A Covington restaurant with a sushi station drew the lowest health inspection score in Tipton County from Aug. 31 through Sept. 18, while a Mexican restaurant that scored 68 in late August came back with a 97 on its follow-up visit.

The Tennessee Department of Health conducted 36 inspections at 29 Tipton County establishments during that stretch, including restaurants, school cafeterias, mobile food units and tattoo studios. Twenty-seven were routine inspections and nine were follow-ups. Three routine inspections came in below 90, and eight establishments earned a perfect 100 on their routine visits.

Sake vs Tekila of Covington, which just opened on Sept. 7, scored 71 on a Sept. 15 routine inspection, the lowest mark recorded in the county during the period. Inspectors documented violations in 10 categories.

The sushi station’s prep cooler read 38 degrees, but food sitting on top of the prep table did not. Cooked crawfish made the day before measured 62 degrees, and raw tuna held since the day before measured 61 degrees. Inspectors embargoed 4 pounds of crawfish and 1 pound of tuna, meaning the food could not be served.

In the walk-in cooler, a case of defrosted raw shrimp was stored next to ready-to-eat lemons and on top of a pony keg of beer. The restaurant had no documentation showing its sushi-grade fish had gone through parasite destruction. The inspector wrote that the person in charge did not seem to be in total control of the kitchen, given the number of priority violations.

The violations listed in the Sept. 15 report:

• Person in charge did not seem to be in total control of the kitchen; educated on temperature control at the sushi station and on labeling spray bottles (corrected on site)
• No parasite-destruction documentation for sushi-grade fish
• Defrosted raw shrimp stored next to ready-to-eat lemons and on top of a pony keg of beer in the walk-in cooler (corrected on site)
• Cooked crawfish at 62 degrees and raw tuna at 61 degrees on top of the sushi prep table; 4 pounds of crawfish and 1 pound of tuna embargoed
• Unlabeled spray bottles in the dishroom and dining room (corrected on site)
• Wet wiping cloths on several surfaces in the kitchen
• Metal pans stacked while still wet in the dishroom
• Serving plates stored food-side up
• Countertop fryer stored on top of a reach-in freezer instead of under the vent hood
• No lidded trash receptacles in the stalls of the women’s restroom

The inspector noted discussing the state’s new food rule changes with the person in charge and planned to email sushi safety documents.

A separate permit at the same address, also listed in state records as Sake vs Tekila of Covington, was inspected the same day and scored 95. That report cites one checklist item, the cleaning and sanitizing of food-contact surfaces. A dish machine was not sanitizing properly and was taken out of service, with staff using the three-compartment sink in the meantime, and the person in charge said the soft-serve ice cream machine is cleaned weekly.

Two more below 90

Burger King #17339 on Highway 51 South in Covington scored 87 on a Sept. 1 routine inspection. Inspectors cited five items: no employee health policy on hand, employee drinks without lids and a personal cell phone on the prep table next to an open container of buns, no thermometer in the fry freezer, metal pans stacked while wet, and a cell phone stored on a prep table. The first two were corrected on site. A same-day follow-up scored 97, with the thermometer, pan storage and phone storage items still noted.

Sharks Fish and Chicken on Highway 51 North in Covington scored 86 on a Sept. 18 routine inspection with eight violations. Raw hamburger was stored above ready-to-eat lemons and onions, and an uncovered pan of diced tomatoes sat on totes of raw chicken. Both were corrected on site, as was an unlabeled spray bottle. The other five items were a chest freezer with no thermometer, unlabeled flour and corn meal, a case of corn stored on the walk-in freezer floor, wet wiping cloths and plastic containers stacked while wet. A same-day follow-up scored 95, with those five items still noted.

Follow-up inspections

El Presidente Mexican Restaurant on Highway 51 in Covington posted the largest gain of the period. It scored 68 on an Aug. 26 routine inspection that included repeat food-storage violations in its walk-in cooler, the second consecutive inspection with those priority violations, and a dish machine with no sanitizer. The Sept. 3 follow-up scored 97. That report states all priority violations were corrected, with three other items still noted.

Outlaw BBQ in Munford went from 88 on its Aug. 27 routine inspection to 95 on a Sept. 3 follow-up. At the routine visit, an inside walk-in cooler was not holding food cold, and inspectors embargoed 40 pounds of product: 35 pounds of potato salad and 5 pounds of coleslaw. At the follow-up, that cooler was being repaired and nothing was stored in it, and the report states another follow-up is still required.

Other follow-ups during the period:

• Zaxby’s in Covington, 90 to 97, both Sept. 11. The routine visit found paper towels that could not be dispensed at a hand sink, food debris on a slicer, a nonworking thermometer on a drawer cooler, metal containers stacked while wet and an ice dispenser at the tea station that did not work. Three of the five items were still noted at follow-up.
• Little Caesar’s Pizza #117 in Covington, 90 to 95, both Sept. 15. An employee moved a cell phone and went on to work dough without washing his hands, and a manager used a cell phone on the prep line and then made a pizza without washing. Both were corrected on site. At follow-up, five items remained: container storage, debris in the pizza racks, no test strips for the three-compartment sink, dust on the pizza oven and an employee drink on the prep line.
• Brighton Middle School, 94 to 99, both Sept. 1. Inspectors embargoed about 42 pounds of celery sticks that were past their Aug. 12 use-by date and in poor condition.
• Mount Zion Bakery in Munford, 93 to 98, both Sept. 8. An unlabeled spray bottle was corrected on site; cases of food stored on the kitchen floor and utensil storage were still noted.
• Drummonds Elementary cafeteria, 95 on Aug. 26 to 100 on Sept. 3, with no violations on the return visit.

Everyone else

Perfect scores of 100 went to Munford Elementary, Munford Middle, Brighton High and Covington High school cafeterias; Tipton County Head Start in Covington; Good Golly Tamale in Atoka; and two tattoo studios, Hallow Tattoo in Stanton and Syndicated Ink Tattoo in Munford.

Scoring 99, each with a single item cited, were Pizza Hut #2459 in Covington, Papa Johns Pizza in Atoka, Burger King #16461 in Atoka, and three mobile units: Divine Grille of Drummonds, Mae’s Smoking Barbeque and More of Covington, and Grillin & Chillin Sumth’n Different of Munford, which was inspected at Rice Park in Ripley.

Scoring 98, each with two items cited, were Pizza Hut #4058 in Atoka, Crafted Coffee on Highway 51 South in Covington, Angela’s Midsouth BBQ Co. in Covington, and the Munford High and Covington Elementary and Middle school cafeterias.

About these reports

Tennessee scores food service inspections on a 100-point scale rather than pass or fail. Inspection reports are public records, and this series publishes every Tipton County inspection so residents can see the results for the places they eat.

Full reports are available through the Tennessee Department of Health’s online inspection portal at inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/tennessee, where results can be searched by establishment name or filtered by county and date.