing incompetence?  Not only is it a waste of time, they are potentially damaging local businesses if the scores on the website are not up to date.

N Roberts ● 5181d

The Station Cafe sticker is showing 5 stars - the same as on the website.  One of the few eating places on Churchfield Road with 5 stars.  I know that the owner is very proud of the fact.

Nigel Williams ● 5181d

Hi Nigel, he is indeed and rightly so.I'm alarmed to hear that the ratings in the window don't match those on the website for some shops.I contacted the department that issues them and mentioned that the displaying of the results being non compulsory was to my mind a mistake. Of course everyone with 4 or 5 will want to show this off as a marketing ploy, whereas an with ) or 1 clearly wouldn't. I as a potential customer would be very keen to know the rating of everywhere i am about to eat in, especially if they are only scoring 0 or 1.I also suggested the rating wasn't really informative enough and it would be of more use to have ratings based on specific areas (i.e. food storage, kitchen hygiene etc). I feel that a single rating doesn't tell me enough. Whern I look at some of the places that did very badly, they look to me to be quite clean, so I'd like to know where exactly they are failing.Regards, Carl

Carl Tamboli ● 5180d

I don't buy this. If an owner or manager has the mind-set to run a dirty establishment until they get caught, an annual inspection is not going to ensure that they don't pick food up from the floor, or that they wash their hands or refrain from picking their nose or scratching their privates while cooking. If they are given a low rating I won't go there again however many stars they achieve on a good day.

R Bell ● 5180d

And you only have to use the loo in some establishments to get an idea of how much they care about cleanliness.

R Bell ● 5180d

A friend once gave me a good tip - try and visit the toilets in a restaurant BEFORE ordering a meal to check whether the premises are clean, hopefully the kitchen will also be clean!

Jean F Fernandez ● 5180d

I can't seem to find the details of exactly what they score and how.  For example, could it be they turn up when a bin hadn't been emptied because the restaurant was busy, thus losing marks (and how many?  1, half, 2?).Unless I've missed it, I think it needs more detail before being worth listening to.  I eat at Balti House on Horn Lane.  The place is rammed every day and I've never been ill, yet it gets given a 1. Maybe I'm not neurotic enough about germs!!

Sarah Harris ● 5179d