A Carrabba’s scored an 80 after a Mecklenburg County inspector found food measuring about 60°F in a broken cooler. Famous Toastery voluntarily closed after two coolers failed to keep food cold enough. Inspectors also found roaches around dry storage buckets at a Charlotte deli.
The following list includes the 10 worst health scores for Mecklenburg County last month. The countdown runs from 88.5 to 80, with tied scores listed alphabetically. The scores reflect the October visits, when staff corrected many of the violations. Many documented food safety violations were corrected during the visits, and later reinspections may show different scores.
In the reports, RTE means ready-to-eat; TCS refers to foods that require time or temperature control for safety; TPHC means using time instead of temperature to limit how long food can be held. WIC means walk-in cooler, PIC means person in charge, EHS means environmental health specialist, HW means handwashing and ROP means reduced-oxygen packaging.
#10 — Famous Toastery (88.5 / B)
101 N. Main St., Davidson — Inspected Oct. 20, 2026
The restaurant voluntarily closed pending repairs to its walk-in cooler and prep cooler. Staff discarded the affected food, according to the report.
Observed violations:
- “Observed all TCS food products in the walk-in cooler and prep cooler above 41 degrees.”
- “Observed 0ppm chlorine in the dish machine.”
- “Observed microbial growth and stains inside of the ice machine.”
The dish machine began sanitizing at the required concentration after staff changed the chlorine container.
#9 — Jersey Mike’s Subs (87.5 / B)
9211 N. Tryon St., Suite 12, Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 8, 2026
Observed violations:
- “Observed employee handle raw chicken with gloves on, remove gloves, then don new gloves to handle RTE food without hand wash.”
- “Observed back of slicer heavily soiled with old food debris.”
- “Observed mushrooms, cheese and ham in prep top holding above 41F.”
- “Observed lettuce and tomatoes placed on TPHC prior to being cooled to 41F. Lettuce and tomatoes were out of temp for longer than 4 hours.”
Staff discarded the lettuce and tomatoes and took apart the slicer for cleaning.
#8 — King Crab Juicy Seafood (87.5 / B)
7401 E. Independence Blvd., Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 12, 2026
Observed violations:
- “EHS instructed PIC to tell food employee to wash hands, after PIC spoke to the food employee, food employee began washing hands in the prep sink.”
- “Observed personal raw fish stored above liquid margarine in the WIC.”
- “Observed raw shrimp and RTE crab legs in make line unit above 41F, Food items were over stacked.”
- “Observed an open container of milk in a lowboy unit with no date marking present.”
- “Observed all seafood and other foods in the facilities make line and in the lowboy units stored directly on ice.”
Staff discarded the seafood held above 41°F. The inspector started a plan to address repeat cold storage violations.
#7 — Bob Evans (87 / B)
16706 Northcross Dr., Huntersville — Inspected Oct. 22, 2026
Observed violations:
- “Observed employee use gloves to handle raw items and then handle plates and ready to eat items with no glove change.”
- “Observed 3 pans of carrots cooked yesterday still cooling.”
- “Observed sausage patties and links, and gravy stored in steam table below 135F.”
- “Observed several items held above 41F on the cook line including but not limited to items in right side of prep top (Mac and cheese, salsa, raw shell eggs(above 45F), etc), pasteurized egg mix on counter, raw shell eggs on counter, half and half in the server prep top, hash brown potatoes on counter, and French toast mix on ice.”
- “Observed speaker and fan covers in walk in cooler with microbial growth.”
- “Observed floor drain under 3-comp sink backed up and not draining.”
The inspector reported that the ready-to-eat food handled without a glove change was sold before they could intervene. The employee removed the gloves and washed their hands, and a plumber cleared the backed-up drain.
#6 — Greco Fresh Grille (87 / B)
9820 Rea Rd., Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 29, 2026
Observed violations:
- “Observed box stored on handwashing sink and garbage can in front of HW preventing accessibility.”
- “Observed raw lamb and raw fish stored over containers of sour cream and RTE food in walk in cooler.”
- “Observed equipment being sanitized but sanitizer solution testing 0ppm chlorine.”
- “Observed blanched fries cooling in deep covered containers inside tall reach in prep unit at 79 degrees F at 1:42. At 2:38 fries were at 76 degrees F. Cooling rate calculation indicates method not effective to reach cooling parameters.”
- “Observed rice hot held at 120 degrees F in pan.”
- “Observed blanched peppers and cheese cold held between 44-45 degrees F in low reach in drawer refrigerator.”
- “Observed, after speaking with PIC, facility using designated mop bucket to squeeze cucumber and their Taziki sauce process.”
Staff moved the fries to shallow, uncovered pans to cool. They discarded the rice, peppers and cheese.
#5 — Spice Charlotte (87 / B)
515 North Ellis Ln., Suite 101, Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 27, 2026
The inspector said the restaurant’s small blast chiller could not handle the amount of hot food staff were cooling. The report called for changes to meet the permit conditions.
Observed violations:
- “Cart for food was blocking access to handsink.”
- On shellfish tags: “Date of last use not recorded on tag.”
- “Dish machine recorded at 0ppm chlorine. All 3 chemical buckets were empty and facility did not have a backup bucket on site.”
- “Brussel sprouts were placed in blast chiller then sat on cart to finish cooling. Cooling rate was 0 on counter.”
- “Rice sitting on shelf above grill recorded at 76F.”
- “Raw eggs, Cooked peppers, brussel sprouts, wings, rice, and cut lettuce recorded above 41F.”
- “Wings and sushi rice held on TPHC not marked with begin Time.”
- “Multiple employees prepping food without a hair restraint.”
The report said staff discarded the food found above 41°F and planned to wash dishes in the three-compartment sink.
#4 — Samoha African Cuisine (85.5 / B)
602 W. Sugar Creek Rd., Unit 4, Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 29, 2026
Observed violations:
- “PIC would answer phone and then began preparing food without washing hands 2 times.”
- “No paper towels at both hand washing sinks in kitchen and at hand washing sinks in restrooms.”
- “Wrapped portion of raw chicken stored directly on top of containers of ready-to-eat foods in freezer.”
- “Sanitizer solution measured 0 ppm in 3-compartment sink.”
- “Several utensils and pans found with visible food residue.”
- “2 large bus tubs of rice that began cooling yesterday measured 58-63F.”
- “Pan of plantains measured 108-130F in hot holding.”
- “Several TCS foods in upright cooler measured 46-54F (rice, ayomoso, stew).”
- “Walk-in cooler is broken and not in use. Walk-in freezer door does not close properly.”
Staff discarded the rice that had been cooling overnight and reheated the plantains. The inspector warned that continued cooling violations could lead to permit action.
#3 — Copan Restaurant (85 / B)
3607 N. Sharon Amity Rd., Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 15, 2026
Observed violations:
- “Observed PIC rinse hands off at spray sink.”
- “Observed raw carne asada stored over tomato sauce in prep unit.”
- “Observed raw shelled eggs stored over chicharron pupusas.”
- “Observed no quarternary sanitizer dispensing from 3-comp sink and no chlorine sanitizer from dish machine.”
- “Observed beans, chicharron, refried beans, sliced tomatoes, cut cabbage and tomato salsa prepared prior day that did not meet cooling parameters.”
- “Observed items above 41F in prep unit and WIC.”
- “Observed multiple items past date mark: cut cabbage 10/5 (discard 10/11), queso fresco 10/6 (discard 10/12) and 9/22 (discard 9/28), mozzarella cheese 10/5 (discard 10/11), housemade habanero sauce (contains cooked habaneros) 10/6 (discard 10/12), cooked beef 9/29 (discard 10/5), beans 9/7 (9/13) ; and multiple items missing date marks: cut cabbage, tomato salsa, heavy cream, and chicharron.”
- “Observed dead crawling pest in dish stored as clean.”
- “Observed raw chicken stored on floor of WIC.”
- “Observed wiping cloths stored in water with no sanitizer.”
Staff moved raw meat and eggs to the correct shelves and discarded food that missed cooling or date requirements.
#2 — New Century Oriental Deli (83 / B)
4500 N. Tryon St., Suite C, Charlotte — Inspected Oct. 15, 2026
Observed violations:
- “Employee observed washing hands for less than 10 seconds and did not use soap.”
- “No paper towels at hand washing sink.”
- “Container of raw chicken stored on shelf above sauces in walk-in cooler.”
- “Heavy buildup on can opener blade.”
- “Cutting board at duck station has not be used today but had visible debris on it.”
- “Underside of lid of of meat seasoning bucket had cobwebs in it.”
- “Banh mi sandwiches and sliced deli meats in other upright cooler were missing prep date labels.”
- “5-10 roaches observed around dry storage buckets.”
- “Several small flies observed at banh mi area.”
- “Cilantro at banh mi station was stored in bowl lined with newspaper.”
- “Cardboard lids are being used to cover bao bun baskets.”
Staff moved the raw chicken to a bottom shelf, supplied paper towels and added missing date labels. The inspector flagged all three violations as repeats.
#1 — Carrabba’s Italian Grill (80 / B)
16408 Northcross Dr., Huntersville — Inspected Oct. 14, 2026
Observed violations:
- “Observed employee handle raw chicken, change gloves then work with RTE foods without hand wash.”
- “Observed trash can, plates and single service trays blocking hand washing sink on the line.”
- “Observed raw steak stored above porchetta in walk in cooler.”
- “Observed several stacks of plates on the line soiled with old food debris.”
- “Marinara was reheated to 148F when checked with EHS’ thermometer.”
- “Observed marinara and Marsala in hot well holding below 135F.”
- On food in the broken cooler: “All food temped was approximately 60F. Food had been in the unit for 2.5 hours.”
- “Observed spinach pasta in single cold drawer 1 holding above 41F.”
- “Observed several bags of ROP meat sauce marinara and soup with no date labels.”
- “No logs or monitoring being conducted for ROP cooling, cooking or reheating process.”
- “Observed unwashed lettuce being cut prior to washing.”
- “Observed several gnats in dry storage area.”
Staff reheated the marinara above 165°F and discarded undated bags of sauce and soup. The inspector warned that further violations involving the restaurant’s packaging and cooling process could lead to permit action.
Check a restaurant’s current grade and inspection history in Mecklenburg County’s public health inspection database.
