March 20, Staff Report
A trendy Astoria pizza joint was temporarily shut down for health code violations last week.
The Astoria location of citywide chain Artichoke Basille’s Pizza was shut down at the end of last week for racking up 33 health code violation points during a routine inspection, according to the Department of Health website.
The chain has nine locations throughout the city, and the Astoria branch located at 22-56 31st Street opened in March 2015. The pizzeria is best known for its creamy artichoke dip topped slice.
According to the report, the Astoria branch had several violations leading to its shutdown. The report listed one critical violation for the presence of live mice on the premises, and it was also penalized for not being properly vermin-proofed.
The Health Department doles out letter grades based on a point system, with more points equaling more serious sanitation issues. 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. Each point value is assigned based on the size and scale of the violation.
However, 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. THIS WAS IN THE ASTORIA POST 3/20/17 -