CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Feeling cooped up after the winter weather this week and can't wait to get out this weekend?
Before you make those dinner reservations, you'll want to check the health inspection reports of your favorite restaurants because you never know what's going on in the kitchen.
Every week, Bill McGinty tries to look for the lowest scores, but sometimes even popular and expensive places can have low A grades.
First up this week is the Wendy's at 6849 Matthews-Mint Hill Road. They had hand-washing issues and they had salad and raw beef holding above 41 degrees. And some of their food was out of time stamp specifications. Food is only allowed to sit a certain period of time and has to be sold or tossed.
The grade at Wendy's was a 90, the lowest A. Click here to view their full inspection report.
Next up is The Cottage on North Tryon. The inspector here noted that the person in charge didn't really have any control over important things like food prep, cleanliness and even employee health. Someone here was handling food, touching their phone, putting hands in their pockets and then returning to food prep. They were also storing raw beef and raw chicken in the same container.
As for pest control, it looks like they need it. There were lots of fruit flies and dead pests in the place. The grade at The Cottage was an 80.5, that's a very low B. Click here to view their full inspection report.
Last up is a very popular sports bar in uptown: The Carolina Ale House on College Street. They had chili that was cooked the day before that still hadn't cooled off. Foods only have six hours to cool to 41 degrees, so they threw it away. They also had grilled onions and mashed potatoes holding below 135 degrees, so they were tossed.
The grade at Carolina Ale House was an 84, that's a B. Click here to view the full inspection report.