A Phoenix sushi restaurant and a Tempe golf course eatery just landed in the latest Dirty Dining roundup, published March 4. The weekly feature spotlights Valley restaurants that picked up one or more "risk-factor" violations during recent health inspections, which the county treats as higher risk for foodborne illness. For diners who like to track scores, that means both spots are on this week's informal watch list.
How the Dirty Dining spotlight found them
The newest Dirty Dining report from Arizona's Family zeroed in on the Phoenix sushi spot and the Tempe golf course outlet using Maricopa County inspection records, as reported by Arizona's Family. Each week, the station pulls the specific violations logged by inspectors and also gives a shout-out to Valley businesses that earned perfect scores in the same time frame.
What "risk-factor" violations really mean
Maricopa County flags certain problems as "risk factors" because they are more likely to lead to foodborne illness. Examples include improper hot or cold holding of food, cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat items, and poor employee handwashing. The county explains how grade cards are scored and posts detailed inspection reports publicly through its Restaurant Ratings tool and weekly reports, according to Maricopa County Environmental Services.
What diners should take away
Landing in a Dirty Dining segment does not automatically mean a restaurant is unsafe in the long run. Many violations are fixable, and businesses often address them on follow-up inspections. The series from Arizona's Family urges viewers to look at the underlying inspection notes before crossing a place off their list, and the segment also keeps a running "Dean's List" of spots that nailed perfect scores, per Arizona's Family.
How to check the inspection yourself
If you want to see exactly what inspectors found, you can search Maricopa County's Restaurant Ratings or Weekly Inspection Report pages by business name or inspection date. Those public records show which risk-factor items were cited and whether follow-up visits were required, according to Maricopa County. For more context on how the Dirty Dining roundup is put together each week, refer to Arizona's Family's Dirty Dining page.
