Viet’s Cuisine Scores 22 on Health Inspection

What is up, my Eaters! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m doing great. As we head into 2026, I’ve been doing a lot of evaluation in my own business, and I’m feeling hopeful and excited about the year ahead.

Originally, I planned to share my Ruby Pho interview this week as a continuation of my last column. However, in light of recent developments, that’s going to have to wait. Instead, I need to revisit the conversation we had a couple weeks ago about local restaurant health inspection scores. If you haven’t read that column yet, I encourage you to do so before continuing. Here is a link.

I’ll be honest: after writing about this a couple of weeks ago, I had no intention of bringing it up again. I shared my opinion, trusted you to take the information seriously, and assumed the situation would correct itself. As a culinarian, I understand how difficult this industry is—especially for mom-and-pop operations. I also want to be clear that my goal is not to bully, sensationalize, or pile on.

That said, in my previous column I mentioned the 42 that Viet’s Cuisine in Peachtree City received on its most recent health inspection—a score that, in my professional opinion, was unacceptable. Earlier this week, the restaurant was reinspected. This time, the score was 22.

I was shocked. Even then, I still wasn’t planning to say another word. I don’t want to be a bully. But when your editor says, “I need you to write on this,” you do it.

I have so many things to say that I’m having a difficult time organizing my thoughts. I want to start with reinspections. I have been running commercial kitchens for over 20 years, and I have never needed one. In my opinion, they should never happen. Their sole purpose is to confirm that an establishment has made the required food safety corrections. After a reinspection, improvement is the baseline expectation.

When a reinspection results in a lower score, it is a serious failure of responsibility. It indicates that critical food safety issues were not corrected and that the systems required to protect the public are not functioning. At that point, the concern is no longer about effort or intent—it is about risk.

Diners are not able to go into restaurant kitchens. Health scores are the primary metric they use to determine whether a food establishment is producing food in a safe and healthy way. A failed reinspection completely breaks that trust. It means that the basic safeguards put in place to protect the public are not working. This should concern anyone who eats out.

To all my owners and leaders who read this, I get it. As culinarians and foodservice workers, the demands of what we do every day can be overwhelming. Staffing shortages, inflation, burnout, stress, and lack of work-life balance are all very real. But none of them excuse serving compromised food. When you choose to do what we do, food safety is nonnegotiable—it is the standard. The public deserves safe food. Fayette and Coweta county deserve safe food.

The Eating Chambers and The Citizen are not in the business of smearing names or kicking anyone while they’re down. This is not a personal attack on any individual or business. This is about an acceptable standard of care and holding food professionals accountable to it.

As I have said before, these scores are unacceptable. Any score below 80 is unacceptable, and failed reinspections are even more concerning. The baseline responsibility of any food establishment is food safety. This is mandatory.

Eaters, I love what I do. I believe in this industry and in the professionals who take it seriously. My conviction as I close this week is simple: safe food is not too much to ask. Professional integrity is not too much to ask—it is the minimum.

I look forward to being with you all again next week. Until then, you can always come see me or my team at the Peachtree City Farmers Market every Saturday.