Marietta Square Restaurant Fails Health Inspection With Score of 43

A popular Marietta restaurant received a failing health score of 43 out of 100 during a routine inspection last week, with inspectors finding serious food safety violations that put customers at risk.

What It Means For You: If you ate at The Marietta Local on Roswell Street this month, you may have been exposed to improperly handled food. The restaurant had to throw away multiple food items during the inspection.

What Happened: An inspector found 11 violations during the September 24 inspection.

• A cook touched raw chicken, changed gloves without washing hands, then touched bread and clean equipment. The contaminated bread was thrown away.
• Multiple foods were stored at unsafe temperatures, including butter sitting at 69 degrees when it should have been 41 degrees or colder.
• The restaurant was also not displaying its previous health inspection score.

The Most Serious Problems: Inspectors found workers breaking basic food safety rules that could make people sick.

• Raw chicken was stored above eggs and vegetables in the cooler, which can spread harmful bacteria.
• Grits were being served at 130 degrees and mashed potatoes at 128 degrees. Hot food must be kept at 135 degrees or higher to prevent bacteria growth.
• An employee washed hands in a food prep sink instead of the handwashing sink.
• Meatloaf that was eight days old was still being stored, even though cooked food must be thrown out after seven days.

What Got Thrown Away: The restaurant had to discard chicken, bacon, meatloaf, bread, grits, and multiple items from both the walk-in cooler and grill cooler during the inspection.

Between the Lines: This is the second time in recent inspections the restaurant has been cited for improper cold food storage and employees drinking water near food storage areas.

What Happens Next: The restaurant must fix all violations and pass a follow-up inspection. You can call the Cobb County Health Department at 770-435-7815 for more information about this inspection or to check if a follow-up inspection has been completed.

The Sources: Georgia Department of Public Health.