May 8, 2017 Staff Report
An Astoria pizzeria has been temporarily shut down by the Health Department.
Fat Cats Pizza, located at 32-20 34th Avenue, was shut down on May 2 for racking up 53 violation points during a standard health inspection. As of Monday, the restaurant was still closed.
According to the Department of Health website, there were several critical and non-critical violations that led to the closure of the restaurant.
The critical violations included storing hot food below the required temperature, presence of live mice and preparing food in a contaminated area.
The Health Department gives out violation points based on the size and scale of each violation. Letter grades are then assigned to restaurants based on the points system. Any restaurant that receives between zero and 13 points receives an A grade, any receiving between 14 and 27 points gets a B grade, and any with 28 or more points gets a C grade.
If certain violations are considered especially problematic, the Health Department can shut down the restaurant. Once a restaurant is shut down by the Health Department, it will be re-inspected once per month until it scores below 28 points, or the Department will close it for serious and persistent violations.
