A York restaurant which only opened in November has scored a rare 0 out of 5 in its first food hygiene inspection.
City of York Council inspectors say ‘major improvement is needed’ at the Vitoria on Coppergate.
But the restaurant owners say they have addressed the ‘structural failures’ and have corrected all the problems.
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They are awaiting another inspection.
The Vitoria opened on 19 November after an extensive refit of what had been Russells Carvery until it closed in July 2019 after 32 years.
It boasts its own bespoke pizza oven, and also serves pasta, steak, fish and a range of cocktails.
Two days after opening, the council food safety team visited. It is relatively unusual to score zero in the food hygiene ratings, but this was the verdict:
- food hygiene and safety – major improvement necessary
- structural compliance – improvement necessary
- confidence in management – major improvement necessary.
Closed with immediate effect
Natasha Dent, operations manager at the Vitoria, said: “We were visited two days into opening and on our visit there had been some structural issues in the kitchen that we were unaware of.
“This didn’t align with the Food Standards Agency’s standards so we closed the restaurant with immediate effect.
“We then completed the work that was requested and were reinspected two days later and were told it was safe to open.
“The Environmental Health Officer was really impressed with the standards of the kitchen and we have subsequently registered for a re-inspection that we are waiting on to give us our new rating.”
The Vitoria restaurant has had 15 reviews on TripAdvisor since it opened, many of which are very positive.