Use Harris County Public Health’s Establishment Search for the county program’s food inspection history. Select Start New Search, then search by name or address. Before interpreting a match—or a missing one—confirm both the premises and the kind of food operation: a restaurant, school kitchen, and nursing-home kitchen do not necessarily follow the same inspection route.
The county portal is separate from the City of Houston inspection search. A Houston postal address alone does not select the inspector. This guide covers fixed food operations and the county’s facility categories; mobile-food licensing requires a separate check. Official sources checked September 20, 2026, including the working public search.
Decide whether you should expect a county food record
Harris County’s Food Safety Program covers unincorporated areas and participating cities without their own health departments. Its search landing page emphasizes unincorporated areas and warns that jurisdictions vary. Use the exact address and permitting authority to resolve that boundary, rather than treating the portal’s City column as a jurisdiction map.
The county food-permit guidance separates these programs:
| Food operation | County guidance | What an absent county record leaves unresolved |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and similar locally permitted operations | Local permit and county inspection program, where HCPH has jurisdiction | Whether the address, business identity, or selected agency is correct |
| Schools, child or adult daycare, and qualifying nonprofit facilities | State-regulated; county inspections may be requested for program requirements rather than performed routinely | Whether a local inspection was requested and which agency holds the relevant record |
| Assisted-living, nursing-home and long-term-care facilities | Listed as state-regulated without a local food permit or local inspections | Which licensing program and custodian hold that facility’s inspection records |
Treat this as a routing distinction, not an exemption from all oversight. For example, a school may have a requested county food inspection even though it does not follow a restaurant’s local permit cycle. Conversely, finding a historical entry under a care facility’s name does not establish that the county currently regulates its entire operation. Confirm the program and inspection date before applying today’s category to an older record.
Open the establishment, then expand the dated inspection
The search results list names, addresses and cities. Use the main name-or-address search or the separate name and address column filters. A short distinctive business name can help with spelling differences; an address search can help with a trading-name change. Neither substitutes for checking the returned premises.
- Compare the street number, suite and city on the result with the location you intend to check.
- Open the establishment’s name link. If selecting its cell only highlights it, select the link that appears inside the cell. The right-hand additional-data control can reveal a hidden column rather than open the inspection history.
- On the establishment page, distinguish the facility details from the dated inspection list. The header includes a permit expiry date, service classification and most recently completed inspection date.
- In the inspection table, read Date, Type, Status and Establishment Code together. Expand the control at the left of a particular visit to display that visit’s findings.
Keep the establishment page URL, code and visit date with your notes. The same code can accompany several visits; it is not a separate inspection number for every row. A pre-opening visit and a routine inspection also answer different questions. Do not silently combine their finding lists into one inspection.
A risk code or “Complete” label is not your restaurant score
The establishment header’s Risk Code is separate from the dated inspection results. HCPH describes risk assessment as a way to determine inspection frequency, considering the operation, food preparation, population served and inspection history. It does not provide a consumer conversion from the displayed code to an A–F grade on the pages reviewed here. Do not assign one.
The inspection view checked for this guide displayed findings rather than a numerical overall grade. An inspection-row status of Complete coexisted with listed violations when the visit was expanded, so that status cannot be read as “no violations.” If another document supplies an official score, retain its stated system and date; do not import Houston’s terminology or a private website’s recalculated rating.
Read the expanded Violations observed column in context. Some labels describe the required condition in positive wording. Their placement in the findings list matters: the wording alone is not confirmation that the requirement was met. A short category label may also omit the inspector’s detailed observation and correction notes. Obtain the underlying record before claiming what happened, how severe it was, or whether it was corrected during the visit.
A closed complaint is different from a closed restaurant
The portal gives complaints their own table. A Closed Date in that table belongs to the complaint record. It does not, by itself, document an order closing the food establishment. Likewise, a complaint description is a reported concern, not automatically a verified inspection finding.
For a suspected closure, look for the agency’s actual action and effective date, then the later inspection or notice addressing that action. If a reinspection is listed, check what it followed and which conditions it resolved. A later routine visit, permit expiry date, or completed complaint should not be promoted into explicit reopening authorization without the supporting record.
The public views reviewed here did not establish a complete closure-and-reopening register or an earliest date covering every establishment. When that distinction matters, ask HCPH for the missing action and follow-up records. Our closure and permit-suspension guide explains why those documents need their own dates.
Request the missing event, not a general safety verdict
For a wrong match, unexplained code, or uncertain jurisdiction, the county portal lists 713-274-6300. Identify the specific food operation and address when asking for help. If the county is the appropriate custodian but the public view lacks the report you need, use the request link on HCPH’s Public Information Act page.
A focused request can name the establishment code and address, the date range, and the existing routine, reinspection, closure or reopening records sought. Ask for the inspector’s observations and disposition where the online view shows only a finding label. Availability and disclosure exceptions are for the agency to determine; submitting a request does not guarantee every requested record exists or will be released.
Until that gap is resolved, describe exactly what you found: the agency, premises, dated visit, listed findings and later record—if any. Neither an empty search nor a favorable historical result establishes the restaurant’s conditions today.