How NYC's restaurant letter grades actually work, from inspection to tribunal

Every restaurant in New York City is inspected at least once a year by the Health Department and graded on a public point scale: zero to 13 points earns an A, 14 to 27 a B, and 28 or more a C, per the Health Department's published grading guide. The letter in the window is the visible end of a process that includes a re-inspection for lower grades and a formal appeal track. The score counts violations, not charm — lower is better, and every point maps to a specific health-code violation.

What happens during an inspection?

An inspector arrives unannounced and evaluates food handling, food temperature, personal hygiene, vermin control, and facility maintenance, assigning points for each violation based on severity, per the Department's published inspection criteria. Critical violations — improper temperatures, contaminated food contact surfaces — carry more points than maintenance items like a cracked floor tile. The inspector also notes whether the restaurant has a food protection certificate holder on staff, which the health code requires.

The inspection is public record. Results post to the Department's restaurant inspection database, searchable by name or address, with the date and the itemized violations. Regulars check it more often than the industry likes to admit.

What happens if a restaurant doesn't get an A?

The process runs in documented steps:

1. A score of 0-13 earns an A, posted immediately and valid through the next inspection cycle.
2. A score of 14-27 gets the restaurant a B grade but also a chance: the Department schedules a re-inspection, typically within a month, before the grade is finalized.
3. If the re-inspection score comes in at 13 or below, the restaurant posts an A. If not, the B or C stands and must be posted.
4. A score of 28 or more is a C and can trigger additional enforcement, including compliance inspections or, for serious conditions, closure orders.

Can a restaurant fight a grade?

Yes, through two documented channels. Any restaurant can request a hearing at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, the city's tribunal, where an administrative law judge reviews the violations; the Health Department's published guidance describes the process and the deadlines for contesting. In 2023, the Department announced reforms — including a revised schedule that reduced fines for many violations and expanded the window for correcting some issues before points are assessed, per the Department's 2023 rule changes. Fines and grades are separate things: paying doesn't restore an A, and contesting doesn't remove the posted card while the hearing pends.

What does the grade actually tell a diner?

A snapshot of conditions on one day, against a published checklist. The Department's own materials are careful on this point: a B is a passing grade, not a warning, and a restaurant with an older inspection date may simply be early in its cycle. The database shows trends better than the window card — repeated vermin violations across years read differently than one bad day.

Why does the system exist?

The letter-grade program began in July 2010, per the Health Department's program history, and the city has credited it with declines in salmonella infections and diner-reported improvements in restaurant conditions, citing its published analyses. Independent evaluations, including academic work on the program, have found measurable improvements in inspection scores citywide, with the usual scholarly caveats. The window card is one of the few consumer signals in dining that a regulator guarantees.