Restaurants Sound Off on Letter Grades January 24, 2012, 6:19 pm Many restaurant operators have something to say about the city's letter-grading system for food safety. At least that seems to be the case based on the number of operators who have responded to a Web survey on the system that was set up two weeks ago by the City Council. The Council, which decided to conduct the survey because of complaints it had received about the letter-grading system, will announce on Wednesday that, as of Tuesday, nearly 1,000 restaurant operators had responded to the survey. The city, which has called the letter-grading system a success, questioned the survey's methodology. Read more the Diner's Journal blog.