Triangle Waffle House gets ‘B’ for dirty kitchen utensils: Scores (Aug. 19)
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- Wake, Orange, Johnston, and Chatham counties reported all A-level grades
- Durham saw two B grades issued for sanitation violations at local eateries
- Violations included bare-hand food prep, expired milk use, and dirty surfaces
The News & Observer publishes a weekly roundup of restaurant sanitation scores to keep you up-to-date on the health grades at Triangle dining spots.
Sanitation scores and their corresponding letter grades are used in North Carolina to assess restaurants’ adherence to rules and standards intended to mitigate and prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses.
You’ve likely seen sanitation grade cards at restaurants you’ve visited, and The N&O previously explained what those scores mean and how they’re calculated.
Here are sanitation scores in Triangle counties from Aug. 5-11.
Wake County sanitation scores
The Wake County inspection management system shows that 99 restaurant inspections were completed Aug. 12-18.
- All restaurants received an A grade, or a score of at least 90%.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Wake County at bit.ly/4dGbJN3.
Durham County sanitation scores
The Durham County inspection management system shows 42 restaurant inspections were completed Aug. 12-18.
- Most restaurants received an A grade.
- Two restaurants received a B grade, or a score of at least 80% but lower than 90%.
Waffle House (3500 Hillsborough Rd. in Durham) received a score of 87.5% on Aug. 14.
- The restaurant was in violation of 16 standards.
- Violations included multiple containers of utensils above the grill found with food debris in them and a box of to-go containers found stored on the floor in the dry storage room. The interior, including gasket, and exteriors of the fliptop cooler, four door fridge, and more were also in need of cleaning.
- The restaurant previously scored 96% in January 2025.
Tacos Number Juan (910 Martin Luther King Jr Pkwy. in Durham) received a score of 86.5% on Aug. 12.
- The restaurant was in violation of 15 standards.
- Violations included an employee preparing garnish with bare hands, multiple wet wiping cloths stored on the prep counters and gallon of milk was observed opened without any date mark indicating when it was opened. Additionally, the same milk gallon was being used past its manufacturer’s expiration date.
- The restaurant previously scored 90.5% and 88% in May 2025.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Durham County at bit.ly/3pVQfpG.
Orange County sanitation scores
The Orange County inspection management system shows that 20 restaurant inspections were completed Aug. 12-18.
- All restaurants received an A grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Orange County at bit.ly/3eQqpxc.
Johnston County sanitation scores
The Johnston County inspection management system shows that 29 restaurant inspections were completed Aug. 12-18.
- All restaurants received an A grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Johnston County at bit.ly/4eEDuGr.
Chatham County sanitation scores
The Chatham County inspections management system shows that six restaurant inspections were completed Aug. 12-18.
- All restaurants received an A grade.
You can search all restaurant inspections in Chatham County at bit.ly/3JfiHwq.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Triangle Waffle House gets ‘B’ for dirty kitchen utensils: Scores (Aug. 19)."