What a restaurant health inspection score means

A restaurant health inspection score is the grade the local health department gave that visit. CleanPlate copies the date, the score, and the violation lines from that public record. It does not inspect the restaurant itself.

Reading a CleanPlate record

• Date is when the inspector visited. A record shows that one visit, so check how old it is.
• Score or result is what the health department recorded. Each department sets its own scale, so compare a score with others from the same city, not across states.
• Violation lines are the specific items the inspector wrote up. Some departments publish only violation counts, and the record says so when that's the case.

For the current status of a restaurant, confirm with the local health department. Browse inspection records by state.