Bobcat bites: A look at safety ratings at Q-Card restaurants
By Cliff Nadel and Matthew Batten
Students who use Q-Cash at off- campus dining places will be happy to know that the average health and safety grade for these restaurants is an ‘A’. There are 24 dining options that accept Q-Cash in the area.
The Quinnipiack Valley Health District started giving restaurants a specific letter grade and publicizing them in July 2015. Within the first year of the program there were 11 ‘A’s, seven ‘B’s, and two ‘C’s among Q-Card restaurants.
While Quinnipiac officials say that they do monitor the health and safety grades, they wouldn’t remove any restaurants from the Q-Card list based on a single grade or inspection.
“Quinnipiac University chooses local area merchants to provide a well-rounded program and to allow students to use their Q-Cash at merchants they already prefer to frequent,” said Deric Waite of the Q-Card office.
“We do not restrict merchants to a specific health inspection grade, but we do certainly consider the overall grades in assessing whether a merchant is a good fit for our program.”
Sophomore Brian Moskey checks in on his food places. “I do not look to far into the letter grades but definitely know they are there. I pay attention just to make sure my food isn’t coming from a dump,” he said.
Moskey may be unusual among his peers. Out of the eight students interviewed about letter grades, Moskey was the only one to say he pays attention to the grades.
Currently, there are 14 ‘A’s, seven ‘B’s and no ‘C’s.
Ray and Mike’s Dairy and Deli is one of the most popular Q-Card restaurants and received a ‘C’ letter grade on its first inspection. Sorrento’s Brick Oven Pizza also previously had a ‘C.’ Now all restaurants that have Q-Card status are at least a B or higher, including both Sorrento’s and Ray and Mike’s.
Quinnipiac students seem generally unaware of these restaurant grades, which are reported by Quinnipiack Valley Health District.
Noelle Brasier is a senior at Quinnipiac University who lives off campus and uses Q-Cash all of the time. “I order food from Tonino’s and Falcon Pizza at least twice a week,” Brasier said.
Tonino’s Pizzeria has been a cornerstone in the Hamden and Quinnipiac communities since 1987. Falcon Pizza is the new kid on the block which took Quinnipiac by storm with its late hours and quick delivery.
When talking about restaurant ratings Brasier was extremely unfamiliar. “I don’t notice the ratings because everything gets delivered,” she said.
Brasier added that she has never heard of the Quinnipiack Valley Health District and has never visited their online website to check out the ratings for her favorite restaurants.
Most students agreed that the letter grade at their favorite restaurants has no impact on whether they order from there or not. All of them said that they would continue to eat at the same restaurants regardless of the letter grade they receive.
Brasier said that she would have to see something happen in the restaurant herself to stop going there.
