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The food inspections at Bar-B-Que by Jim are causing quite the confusion.
For the past two weeks, the health department's website (see it) said the Tupelo eatery made a "C" on its March inspection. A "C" is the equivalent of failing.
The March 19 inspection said the restaurant was not in compliance with "insects, rodents and animals not present."
FYI - owner Jim Beane is president of the Tupelo Restaurant Association. His restaurant has had mostly A's since 2007.
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We've been trying to get in touch with the inspector, Valerie Glass, to find out more information. Her name is on the report.
We talked with her Monday and she said Bar-B-Q b Jim should have made a "B" not a "C." She said the restaurant only had one critical violation and it didn't merit a "C."
While we were on the phone with her, she change the report and now the site reflects a "B."
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We asked her about the "insects, rodents and animals" part. She said she didn't do the inspection so she doesn't know for sure what they found at the restaurant. Why was her name on the report? When people from other counties do the inspection, Glass said, they put her name on it.
The "not in compliance" part means the inspector could have seen anything from a fly to a roach to mouse droppings. She doesn't know what was found at Bar-B-Q by Jim.
She also said the restaurant was inspected March 23 and got a "B." The March 23 inspection is not on posted on the website.
We talked with Beane today and he said he didn't know anything about either inspection so he doesn't know what the inspector did or didn't find.
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Magnolia BBQ & Fish did fail its inspection with a "C" grade. Glass said the restaurant didn't have hot water for employees to wash their hands.
The restaurant got a new water tank and got a "B" at its follow-up inspection April 3.