To check a Syracuse-area restaurant, open the Onondaga County Health Department’s Restaurant Inspections page, which links to the Onondaga County Restaurant Inspections map on Health Data NY. The map shows each establishment’s most recent inspection. Over the year ending September 30, 2026, inspectors wrote a critical item in 573 of 2,390 routine restaurant visits (24.0%), close to the 27.1% average for New York State outside New York City.
Two numbers set Onondaga apart. Almost exactly as many inspections, 574 (24.0%), found no violation at all, a far higher clean rate than Westchester’s 5.9% or Monroe’s 7.7%. And 14.5% of critical inspections were followed by another recorded visit within 60 days. The figures are our own counts from the state dataset; the method is at the end.
| Onondaga County, routine restaurant inspections | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspections, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | 2,390 | 100% |
| Restaurants inspected | 1,583 | |
| At least one critical violation | 573 | 24.0% |
| Two or more critical violations | 141 | 5.9% |
| No violations of any kind | 574 | 24.0% |
| Critical item left uncorrected at the visit | 5 | 0.2% |
| Critical inspections with a return visit within 60 days | 83 | 14.5% |
How to see a Syracuse restaurant’s inspection history
The county map gives the latest visit. For older visits, use the statewide dataset, which goes back to 2005 for establishments still operating.
- Open the Onondaga County map and find the restaurant to see its last inspection date and violation counts.
- For the full history, open Food Service Establishment Inspections: Beginning 2005 in table view and filter County to ONONDAGA.
- Search the restaurant’s name and confirm the street address. Restaurants in DeWitt, Salina, Clay and other towns often carry a Syracuse mailing address, so check the municipality field too.
- One visit spans several rows, one per violation, so sort by date and read the totals on any row of that visit.
Questions about a report go to the county’s Food Protection program at (315) 435-6607 or foodprotection@onondaga.gov. The program inspects food service facilities, reviews plans for new ones, investigates complaints and outbreaks, and trains food workers. Event permit applications are due at least 10 days before the first day of operation, or a $30 late fee applies.
Chemical storage leads Onondaga’s critical violations
Toxic chemicals labeled, stored or used where they could contaminate food (item 4A) was the most frequent critical item, written in 193 routine inspections (8.1%). In Westchester and Monroe, temperature items lead the list instead. Critical items, counted once per routine inspection:
| Item | What it covers | Inspections | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4A | Chemicals stored or used where they can reach food | 193 | 8.1% |
| 2C | Ready-to-eat food exposed to raw food | 127 | 5.3% |
| 1H | Unapproved-source or spoiled food | 79 | 3.3% |
| 5E | Not enough working refrigeration | 74 | 3.1% |
| 5C | Risky food left out of refrigeration | 61 | 2.6% |
| 6A | Hot-held food below 140°F | 42 | 1.8% |
| 5A | Cold-held food above 45°F | 34 | 1.4% |
| 2E | No accurate thermometer in use | 29 | 1.2% |
Most Onondaga critical inspections carry a single item: 141 of the 573 had two or more. Statewide outside New York City, 10.6% of routine inspections had two or more critical items; in Onondaga, 5.9% did.
Non-critical findings in Onondaga kitchens
Dirty non-food-contact equipment surfaces (11D) was the most common non-critical item, in 1,027 routine inspections (43.0%). Floors, walls or ceilings in disrepair (15A) followed at 25.2%, food not protected in storage or service (8A) at 23.1%, and food-contact surfaces not washed and sanitized (11C) at 14.3%. Insects or rodents (14A), which New York classes as non-critical, were written in 211 inspections (8.8%), and handwashing sink problems (12E) in 220 (9.2%).
Onondaga County restaurant inspection results by town
Every town with 40 or more routine visits, plus the City of Syracuse, highest critical share first:
| Municipality | Inspections | 1+ critical | 2+ critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skaneateles | 67 | 37.3% | 7.5% |
| Salina | 185 | 34.1% | 9.7% |
| Cicero | 157 | 31.2% | 12.1% |
| Lysander | 61 | 26.2% | 6.6% |
| Clay | 190 | 25.8% | 6.8% |
| City of Syracuse | 822 | 24.7% | 6.6% |
| Camillus | 132 | 24.2% | 4.5% |
| Onondaga | 57 | 21.1% | 5.3% |
| DeWitt | 266 | 20.7% | 1.5% |
| Van Buren | 50 | 20.0% | 4.0% |
| Geddes | 112 | 16.1% | 2.7% |
| Manlius | 136 | 12.5% | 2.9% |
The town name is the municipality in the state record, which is narrower than the mailing city. The City of Syracuse row covers 822 inspections, while 1,176 carry a Syracuse mailing address. Rates for towns with fewer than 100 inspections can move several points on a handful of visits.
Follow-up visits in Onondaga: fewer and later
Critical items in Onondaga are almost always fixed on the spot: 5 of 2,390 routine inspections recorded one left uncorrected. The next look usually comes later. Only 83 of the 573 critical inspections (14.5%) have another recorded visit within 60 days, at a median of 21 days, and 85.5% of those visits found no critical violation. After two or more critical items, 34.8% got a visit within 60 days. Of the critical inspections from October 2025 through July 2026, 44.7% had no later visit of any kind in the records through October 16, 2026. A low share can also mean fewer return visits get logged in this dataset; to confirm one, ask the Food Protection program.
So the next routine inspection is where a repeat would show up. Comparing each routine visit with the next one (October 2024 to September 2026), a critical item was followed by another in 38.4% of 580 pairs, and a visit without one was followed by a critical item in 21.7% of 2,208 pairs. The same item code repeated in 14.5% of the first group. Statewide outside New York City, the figures were 46.4% and 20.7%; our New York State results by county has the full comparison.
When you read an Onondaga record, check the date of the last routine inspection first. In the 12 months, 54.9% of the 1,583 restaurants had one routine inspection and 45.1% had two or more.
How the Onondaga figures were counted
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 Onondaga County health department. Schools, 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. Establishments that closed are dropped from the state data.
For other New York counties, see our guides to Monroe County (Rochester) inspection results and Erie County inspection history, or what a failed inspection means in what happens if a restaurant fails a health inspection.
Onondaga County Health Department pages and state dataset checked October 25, 2026.