Here at The Lo-Down, we know our readers care a lot about our local restaurants. We are all fortunate to live, work and play in a neighborhood full of interesting places to eat and drink. We welcome the new ones and look forward to giving them a try; we grieve the loss of old favorites; and we love to analyze all the ones in between. As part of our ongoing coverage, each month, on the second Wednesday, we post this report of restaurants in the 10002 ZIP code. We list those that scored 28 points or more on their health department inspections, earning “C” grades. We also call out those establishments that excelled in their inspections by earning 3 points or fewer.
For more details on how the city grades restaurants, see the guide (PDF). Because of the way the online search function operates, we cannot link directly to individual restaurant reports here, but you can visit the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website, type in the name of any restaurant and view the details of inspectors’ findings for all recent visits. You can also read our Restaurant Report Card archives here.
Here’s the report for July.
First, the good news: CC’s Café, Kang Kee Chinese Restaurant, Yummy Yummy Bakery, Noodle King and Tien Garden all earned only 2 points during their latest inspections. CC’s Café, on Monroe Street, was inspected for the first time last month. But in the other four cases, those excellent low scores occurred during re-inspections that were prompted by large numbers of violations during earlier visits: Kang Kee on Hester Street scored 78 points on July 25; Yummy Yummy Bakery on East Broadway garnered 60 points on July 11; Noodle King on Henry Street scored 88 points on June 30; and Tien Garden scored 76 points during a July 5 inspection.
Here’s the 28 points and over list for July, from most points to least:
| RESTAURANT | ADDRESS | INSPECTION DATE | VIOLATION POINTS |
| Crown Fried Chicken | 197 Madison St. | 7/19/2011 | 55 |
| King Of Casserole (CLOSED) | 21 Division St. | 7/11/2011 | 55 |
| Natalie Bakery | 271 Grand St. | 7/28/2011 | 50 |
| Apolo Restaurant | 168 1/2 Delancey St. | 7/12/2011 | 47 |
| Nam Son Restaurant | 245 Grand St. | 7/25/2011 | 47 |
| Good Taste Fuzhou Cuisine | 118 Eldridge St. | 7/29/2011 | 42 |
| New Wong Restaurant | 103 E. Broadway | 7/5/2011 | 38 |
| Pinalito City Restaurant | 293 E. Houston St. | 7/19/2011 | 38 |
| Taqueria Lower East Side | 198b Orchard St. | 7/5/2011 | 38 |
| Bacaro | 136 Division St. | 7/14/2011 | 35 |
| Fu Zhow Restaurant | 84 Eldridge St. | 7/26/2011 | 31 |
| Grotto | 100b Forsyth St. | 7/12/2011 | 31 |
| Masala Twist | 189 E. Houston St. | 7/14/2011 | 31 |
| Congee Village | 98-100 Allen St. | 7/18/2011 | 30 |
| Fen Yang Restaurant | 107 Eldridge St. | 7/25/2011 | 30 |
| Heaven’s Hot Bagel | 283 E. Houston St. | 7/27/2011 | 30 |
| Sugar Cafe | 200 Allen St. | 7/25/2011 | 30 |
Congee Village is one of the dirtiest establishment in the city. I interned in the Health Dept two summers ago and the amount of complaints this place gets is enough keep me away. At night you can see the rats run out into the back of the restaurant on Orchard Street. The residential units above suffered from all the pest from Congee Village.
Seeing 30 points from them is no surprise.