To check a Rochester-area restaurant, open the Monroe County view of the state’s inspection records on Health Data NY, the link the county Food Protection program gives on its Inspections & Permits page. Between October 2025 and September 2026, 1,096 of Monroe’s 2,694 routine restaurant inspections (40.7%) turned up at least one critical violation, against 27.1% for New York State outside New York City.
Monroe also goes back almost every time: 97.8% of those critical inspections had another visit within 60 days, and 87.1% of the return visits found no critical violation. The figures are our own counts from the state dataset; the method is at the end.
| Monroe County, routine restaurant inspections | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspections, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | 2,694 | 100% |
| Restaurants inspected | 1,849 | |
| At least one critical violation | 1,096 | 40.7% |
| Two or more critical violations | 686 | 25.5% |
| No violations of any kind | 208 | 7.7% |
| Critical inspections with a return visit within 60 days | 1,072 | 97.8% |
| Return visits that found no critical violation | 934 | 87.1% |
How to look up a Rochester-area restaurant in the Monroe County records
- Open the Monroe County view on Health Data NY, or the statewide inspection dataset filtered to County MONROE.
- Search the restaurant’s name, then confirm the street address.
- Check the municipality field as well as the city. Many restaurants in Brighton, Greece, Henrietta and Irondequoit use a Rochester mailing address.
- Group rows by date. Each violation gets its own line, and the critical and non-critical totals repeat on every line of that visit.
- Look for the Re-Inspection rows that follow a routine Inspection. In Monroe, they usually come within about two weeks.
The records cover establishments that are currently operating. For questions about a report, contact the Food Protection program at (585) 753-5064 or food@monroecounty.gov, 111 Westfall Road, Room 832, Rochester; open office hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to noon.
The program permits food service establishments in the county and enforces Subparts 14-1, 14-2, 14-4 and 14-5 of the New York State Sanitary Code. It runs routine inspections of restaurants, schools, bakeries, mobile vendors and temporary food vendors, and answers complaints and foodborne illness reports.
Where Monroe’s critical violations come from
The high rate holds across the county. Every town or city with at least 40 routine inspections falls between 33.9% (Sweden) and 48.5% (Henrietta). Temperature items are the largest group. Risky food left out of refrigeration (item 5C) was written in 20.3% of Monroe routine inspections, compared with 7.0% statewide outside New York City. The records show what inspectors wrote, so differences between counties can reflect inspection practice as well as kitchen conditions.
| Item | What it covers | Inspections | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5C | Risky food left out of refrigeration | 546 | 20.3% |
| 5B | Cooked food not cooled by an approved method | 279 | 10.4% |
| 5A | Cold-held food above 45°F | 274 | 10.2% |
| 5E | Not enough working refrigeration | 216 | 8.0% |
| 2C | Ready-to-eat food exposed to raw food | 171 | 6.3% |
| 6A | Hot-held food below 140°F | 127 | 4.7% |
| 1H | Unapproved-source or spoiled food | 101 | 3.7% |
| 3B | Workers not washing hands when required | 90 | 3.3% |
Pests and cleaning findings in Monroe County kitchens
Insects or rodents (item 14A) appeared in 869 routine inspections (32.3%), and openings or harborage that let pests in (14B) in 680 (25.2%). New York codes both as non-critical, so they sit in the non-critical total. The most frequent non-critical items were poorly maintained non-food-contact equipment (10B, 48.1%), dirty non-food-contact surfaces (11D, 47.5%), floors, walls or ceilings in disrepair (15A, 45.3%) and food not protected in storage or service (8A, 43.3%). Food-contact surfaces not washed and sanitized (11C) showed up in 24.0%, and handwashing sinks with problems (12E) in 22.1%.
Monroe County restaurant inspection results by town
Towns and the City of Rochester with at least 40 routine restaurant inspections, sorted by the share with a critical violation:
| Municipality | Inspections | 1+ critical | 2+ critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henrietta | 266 | 48.5% | 35.7% |
| Penfield | 116 | 48.3% | 30.2% |
| Pittsford | 95 | 45.3% | 36.8% |
| Perinton | 126 | 44.4% | 31.0% |
| Webster | 147 | 43.5% | 29.9% |
| Parma | 41 | 41.5% | 19.5% |
| Brighton | 93 | 40.9% | 33.3% |
| Irondequoit | 154 | 40.3% | 26.6% |
| City of Rochester | 956 | 38.9% | 23.3% |
| Greece | 283 | 38.9% | 20.5% |
| Gates | 112 | 37.5% | 17.9% |
| Chili | 65 | 35.4% | 16.9% |
| Sweden | 59 | 33.9% | 15.3% |
The municipality comes from the state record and is narrower than the mailing city: the City of Rochester row covers 956 inspections, while 1,939 carry a Rochester mailing address. Henrietta, Penfield and Pittsford ran 6 to 10 points above the city, while Greece matched it.
Return visits and repeat findings in Monroe
Of the 1,072 return visits within 60 days of a critical inspection, 1,033 are typed Re-Inspection, and the median gap was 14 days. After two or more critical items, 98.3% got a return visit. Our New York State results by county shows how far that is from departments such as Saratoga County at 3.2%.
Critical findings in Monroe also tend to come back. When a routine visit had a critical item, the next routine visit did too 66.6% of the time (1,366 pairs, October 2024 to September 2026). After a visit with no critical item, the next one had one 28.9% of the time (1,687 pairs). Statewide outside New York City the figures were 46.4% and 20.7%. In 40.8% of the pairs that started with a critical violation, the same item code came back.
For a diner, the useful reading is the sequence: a critical item, a re-inspection two weeks later with no critical items, and the next routine visit. A restaurant whose last two routine visits both carry the same item code has a repeat problem; 5C and 5A are the codes to look for. Our New York critical violation code guide explains each one.
Monroe County’s certified food worker rule
Monroe County requires a certified food worker on site whenever food is prepared, under the county’s Food Worker Certification requirements (updated May 2026) issued under section 14-1.73 of the State Sanitary Code. That covers prep time outside opening hours and temporary food stands.
- Level 1 Food Manager, a 5-year certification, is required for high-risk and medium-risk restaurants and for operators of two or more pushcarts.
- Level 2 Food Handler, a 3-year certification, is required for low-risk places such as ice cream shops and for an operator of one pushcart.
- The person named on record can’t be designated for more than one establishment.
- Low-risk temporary food stands are exempt from the on-site requirement.
The Food Protection page notes that the county isn’t offering classroom training at present; the requirements sheet lists national and local providers, some with in-person classes. For how other states handle manager certification, see food manager certification requirements by state.
Monroe data notes
Unit: one inspection, meaning one operation ID, date and inspection type, for permits typed Restaurant, Food Service Establishment, Restaurant/Catering Operation or Tavern under the Monroe County health department. Schools, colleges, caterers, bakeries and institutions are excluded. Routine inspections are rows typed Inspection; re-inspections count only as follow-up visits, using records through October 16, 2026. Violation shares count each item once per inspection. Source: Food Service Establishment Inspections: Beginning 2005, rows updated October 22, 2026. Closed restaurants drop out of the dataset.
To report a food complaint, contact the Food Protection program at (585) 753-5064. For other New York counties, see our Onondaga County (Syracuse) inspection results, Westchester County inspection results and Erie County inspection history guide, and what happens after a restaurant fails an inspection.
Monroe County Department of Public Health pages and state dataset checked October 25, 2026.