Two York County Restaurants Earn B Grades In September, Both Upgraded On Follow-Up

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture conducted 298 restaurant and food service inspections in York County in September. All but two ended with an A grade. Hickory Tavern in Rock Hill and Lake Wylie Pizza in York each received a B. Both restaurants earned their A back on follow-up inspections later in the month. No establishment in the county received a C.

Every restaurant in the state must post its grade at the entrance. The inspection reports behind those grades are public record and show what inspectors found in local kitchens.

Under the state’s system, an establishment scoring 88 to 100 points earns an A, 78 to 87 points earns a B, and 77 or below earns a C. Inspectors can also lower a grade regardless of the score when a priority violation shows up on consecutive inspections. Priority violations are the ones most directly linked to foodborne illness.

Hickory Tavern, Rock Hill

Hickory Tavern, 2674 Celanese Road, Suite 101, received an A on a routine inspection Sept. 1 and was required to have a follow-up. On that Sept. 8 follow-up, the restaurant scored 96 points but received a B. According to the report, the grade was lowered because a priority violation from the earlier visit had not been fixed. The inspector found drain flies in the mop sink, around the bar and near the dish area. The report also cited organic buildup on shelving in dry storage and in the walk-in cooler, as well as a missing vent cover over the dish machine.

The department returned for a second follow-up Sept. 15, and Hickory Tavern’s grade was restored to an A.

Lake Wylie Pizza, York

Lake Wylie Pizza, 1075 Filbert Highway, scored 82 points on a routine inspection Sept. 11. The inspector found food in a lowboy cooler under the grill above the safe cold-holding limit of 41 degrees. Sliced cheese measured 51 degrees, cooked vegetables 48 degrees, sliced tomatoes 47 degrees and cooked pasta 45 degrees. The report also noted an employee cutting and plating a sandwich without gloves, and a container of cooked lasagna with no date mark. Staff corrected all three problems during the inspection.

The restaurant could not produce the supplier documentation required for serving undercooked salmon, and that problem was not corrected on site. Because the inspector found two or more priority violations, the person in charge was also cited. Lesser violations included salmon thawed inside its sealed packaging, buckets of pizza sauce stored on the walk-in cooler floor, and a rear door propped open. Cooking, reheating and hot-holding temperatures were all within the proper range.

Lake Wylie Pizza earned an A on a follow-up inspection Sept. 16, five days after the routine visit.

Checking a restaurant’s grade

Residents can look up any restaurant’s current grade and full inspection history with the SC Food Grades tool on the Department of Agriculture’s website, agriculture.sc.gov.