If you have ever walked by Truly Yogurt in Wellesley, you have most definitely seen Amarin, a Thai restaurant that looks almost as if it is underground. When you walk in, you will always be greeted by friendly faces welcoming you to try the Americanized Thai cuisine. I first tried Amarin about three years ago and I remember thinking “wow this Pad Thai is awesome!” The one thing I have learned is Pad Thai is always better IN the restaurant. Take-out Pad Thai doesn’t quite taste the same because it dries up.
Recently a lot of people at Dana Hall have been getting take-out from Amarin as a lunch option. I have gone into town to go and pick up lunch with my friends there, and the one thing that stuck out to me was the smell. The inside of Amarin has recently been smelling kind of vile. It smells musty and like sewage. Fast forward about a month later when Ms. Derezinski says we will be working on journalism pieces and trying to get exposed to FOIA the Freedom of Information Act, which guarantees citizens’ rights to see all public records.
I instantly thought “I should write about Amarin because I want to know if their restaurant is clean.” I ended up emailing Holly Detroy, who works as an Environmental Health Specialist for the Wellesley Health Department. I asked for Amarin’s most recent health records. After emailing back and forth a couple times, Ms. Detroy was super helpful and sent me the records from 2018 as well as the most recent health inspection from April 9, 2019.
When I read the record, I saw that they checked the kitchen and bathrooms along with the basement. They also check where the food is stored.
As I looked through the health records, everything seemed to be perfectly fine except for one room in the basement. Amarin was “in compliance” with all applicable requirements, but it was noted in the files, “please clean for room in basement, remove all unnecessary clutter.” This seems like a pretty good report to me. However this brought up more questions I had about this process.
I decided to email Ms. Detroy again because I wanted to get a better sense on how this whole process works. I tried to meet with her to ask her some questions. I wanted to ask about how the health inspecting process works and if they have enough time to thoroughly inspect restaurants. Ms. Detroy got back to me about meeting, but school already would have been over. I asked her questions over email; however, she never got back to me. Even though we did not get to talk about some outstanding questions I had, she was still so helpful in sharing information, and I am appreciative. I learned a lot about FOIA, and now I am more knowledgeable about public records and restaurant inspections.
If you ever feel uncomfortable at a restaurant, you have the right to contact your local health inspection offices and read all the inspection reports.
