What Are the Chances Your Favorite New York Restaurant is Unhygienic-dirty?

What Are the Chances Your Favorite New York Restaurant is Unhygienic?

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of restaurants across the State of New York were forced to shut down permanently, while many others are still struggling to get back the business and customers they lost. It turns out that many eateries these days have no qualms about selling old, stale food, or completely disregard hygiene and safety standards.

This is nothing new, though, and such violations of the food and public health standards have brought restaurant owners fines and other penalties, as well as closures. In the first days of January alone, three locations in New York City were closed by the Department of Health. But how likely is it to stumble upon old food, unclean premises, and generally bad service when you are out dining in New York? The team at PromptCleaners set out to explore the quality of restaurants and various types of eateries in the city, as well as across the state.

We analyzed data for thousands of inspections carried out by the Department of Health in 2023. It shows that poor hygiene is rife, with dirty dishes and counters present in many spots, food often not being stored properly, and vermin found in some restaurants.

Restaurants with the Most Violations per Capita across the State

Looking at the restaurant inspection data sets, New York City is where you are most likely to stumble upon stale restaurant food, dirty tables, or generally very poorly kept premises. The city is quite different from towns and communities across the state, however.

Note that the state-wide restaurant inspection data includes not only restaurants but various other food services establishments such as senior assistance centers, bakeries, daycare centers, K-12 school services, hotels, soup kitchens, veterans services, as well as cafeterias and food courts at hospitals, medical centers, and many more.

Saratoga seems to be the county with the most restaurants with critical violations of food safety and public health standards. Out of all 556 restaurants inspected in 2023, 241 were found to have critical violations.

However, if we compare those figures against the number of people residing within each county, Essex turns out to have the most violation-rich restaurants and eateries. Inspectors found critical violations in 81 facilities or in a third of all 239 locations inspected this year. With a population of nearly 37,000, the county, which is entirely within the Adirondack Park and is home to the famous village of Lake Placid, has 21.9 restaurants with critical violations per 10,000 people.

Apart from the county of Essex, Warren, which has a population of 65,000, is home to a large number of restaurants with critical violations per capita. Inspectors found serious issues in 142 facilities out of all 343 inspected or 21.6 per 10,000 residents.

Greene County has a population of around 48,000 and 18.3 facilities with critical violations per 10,000 people. In 88 locations out of all 178, critical violations were identified. This means that nearly half of all restaurants inspected within the county (49.4%) are potentially dangerous - or at least not clean and tidy enough to pass inspection.

Other counties where inspectors found critical violations in nearly half of all locations are Delaware (49.3%), Otsego (45.5%), and St. Lawrence (44.3%). And what about Nassau, the most densely populated and second-most populous county in the state outside of New York City? It borders the borough of Queens and is one of the central counties within the NY metropolitan area. According to the Department of Health data, it has only 1.2 restaurants with critical violations per 10,000 people, which is quite impressive, compared to most of the state.

The county with the best statistics, however, is Cayuga, which has only 1 facility with critical violations or 0.1 per 10,000 people. Following close behind are Ulster, Putnam, Albany, Westchester, Monroe, and Niagara, all with a score of less than 1.0 per 10,000 residents.

New York City: 98% of Restaurants Fail to Comply with Food Safety Standards?

A massive metropolis, New York City is home to roughly 23,000 restaurants and eateries where all the world’s flavors, ingredients, and colors can be found. All this abundance comes at a price - along with the famous, over-the-top restaurants, there are also many places hiding dark and dirty secrets. Even if their dining rooms look warm and welcoming, the kitchens often are chaotic, loud, and dirty spaces filled with unwashed dishes and pans, greasy surfaces, and improperly stored and labeled food.

According to the data from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 11,554 restaurants and eateries were inspected between January 1 and the end of August within the five boroughs of New York. A staggering 11,320 facilities were found to have violations of the food safety protocols and public health standards. This is 98% of all locations, which is mind-boggling, at least at first glance.

In fact, most eateries passed inspection, having only minor issues such as broken light bulbs, toilets that are not very spacious and convenient, or food-holding equipment without accurate thermometers. It is true, however, that one of the most common violations includes dirty and unhygienic surfaces.

Manhattan ranks first for dirty restaurants per 1 million people - it has 2,704 locations per million residents with some violations identified by inspectors in 2023. According to the inspection data, 4,423 facilities have been inspected so far in 2023, with only 106 of them being completely in the clear. This means that 97.6% of all inspected restaurants have at least minor violations of food safety and public health standards.

Of all 3,111 Brooklyn facilities inspected so far in 2023, only 57 have no violations of the standards. We calculated that there are 1,179 restaurants with violations per 1 million people. Queens follows closely with 1,130 restaurants with violations per 1 million, while Staten Island has 898 per million - or 441 facilities with violations out of all 443 inspected in 2023.

The Bronx comes out as the place in New York City where you are least likely to eat in an unhygienic restaurant, at least according to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene data. Inspectors arrived unannounced in 965 food service facilities and found violations in 933 of them. Still, this is the best result compared to the rest of the New York boroughs - 96.7% of restaurants in the Bronx have violations, which is 676 per 1 million people.

Methodology

To present the likelihood of eating at a bad restaurant in the state, we sourced publicly available data for eateries’ latest inspections by the New York State Department of Health. We only looked at inspections that took place from January through August 2023 and identified the number of restaurants with violations in each county.

Some of the violations, such as spoiled food, the improper use and storage of toxic chemicals or not storing food at the right temperature are classified as “critical” and require immediate action. Others include dirty surfaces, unclean or inconvenient toilets, inadequate lighting and ventilation, and fall under the “noncritical” category. Surprisingly, the presence of insects and rodents is also considered a non-critical violation. We counted all restaurants with violations, comparing them to the number of people living in the area to estimate the rough likelihood of eating in an unclean location.

For New York City, however, we used data sets from the NYC Open Data portal. Inspections in the city are carried out by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and reports include comprehensive information such as the nature of the violation, whether it is critical or not, business and owner data, and type of cuisine. The counties featured in the analysis coincide with the five boroughs of New York, namely the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.