Before interpreting a San Antonio-area restaurant score, decide whether the address is inside the City of San Antonio or in unincorporated Bexar County. For a City record, match ESTABLISHMENT NAME and ESTABLISHMENT ADDRESS in the official weekly report, then read INSPECTION DATE, TOTAL SCORE, and the linked detail together. For an unincorporated county address, start with Bexar County’s separate food-service inspection and permit program.
Last checked: August 7, 2026.
The City of San Antonio inspection reports page publishes a City search route and dated weekly XLSX files. The Bexar County food-service inspection program expressly describes permits for establishments in unincorporated Bexar County. Those are related public-health systems, not interchangeable copies of one database.
Draw the city-limit line before reading any field
A postal address can say San Antonio even when the parcel is outside the city limits. Conversely, Bexar County is part of nearly every local address, but the county name alone does not make the county program the responsible inspector. The first decision is jurisdiction, not score. If the address is uncertain, use the agency contact information rather than guessing from the restaurant name.
| Location and source | Official starting point | Record identity to match | Do not assume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inside the City of San Antonio | San Antonio inspection reports | Establishment name, full street address, inspection date, and detail link | Every Bexar County address belongs in the county permit workflow |
| Unincorporated Bexar County | Bexar County health inspections | Business location and county food-service permit context | The City’s weekly spreadsheet covers the address |
| City boundary unclear | Contact the City or County program shown on the official pages | Exact street address and, if available, parcel or permit information | A delivery app, ZIP code, or trade name proves jurisdiction |
| Business recently moved or changed owners | Check both the current authority and prior dated record | Old and new address, date, and permit or license reference | One result automatically transfers to the new operator or location |
The county program page lists a separate permit process for fixed food-service establishments in unincorporated Bexar County and identifies its inspection contractor and contact path. That is a useful boundary signal. It does not mean this guide can decide jurisdiction for a disputed parcel; the responsible agency should confirm it.
The City weekly file has seven fields, and Permit Number is not one of them
The City report for July 26 through August 1, 2026 was opened and its header row was checked on August 7, 2026. It contains seven columns: ESTABLISHMENT NAME, ESTABLISHMENT ADDRESS, INSPECTION DATE, SECTOR, DISTRICT, TOTAL SCORE, and LINK. Preserve those names. Do not add a Permit Number column to the spreadsheet or pretend SECTOR and DISTRICT are permit identifiers.
| City XLSX field | Practical reading | Best verification move | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESTABLISHMENT NAME | The business name printed in this weekly result | Match the address and open LINK | A current DBA, legal owner, or unique facility match by itself |
| ESTABLISHMENT ADDRESS | The location attached to the inspection | Compare street number, unit, and city-boundary coverage | That the business has not moved or changed hands |
| INSPECTION DATE | The date of the recorded visit | Compare it with the weekly file range and detail page | Publication date, correction date, or current condition |
| SECTOR | A City-published classification in the file | Keep the displayed value and seek an official definition if it matters | Inspection type, risk level, or council district without a definition |
| DISTRICT | A second City-published classification | Transcribe it exactly; do not expand the label | A guaranteed political, health-service, or permit district meaning |
| TOTAL SCORE | The numeric score published for that visit | Read the linked report and later history | A national letter grade or permanent safety status |
| LINK | The route supplied for the detailed record | Open it and verify facility, date, findings, and follow-up | That the weekly row contains the entire inspection report |
This distinction matters because a reader searching for a permit number may not find one in the downloadable weekly file. The correct response is not to manufacture a permit value from SECTOR, DISTRICT, or LINK. Open the detailed record and use the separate licensing source when permit status is actually part of the decision.
TOTAL SCORE needs the dated report, not an invented letter grade
The City page calls the weekly files a list of health scores, but the page itself does not publish a letter-grade conversion beside those files. Record TOTAL SCORE as the number displayed. Do not label it A, B, C, pass, fail, green, or red unless the live City report or governing rule explicitly supplies that meaning for the same inspection.
Open the City-provided Search Inspections portal through the reports page and confirm the exact facility and date. If the portal is temporarily unavailable, save the weekly row and retry; a blocked or missing detail is not permission to infer findings. The San Antonio and Bexar inspection search guide covers the earlier task of finding the correct record. This page begins after the row is found.
| What you see | Safe statement | Next action | Unsafe shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| A TOTAL SCORE with a working LINK | The City published that score for the listed visit | Open the detail and read findings plus any follow-up | Convert it to another city’s grade |
| A score but no accessible detail | The weekly file supplies a number, while the detail could not be reviewed | Retry the official link or contact Metro Health | Claim no violations or full compliance |
| Several rows for one address | More than one inspection or food operation may be represented | Match names, dates, and detail records separately | Keep only the newest or highest score |
| A blank or malformed value | The published file does not provide a reliable value in that cell | Retain the blank and ask the agency | Replace it with zero, 100, or the prior score |
A food license and an inspection score answer different questions
The City Food Establishment License page explains that required inspections and a valid certificate of occupancy are part of the path before a City food-establishment license is issued. It also describes annual permit fees and reinspection fees. That licensing context does not turn a weekly inspection score into proof that a license is currently active, suspended, expired, or owned by a particular operator.
Likewise, the City Food and Environmental Health Services division says the division licenses and inspects food establishments under local and state rules. Use that page to identify the responsible City program and contact route. Use the detailed inspection record for the visit. Use the licensing record or agency confirmation for license status. Keep the three evidence jobs separate.
- Weekly score row: evidence of a dated published inspection result.
- Detailed inspection page: evidence of the visit type, findings, and follow-up shown there.
- Food-establishment license source: evidence about licensing requirements or status when the live record supplies it.
- County permit source: the correct starting point for an unincorporated Bexar County establishment.
- Agency response: the resolution path when location, identity, or publication timing remains unclear.
Sector and District are labels to preserve, not clues to improvise
The weekly XLSX publishes SECTOR and DISTRICT but does not define those terms in the visible report page. A sector value may be useful for the agency’s routing or analysis, yet that does not authorize a reader to call it an inspection type, risk class, sanitation district, or political district. Quote the value only when it helps reproduce the row, and state that the public file did not define the term if no official definition is available.
The same discipline applies to column changes. A later weekly file could add, remove, or rename a field. Date the schema you used. If a future file differs, preserve both header sets and update the guide instead of silently forcing new data into the old layout.
Resolve duplicate, missing, and out-of-scope results methodically
A weak lookup jumps from no result to no inspection. A strong lookup records what was searched, checks jurisdiction, tries one controlled alternate identifier, and then uses the official contact path. This is especially important near city boundaries and after ownership changes.
- Duplicate name: require the full address and inspection date before opening a row.
- Same address, different business names: treat each name and date as a separate record until the agency connects them.
- No City result: confirm the address is inside San Antonio before checking unincorporated Bexar County sources.
- No county result: ask whether the establishment is inside a municipality with another inspection authority.
- Old score only: record the date and ask about publication lag or retention rather than describing it as current.
- Conflicting score and detail: save both official URLs, access dates, and the exact mismatch for an agency inquiry.
For a sequence that includes a reinspection, use the restaurant reinspection and follow-up guide. For the meaning of findings inside a report, use the food inspection violations guide. Neither replaces the City or County source.
Save a result that another reader can reproduce
A reproducible note starts with jurisdiction and ends with the unresolved question. It does not begin with a verdict. Keep the weekly file date range because the same establishment may appear in later downloads, and keep LINK even if it was unavailable when you checked.
| Evidence field | What to save | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction decision | Inside City, unincorporated County, or unresolved | Prevents the wrong agency’s scale and fields from controlling the answer |
| Facility match | Published name and full address | Distinguishes repeated names and moved businesses |
| Weekly source | File date range and official reports-page URL | Makes the extracted row traceable |
| Visit | INSPECTION DATE, TOTAL SCORE, and LINK | Keeps the number attached to the correct event |
| Other labels | SECTOR and DISTRICT exactly as printed | Preserves data without inventing a definition |
| Detail review | Visit type, findings, correction, follow-up, and detail access date | Separates summary from report |
| Permit or license check | Separate official source and identifier when relevant | Stops the score from being used as license proof |
What this public result cannot guarantee
A restaurant inspection is a dated observation. It cannot guarantee how the establishment operates between visits, eliminate the possibility of later complaints, prove every cited condition remains, or establish that no unlisted condition existed. A missing online row cannot prove no inspection took place.
The City and County pages also should not be used to attack a business based on an unmatched name. Verify address, date, jurisdiction, and the detailed record. When a field is ambiguous, quote it and ask the issuing agency rather than turning uncertainty into a safety, licensing, or legal claim.
Questions about San Antonio-area inspection fields
Is the San Antonio weekly score report the same as a Bexar County permit record?
No. The City weekly file publishes inspection-result fields. Bexar County describes a separate permit and inspection program for unincorporated areas. Choose the authority from the location before comparing any record.
Where is the permit number in the City weekly spreadsheet?
The checked July 26 through August 1, 2026 City file did not have a Permit Number column. Do not relabel SECTOR or DISTRICT. Open LINK and use the separate official licensing path if a permit identifier is needed.
Can I translate TOTAL SCORE into a letter grade?
Not from the weekly page alone. Preserve the numeric score and use the local official definition tied to that visit. Another city’s grade bands do not apply.
What if the official detail link does not open?
Save the weekly row, exact URL, and access date. Retry the City-provided portal or contact Metro Health. Report the detail as unavailable at that time; do not fill the gap with assumptions.
Scope: City of San Antonio weekly inspection-result fields and the jurisdiction split with unincorporated Bexar County. This independent guide is not the inspecting authority and does not issue scores or permits. Official sources and the sample file schema were checked 2026-08-07.