Restaurant inspection: Margrate’s Cafe fails follow-up inspection

Margrate’s Café in Atlanta recently earned a second consecutive health score in the 40s and was asked to close so management could attend a compliance conference with Fulton County health officials.

The restaurant, at 2001 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, earned 47/U on a routine inspection in early June, then followed with a 43/U on the re-inspection. While Margrate’s Café took care of the original code violations, they were slapped with a whole new set of food safety violations on the inspector’s follow-up visit.

The inspector noted several food items unprotected from contamination. Ribs were uncovered. Sauce was uncovered and stored underneath a shelf. Spices were uncovered in a bin underneath a dirty shelf. And broccoli casserole was also uncovered and subject to contaminants.

Some items were stored improperly. A carton of half-and-half was underneath a bin of ribs. Raw chicken was stored above raw fish in a reach-in cooler.

There was no thermometer in one of the coolers. There were no consistent expiration date markings for prepared foods.

Points were also taken off because the restaurant needed cleaning. The inspector observed soil build-up in the ice bin. Food contact surfaces were encrusted with debris. Other food contact surfaces were not cleaned following contamination, according to the inspection report.

The floors and kitchen equipment were also dirty with food debris. The inspector said the cooking equipment lacked adequate hood venting, resulting in vapors and smoke in the kitchen.