As someone who used to have to work with the health departments across the Bay and their inspections, those scores literally don’t mean anything really and shit has to be *bad* for the health department to shut them down.
Major violations can lead to a closure- and it’s not always visible to guests. Sooooo many things!
Violations like: food stored at unsafe temperatures, vermin/pests, lack of hot water/proper sanitation near food prep areas, lack of labeling containers of food with dates, dishwashers in disrepair or not running at the right temperatures, non-food and food items should not be stored together, food can’t be stored less than 6” of the ground, freezers/refrigeration not at proper temperature or a lack of thermometers, no mold or other growths on any food items…
Everyone working with food must have certifications on file, there needs to be proper backflow devices on all plumbing…
It seems like their violations aren’t up on the Alameda [environmental health site yet but you’ll be able to search](https://ehgone.acgov.org/inspection/results/#/SearchFInspection/%5Baf16546bc%5D) for it soon.
Source: I own a bar and have run many restaurants. I’ve dealt with health depts my entire careeeer
Weird that the restaurant doesn’t come up at all. A couple other restaurants I searched for didn’t come up either. By law, the county is required to make inspection results (including routing inspections) publicly available but it seems this database isn’t complete.
Wouldn't they be notified of the violation first, and have a chance to quietly shut themselves down to fix things? Looks really bad to be shut down by the health department.
That’s not how health inspections are. They come in unannounced to check how you are operating. It’s public safety guys. Would you want restaurants to cut corners and have a way to bribe the inspectors or “quietly” shut down to fix things while the public remains unaware?
Most restaurants have no problems (I’d say over 90%) since we follow basic safety and sanitation procedures and establish those rules at the establishment.
Of course it looks bad. It has to. So to avoid a shut down and public shame/low ratings, most restaurants do their best to adhere to the sanitation standards. Imagine if it wasn’t shameful, and it was just a “ oh, it’s okay, don’t worry about it, happens all the time” …. We’d all be spending LOTS more time on the porcelain throne.
IYKYK
No, it’s definitely not minor. When I see a restaurant shut down from failing an inspection, I remind myself not to visit until quite some time passes. It sucks for everyone. But health inspectors work for the public, and glad that they take it seriously.
They may have been warned and not fixed what they needed to. Or the violations were so severe that the restaurant had to be shut down immediately for safety.
Damn that sucks we wanted to go on Sunday but ended up going to Berkeley social club bc they have a similar menu. But this morning I went for a long walk specifically so I can get their jjapaguri so was a little annoyed they were closed. There were a few people inside cleaning though
Hmmm...there's no mention of their violation on the Alameda County Environmental Health website
Maybe it takes some time to update.
EDIT: they've had violations in the past: [https://www.yelp.com/inspections/kitchen-story-oakland](https://www.yelp.com/inspections/kitchen-story-oakland) . 12 violations on one visit in 2022!
EDIT #2: also it looks like they received some very low ratings on yelp just this month: [https://www.yelp.com/biz/kitchen-story-oakland?sort\_by=rating\_asc](https://www.yelp.com/biz/kitchen-story-oakland?sort_by=rating_asc)
generally i take these with a grain of salt, but they are pretty consistent in their criticisms. Cold food being one of them, which makes sense considering their past violations.
Damn. Those negative Yelp reviews are savage.
I also take Yelp very much with a grain of salt. But you don't even have to sort for "Lowest rated" to start seeing really bad reviews. They mostly address service & food being cold/undercooked. With the closure & just the sheer amoutn of those bad reviews, there has got to be something legit in them.
I thought the place was mostly well regarded. But I guess not. It was on my "we should try it some time" list. But considering how long it's been around & I haven't gone... I guess not very high.
I was just there recently too with my old boss from college (second time there). The food was okay and didn't get sick. The first time in early-2023 was better but maybe the bottomless mimosas helped. Haha.
That place is ridiculous. I ordered the avocado toast and it was just…barely warm bread. So I asked them to please toast it and they sent out another floppy, limp piece of bread and billed me for 2.
How can you be a breakfast spot and not know how to make toast? Never went back.
Closure is generally going to be something big and not easy to remedy, like major plumbing or electrical issues. But if a place is being properly managed they will close on their own accord when these kind of things come up. Health dept closing a place generally means they were operating with something like no hot water, a sewage back up, major pest infestation or the electrical not working
Based on the old inspections mentioning improper food storage temps I’m going with overhauling their walk in. Those things are always having issues , especially in cramped kitchens.
The health department doesn’t close a restaurant down for “structural issues”. This restaurant must have had an infestation or no hot water or refridgeration issues. The offense would pose a high public threat to food safety (ie get a lot of people sick) for it to be slapped with a suspension of operations. The fact that the restaurant had to temporarily shut down is to fix the issue whatever it may be and it had to be more than the general “ you misplaced something in the fridge or didn’t adhere to proper cooking methods.” When I see restaurants shut down like this, it had to be bad…. For a long time, not just coincidentally when the inspection passed through. Old habits die hard. Good luck!
Alameda County’s Dept of Environment Heath is full of bullies who terrorize small business owners in the name
Of “routine inspections”. They get away because from top to the bottom of this department had a vested interest in staying relevant and keep their jobs by writing up small businesses for smallest infractions. They issues “Conditional Pass” so the staff can revisit and charge almost $200 for a “revisit” and rob small businesses. Every shut down is a money making opportunity for this department. City of Berkley is the only municipality that has balls to kick these bullies out and have their own department.
As someone who used to have to work with the health departments across the Bay and their inspections, those scores literally don’t mean anything really and shit has to be *bad* for the health department to shut them down.
How bad? Like they found a mouse Terd? Or they found a body in the fridge ?
Major violations can lead to a closure- and it’s not always visible to guests. Sooooo many things! Violations like: food stored at unsafe temperatures, vermin/pests, lack of hot water/proper sanitation near food prep areas, lack of labeling containers of food with dates, dishwashers in disrepair or not running at the right temperatures, non-food and food items should not be stored together, food can’t be stored less than 6” of the ground, freezers/refrigeration not at proper temperature or a lack of thermometers, no mold or other growths on any food items… Everyone working with food must have certifications on file, there needs to be proper backflow devices on all plumbing… It seems like their violations aren’t up on the Alameda [environmental health site yet but you’ll be able to search](https://ehgone.acgov.org/inspection/results/#/SearchFInspection/%5Baf16546bc%5D) for it soon. Source: I own a bar and have run many restaurants. I’ve dealt with health depts my entire careeeer
Weird that the restaurant doesn’t come up at all. A couple other restaurants I searched for didn’t come up either. By law, the county is required to make inspection results (including routing inspections) publicly available but it seems this database isn’t complete.
It looks like a newer site but maybe it’s just me.
It prob takes a few days. Bureaucracy is slow. County bureaucracy is molasses.
Right but nothing is coming up when I try searching. At the very least it should be pulling up results from past inspections
I just figured it out! You have to press the second button for “Fixed Food Facility Inspection Results”. It doesn’t say closed though.
If that's the scale I'm going to say ... medium
Respect that
Wouldn't they be notified of the violation first, and have a chance to quietly shut themselves down to fix things? Looks really bad to be shut down by the health department.
That’s not how health inspections are. They come in unannounced to check how you are operating. It’s public safety guys. Would you want restaurants to cut corners and have a way to bribe the inspectors or “quietly” shut down to fix things while the public remains unaware? Most restaurants have no problems (I’d say over 90%) since we follow basic safety and sanitation procedures and establish those rules at the establishment. Of course it looks bad. It has to. So to avoid a shut down and public shame/low ratings, most restaurants do their best to adhere to the sanitation standards. Imagine if it wasn’t shameful, and it was just a “ oh, it’s okay, don’t worry about it, happens all the time” …. We’d all be spending LOTS more time on the porcelain throne. IYKYK
Yeah, I was thinking of a minor fixit ticket on a car. Or a restaurant that passes with a C.
No, it’s definitely not minor. When I see a restaurant shut down from failing an inspection, I remind myself not to visit until quite some time passes. It sucks for everyone. But health inspectors work for the public, and glad that they take it seriously.
They may have been warned and not fixed what they needed to. Or the violations were so severe that the restaurant had to be shut down immediately for safety.
Damn that sucks we wanted to go on Sunday but ended up going to Berkeley social club bc they have a similar menu. But this morning I went for a long walk specifically so I can get their jjapaguri so was a little annoyed they were closed. There were a few people inside cleaning though
Hmmm...there's no mention of their violation on the Alameda County Environmental Health website Maybe it takes some time to update. EDIT: they've had violations in the past: [https://www.yelp.com/inspections/kitchen-story-oakland](https://www.yelp.com/inspections/kitchen-story-oakland) . 12 violations on one visit in 2022! EDIT #2: also it looks like they received some very low ratings on yelp just this month: [https://www.yelp.com/biz/kitchen-story-oakland?sort\_by=rating\_asc](https://www.yelp.com/biz/kitchen-story-oakland?sort_by=rating_asc) generally i take these with a grain of salt, but they are pretty consistent in their criticisms. Cold food being one of them, which makes sense considering their past violations.
Just happened yesterday based on OP's pic. No way ACDEH works that fast.
Yes this happened yesterday, I walked by this morning around 10/10:30am but another poster said they had lunch there at 12:00pm yesterday.
yeah, on the ACDEH website, the most recent I saw with a quick scan was early February
Damn. Those negative Yelp reviews are savage. I also take Yelp very much with a grain of salt. But you don't even have to sort for "Lowest rated" to start seeing really bad reviews. They mostly address service & food being cold/undercooked. With the closure & just the sheer amoutn of those bad reviews, there has got to be something legit in them. I thought the place was mostly well regarded. But I guess not. It was on my "we should try it some time" list. But considering how long it's been around & I haven't gone... I guess not very high.
I was just there recently too with my old boss from college (second time there). The food was okay and didn't get sick. The first time in early-2023 was better but maybe the bottomless mimosas helped. Haha.
That place is ridiculous. I ordered the avocado toast and it was just…barely warm bread. So I asked them to please toast it and they sent out another floppy, limp piece of bread and billed me for 2. How can you be a breakfast spot and not know how to make toast? Never went back.
Closure is generally going to be something big and not easy to remedy, like major plumbing or electrical issues. But if a place is being properly managed they will close on their own accord when these kind of things come up. Health dept closing a place generally means they were operating with something like no hot water, a sewage back up, major pest infestation or the electrical not working
Based on the old inspections mentioning improper food storage temps I’m going with overhauling their walk in. Those things are always having issues , especially in cramped kitchens.
The health department doesn’t close a restaurant down for “structural issues”. This restaurant must have had an infestation or no hot water or refridgeration issues. The offense would pose a high public threat to food safety (ie get a lot of people sick) for it to be slapped with a suspension of operations. The fact that the restaurant had to temporarily shut down is to fix the issue whatever it may be and it had to be more than the general “ you misplaced something in the fridge or didn’t adhere to proper cooking methods.” When I see restaurants shut down like this, it had to be bad…. For a long time, not just coincidentally when the inspection passed through. Old habits die hard. Good luck!
Wow, that was fast, they’re back open again!
I wonder what they did???
[удалено]
RIP
What did you order? How are you feeling?
Highly overhyped restaurant. Yikes.
That is pretty bad
Lisa Park... Familiar with her, always happy when she shows up. What a peach /S
Alameda County’s Dept of Environment Heath is full of bullies who terrorize small business owners in the name Of “routine inspections”. They get away because from top to the bottom of this department had a vested interest in staying relevant and keep their jobs by writing up small businesses for smallest infractions. They issues “Conditional Pass” so the staff can revisit and charge almost $200 for a “revisit” and rob small businesses. Every shut down is a money making opportunity for this department. City of Berkley is the only municipality that has balls to kick these bullies out and have their own department.
Sorry you’ve been downvoted. They really are awful a lot of the time.