Diner detectives: Health inspections unveil eateries' good, bad, ugly

(Two now-out-of-business, full-service restaurants actually had higher averages: Golden Dragon, 170 points, and Lo-Fi Cafe, 167 points. Twenty full-service, buffet and fast-food restaurants averaged more than 100 points per inspection.)

One buffet had even worse inspection scores. Crazy Buffet in West Valley City — which was closed once for a day by health inspectors in the period — had an average of 259 violation points per regular inspection. That is eight times higher than the 31.7 point average for all buffets and cafeterias in Salt Lake County.

Crazy Buffet did not respond to a hand-delivered letter seeking response.

Maybe the biggest surprise in the data is that the upscale, highly awarded Tuscany Restaurant in Holladay — which is rated among the top restaurants in the county by most reviewers — had the third-highest average violation point total among still-open, full-service restaurants in the county.

Its average was 108.7 points, or nearly three times higher than average for full-service restaurants — which could be troublesome for a restaurant where entrees cost up to $26.

Co-owner Mark Eaton, the former Utah Jazz star, said it quickly fixes all problems found and that most violations identified by inspectors were relatively minor. But of the 172 violations that inspectors listed in three inspections, 14 were deemed "critical," or considered a high threat to cause illness unless corrected quickly.

Eaton said publishing such information can be misleading. "The inspection process is premised upon subjectivity," he said. "In some cases an inspector may be lenient, and in other cases strict." (However, Delegge said inspectors receive the same training and use the same checklists.)

Eaton adds, "Reporting scores without providing analysis of business volume, numbers of meals, square footage, cooking and preparation space, variation in types of food served, etc., misleads the public."

His concerns are echoed by John Nikols, owner of Coachman's Dinner & Pancake House in Salt Lake City — which finished right behind Eaton's Tuscany with an average of 108.3 violation points per inspection.

"I have never once had even one customer come to me and complain that they have gotten sick at my restaurant. Furthermore, my family and I have eaten at Coachman's every day for the past 45 years and never gotten sick," he said. "We are a clean and responsible establishment that would never put our customers at risk. Never."