About restaurant inspections
Summary
You can keep tabs on the cleanliness and sanitation of restaurants near you in this section of EveryBlock. We take recent restaurant inspections from New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and then we map them, so you can find results in your neighborhood.
Each inspection result includes the establishment's name, location and phone number, the inspection date, the number of violation points the establishment received and details about violations. Details include violations such as improper use of utensils, evidence of mice or improper plumbing.
The results also show whether a follow-up inspection was required. This happens when the restaurant gets 28 or more points.
Note that we publish results soon after inspections, but before restaurant owners can appeal the findings to an administrative tribunal. This means the findings from the inspection will appear on EveryBlock, even if they are later changed by a tribunal.
Also note that the health department inspects several types of facilities that don't appear in its public database or here, on EveryBlock. Those types include private-school and public-school cafeterias, shelters, senior centers, soup kitchens, correctional facilities and group homes.
Source
The data comes from the online restaurant inspection database published by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The information is updated regularly and we at EveryBlock look for new data each night.
What else should I know about restaurant inspections?
Inspectors review establishments based on “risk factors” for food-borne illness — such as improper cooking temperatures and poor hygiene practices by restaurant employees.
The more severe a violation, the more points it costs restaurants. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene publishes Important Information for Food Service Establishments, which explains the inspection process and scoring system.
Inspectors can issue an administrative summons called a Notice of Violation for violating the New York City Health Code, the State Sanitary Code, or other applicable laws.
Also note that violations may have been corrected. From a restaurant inspection page on EveryBlock, click the links "Inspection history on nyc.gov" and "More about restaurant inspections" for more information from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Note that the city removes inspection results from its database if it learns that an establishment has closed. The results will still be available on EveryBlock.
The following disclaimer appears on the department's Web site regarding inspection data: "As a result of an inspection, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene may issue violations to the establishment. Owners have the opportunity to dispute these violations at the Department's Administrative Tribunal, except when there are only general violations that result in fewer than 14 points. In these instances the violations must be corrected, but are not heard at the Administrative Tribunal. The information presented here may reflect inspections that have not yet been adjudicated."
