Dirty, dirty, dirty.

Darbar Grill in NYC is a dirty restaurant badly lacking in hygiene.

Folks, if you are planning on a meal at Darbar Grill Indian restaurant (157 East 55th St in Midtown East Manhattan ) you must read this post completely. 

Food at Darbar Grill is not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service, says the New York City Department of Health after inspecting this Indian restaurant on December 3, 2009.

Also, milk or milk product at Darbar Grill is undated, improperly dated or expired.

Further, the NYC Health Dept. inspection report of December 3, 2009 also noted that Darbar Grill Indian restaurant is not vermin proof, harborage or conditions conducive to vermin infestation exist; there is evidence of, or live mice in the facility’s food and/or non-food areas and personal hygiene is inadequate, clean outer garments and effective hair restraint is not worn.

Darbar Grill Indian restaurant in Midtown East Manhattan received a whopping 60 Violation Points and failed the NYC Health Dept. inspection of December 3, 2009.

To pass the NYC Health Dept. inspection, a restaurant must receive 27 Violation Points or less.

Sanitary Violations observed at Darbar Grill during the December 3, 2009 inspection:

1.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
2.) Milk or milk product undated, improperly dated or expired. Continue Reading…

The last few times we spoke to NYC Indian restaurateur Satinder Sharma, a.k.a. Sati the man seemed to delight in badmouthing his rival desi restaurateur, the Bollywood star Shiva Natarajan (crocodile in the pond, very insecure, bad execution of Dhaba, anger management issues, a whiner et al were some of the juicy epithets Sati hurled at Shiva) or bragging about how much $$ he’d spent on cleaning up the basement of his flagship Brick Lane Curry House Indian restaurant on E.6th St in New York City or blowing his own trumpet (‘what I’m doing is right‘).

Oh wait, on one occasion the fella also went on and on ad nauseum ad infinitum about his obsession with hygiene at his restaurants, a fixation Sati proudly claimed to have picked up from his early days working on a cruise ship.

Folks, like a lot of desis this Sati fella is big on blah blah blah but seems low on action.

You see the New York City Health Department has recently put out a nasty report on Sati’s Brick Lane Curry Indian restaurant. Continue Reading..

Hygiene, it seems, is not a word found in desi restaurateur Nandita Khanna’s lexicon.

Nandita’s high-end Utsav Indian restaurant in New York City continues to be plagued by serious hygiene issues.

A recent NYC Health Dept inspection of Utsav (11/30/2009) brought up sewage disposal, adulterated food, live mice and vermin issues.

Yeeks.

Raw, cooked or prepared food at Utsav is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated and/ or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan, says the NYC Health Dept. after conducting an inspection of this Indian restaurant on November 30, 2009.

Also, Utsav Festive India restaurant facility is not vermin proof, harborage or conditions conducive to vermin infestation exist and there is evidence of, or live mice in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas, according to the NYC Health Dept. Continue Reading..