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How to read restaurant inspection scores
There is no national restaurant grade in the United States. Each city or county runs its own inspection program with its own rules. Here is how to read the two systems on this site.
New York City: points, then a letter grade
Inspectors from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) add points for each violation they find. The total is the inspection score, so a lower score is better.
| Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A | Score of 0 to 13 points |
| B | Score of 14 to 27 points |
| C | Score of 28 points or more |
| N | Not yet graded |
| Z | Grade pending |
| P | Grade pending, issued on re-opening after an inspection that resulted in a closure |
A restaurant that scores 14 or more on an initial inspection is inspected again before a grade is final. Not every inspection type produces a grade, which is why some inspections on this site show a score but no grade. Each violation is also flagged critical or not critical; the city treats critical violations as those more likely to contribute to foodborne illness.
The “action” line on an inspection is the city's own wording, for example that violations were cited, or that the establishment was closed or re-opened by the health department.
Chicago: a result, not a score
The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), Food Protection Program does not give scores or letter grades. Each inspection ends in a result:
- Pass: the inspection result is a pass.
- Pass w/ Conditions: problems were found that the city treats as serious or critical, but they were corrected during the inspection.
- Fail: serious or critical problems were found that could not be corrected during the inspection.
- No Entry and Not Ready: the inspector could not complete the inspection.
Chicago also assigns each business a risk category (Risk 1 high, Risk 2 medium, Risk 3 low), which sets how often it is inspected. A high-risk category describes the type of food handling, not a bad result. Violations are listed by number with the inspector's written comments. Chicago's dataset does not mark individual violations as critical, so FoodCheck USA does not add a severity of its own.
Why you can't compare the two
An “A” in New York and a “Pass” in Chicago are not the same measure. The rules, violation lists and inspection schedules are different. Compare restaurants within the same city, and read the violations themselves rather than relying on a single label.
Reading any inspection
- Check the date. A record from two years ago says little about today.
- Look at the inspection type. Re-inspections follow up on earlier problems.
- Read the violations, not just the grade or result.
- For anything important, open the official record linked on each page.