Health Inspectors Temporarily Shut Down McCormick & Schmick’s Steakhouse

The Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health temporarily shut down McCormick & Schmick’s steakhouse on Feb. 15 after inspectors found insects in the kitchen and staff was unable to provide proper food safety certificates.

County officials also observed incorrect hot water temperatures in various sinks, food being stored on the ground and damage floors and ceilings. Click here to read a copy of the site inspection report.

When reached for comment on Tuesday, a McCormick & Schmick’s employee declined to talk and then hung up the phone.

According to the county inspection report, the steakhouse received a score of 71 and had 15 days from the closure date to request a hearing and avoid losing their permit.

The downtown San Jose restaurant went through the same routine inspection last September, when it passed with a score of 80. At the time, the inspector noted that there was a dying cockroach by the cook’s line and several fruit flies at the bar.

Records from up to 2015 can be found on the county’s website. Since last year, the restaurant’s score has significantly dropped because it keeps getting dinged with negative inspection reports.

11 Comments

  1. Lol. Serves this manager right. Not surprising since this is the same unprofessional guy who tried to lecture me in front of my mother on her bday no less regarding a reservation. Simply walked across to The Grill and had a fine dining experience and were rightly treated like the paying guests we were.. just not at his restaurant. Literally his loss. Maybe if he spent less time being a prick and more time taking care of the basics hed have passed the inspection. Just hope the billionaire owner doesn’t take it out on the bartenders/wait staff..

    • Ya, I am sure it was his loss.
      Those managers put in SO many hours of work, and treat their customers wonderfully. It is always good to make a reservation when you are celebrating something special, instead of going into a place and expecting to be sat. Come on now.

      (I DO however agree with you on the billionaire owner comment!)

    • Typical libertarian “the government can’t tell ME what to do!” response. Perhaps you’ll change your tune when a friend or relative eats contaminated food at a marginal restaurant and dies.

  2. My wife and I had dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s Friday Evening February 16th, 2018. The Grill at the Fairmont was packed and had no immediate available seats. McCormick’s had a lot of empty tables and no waiting. So we dined there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except some kind of flying insect that landed near my dinner plate. It was small and possibly a fruit fly. I figured it was due to the front door being open and shut as people came or left. The place seemed a little expensive at $180.00 for two, at least compared to Original Joes or the Grill. Next time we will know better. Thanks for the heads up!

  3. Good to know about the restaurant, I hate having to pay 180 dollars for a meal and share it with a critter or fruit fly. I do like their outside sign though. Think I’ll stick to Black Angus in Milpitas, consistently good service and excellent food always cooked to order. Nowhere near that price for two. This after more than twenty visits.

  4. We ate there last night for Easter and both my dinner and my husbands salmon was raw when we cut into it we sent both dinners back because it wasn’t cooked waited a half hour for our new salmon dinners! They were cooked properly but when the bill came they charged us for 4 $30 dollar dinners when we only ate 2!!! The Manager said he didn’t have time to remove the 2 uncooked dinners from our bill but he had a half hour! Worst service ever and wasn’t busy. Now I know why!! We will never go back so ghetto

  5. I wish I would have seen this yesterday. I got food poisoning from there last night from either the shrimp cocktail or the clam chowder. I started vomiting shortly after midnight and continued until 6am every 30 min. It’s now almost 24 hours later and I still feel awful.

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