Grace's Inn, the longtime plate-lunch staple at 1296 S. Beretania Street in Honolulu, is serving again this week, but with a caution flag up. The restaurant has been allowed to reopen under a conditional yellow health placard after state inspectors said a sewage backup in the kitchen was fixed. The Hawai‘i Department of Health had shut the place down on June 1 after an inspector found raw sewage on the kitchen floor and cited the plumbing for not being maintained in good repair. Under the conditional permit, the business can resume operations while it works through remaining critical violations, with inspectors planning to return within two business days to verify that everything checks out.
The Hawai‘i Department of Health says the establishment, operated by Grace’s Inn LSY LLC, was given a red “closed” placard on June 1 and had to stay dark until repairs were made and a follow-up inspection cleared the violations, according to the Hawai‘i Department of Health. In its news release, the agency said the inspector saw raw sewage on the kitchen floor and required the restaurant to bring in a licensed plumber to properly assess and repair the plumbing system before any thought of reopening.
A later inspection found that the sewage issue had been corrected, and the DOH Food Safety Branch signed off on a yellow placard that lets the restaurant operate while it takes care of the remaining critical violations, as reported by KITV. The outlet notes that the yellow placard allows continued operation but requires the establishment to finish fixing those critical issues and pass a follow-up inspection.
What the placards mean
Hawaii’s color-coded placard program is meant to give customers a quick read on how well a restaurant is following food-safety rules: green signals a single correctable violation, yellow signals uncorrected critical violations or two or more critical problems, and red means there is an imminent health hazard or a permit suspension, Spectrum News explains. The yellow placard functions as a conditional permit that has to remain posted near the entrance while the owner completes the required fixes and the department comes back to verify them.
Grace's Inn is a familiar stop for local plate lunches and is likely to attract a closer look from both regulars and inspectors while the repairs and rechecks play out. Online listings place the restaurant at 1296 S. Beretania St. #101, according to Tripadvisor. The Food Safety Branch will make the final call on whether the yellow placard can come down after the follow-up inspection.
