When a restaurant fails a health inspection, the usual next step is a follow-up visit. The inspector writes up the violations, the restaurant fixes them, and a second inspection decides whether the failing result stands. Closure is reserved for an imminent health hazard, such as having no water, for repeated failures, and in Chicago for priority violations left uncorrected. How fast the second visit comes depends on the city: in our count of public inspection data, the median wait was 7 days in Chicago, 15 days in King County, Washington, and 70 days in New York City; in Los Angeles County the owner decides, and those who asked waited a median of 14 days.
Below are the official rules in four places that publish both the rules and the raw inspection data, followed by what actually happened after every failing result in the past year. If you want to read a specific report first, our guide to checking a restaurant’s health score lists where each city posts its records.
What counts as failing in Chicago, New York City, King County and LA County
Each health department sets its own pass line, and the label for a failing result differs by place:
- Chicago: Fail means one or more priority or priority foundation violations that could not be corrected during the visit. Pass w/ Conditions means violations were found and all were corrected on site (CDPH inspection FAQ).
- New York City: an initial inspection scored 14 points or more, which is the B (14–27) or C (28+) range. The initial visit gets a score but no letter grade (How We Score and Grade).
- King County: more than 35 red critical points on a routine inspection. That is the level at which the inspector must come back; below it, a return visit depends on how serious the violations are and the restaurant’s history (Public Health – Seattle & King County).
- Los Angeles County: a score under 90, which means a B (80–89), a C (70–79) or, below 70, a card showing only the numeric score (LA County grading and posting requirements).
To read a score from your own city against these scales, use the score reader below.
Restaurant Inspection Check tool · rules checked October 21–23, 2026
Inspection score reader
Pick the program that inspected the restaurant, then enter what the report or door sign shows. The reader explains it on that agency's own scale and tells you what usually happens next.
What happens next under each city’s rules
Chicago: a re-inspection, and a license suspension if priority violations stay open
Uncorrected priority violations lead to suspension of the food license and closure of the establishment; the sanitarian then explains what the owner must do to have the license reinstated. Fines apply even when a violation is fixed on the spot: $500 per priority violation and $250 per priority foundation violation. Priority foundation and core violations still open after the sanitarian’s time frame are upgraded one level (CDPH inspection FAQ). The FAQ gives no fixed re-inspection deadline; the city’s data records the follow-up as a Canvass, Complaint or License Re-Inspection.
New York City: the old grade stays up, then a re-inspection at least 7 days later
After an initial score of 14 or more, the restaurant keeps posting its grade card from the previous cycle until the re-inspection (NYC Health Code, Article 23, §23-07(b)). The Health Code sets the re-inspection no sooner than 7 days after the initial visit, and the scoring guide says it is unannounced and typically within a month. If the re-inspection also scores 14 or more, the restaurant receives both a letter card and a Grade Pending card and may post Grade Pending until its hearing at the OATH Health Tribunal, where the final grade is decided. Fines range from $200 to $2,000 per violation (What to Expect When You’re Inspected). Our page on what the NYC Grade Pending sign means covers that step.
The department can close a restaurant on the spot for a public health hazard that cannot be corrected before the inspection ends, and a restaurant that scores 28 or more on three consecutive inspections may also be closed. A closed restaurant must pass a reopening inspection before it serves again.
King County: a return inspection, and closure at 90 red points
The inspector returns when red critical points total more than 35. Closure follows at 90 or more red points, more than 120 red and blue points combined, three occurrences of the same red violation within 12 months (5-point red items excepted), an imminent health hazard such as no water, or operating without a permit (Public Health – Seattle & King County). A place closed in the last 90 days, or one that needed multiple return inspections, gets the Needs to improve rating regardless of its average score (rating system).
Los Angeles County: the grade card stays until the next routine visit, unless the owner pays for an early one
A B or C card must stay posted until the next routine inspection. The owner can shorten that by asking for an Owner Initiated Inspection within 3 business days of the routine visit. The fee is due within 10 calendar days of the request, the visit happens within 10 calendar days of payment, and its score replaces the previous one. An owner can use this once in any 12-month period (LA County retail food inspection guide, p. 9). The county’s guide treats a score under 70 on a routine or owner-initiated inspection as an imminent health hazard, which can mean immediate closure and permit suspension, and a facility that scores under 70 twice in 12 months is subject to closure and further legal action.
How long a failing result stays on the record in four cities
We matched each failing or low-scored inspection to the same business’s next visit in the four public datasets. Failing visits run from October 1, 2025 to the end of summer 2026 (June 30 in New York City, July 31 in LA County), so every case had at least seven weeks of follow-up in the data.
| Place | Failing visit counted | Cases | Follow-up recorded | Median days to follow-up (cases with one) | Result of the follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago restaurants | Fail on a canvass (routine) or complaint inspection | 1,513 | 98.5% | 7 | 87% Pass or Pass w/ Conditions, 11% Fail again |
| King County | More than 35 red points on a routine inspection | 264 | 82.6% (return inspection) | 15 | 92% at or under 35 red points, 72% with no red points |
| LA County restaurants | Routine score under 90 | 1,644 | 51.2% (owner-initiated inspection) | 14 | 93% scored 90 or more |
| New York City | Initial cycle inspection with 14+ points | 4,393 | 74.1% (re-inspection) | 70 | 61% scored in the A range (0–13) |
Each place schedules the second visit differently:
- Chicago went back fast. 61.5% of failing restaurants had their next visit within 7 days and 93.3% within 14 days. 89.2% had a Pass or Pass w/ Conditions on some visit within 14 days of the Fail.
- King County came back within 14 days in 40.2% of cases and within 30 days in 70.8%.
- LA County leaves the choice to the owner. Of 1,209 routine inspections that ended in a B, 46.7% were followed by an owner-initiated visit; of 380 that ended in a C, 63.2% were; the other 55 scored under 70. 93% of those that asked got their A back, so most restaurants still showing a B or C months later left the grade in place.
- New York City re-inspected only 9.5% of cases within 30 days and 41.2% within 90 days, much slower than the scoring guide’s “typically within a month.” A C-range initial score (28+) brought a faster re-inspection, a median of 64 days, than a B-range score at 80 days.
What the numbers mean if you are checking a restaurant
- Look at the date of the failing result and whether a later visit exists. In Chicago a Fail older than two weeks with no later visit is unusual; in New York a two-month gap is normal.
- Read the follow-up result as well as the failure. In every city above, most second visits cleared the problem, but 11% of Chicago re-inspections failed again and 39% of New York re-inspections still scored 14 or more.
- In LA County, a B or C card on the wall can be months old. The record online shows whether the owner asked for a regrade.
- A closure is a separate entry. Our analysis of 583 NYC health department closures shows the violations behind them and how fast those restaurants reopened.
For the routine schedule that sets when the next normal visit comes, see how often restaurants are inspected, and for the violations that most often cause a failing result, see the most common health code violations.
How we counted
All figures are our calculation from public datasets downloaded October 24, 2026: Chicago’s Food Inspections (4ijn-s7e5, facility type Restaurant, inspections through October 23, 2026); King County’s Food Establishment Inspection Data (r878-4sxa, all permanent food business types, red points summed per inspection); LA County’s Environmental Health Restaurant and Market Inspections (restaurant program elements only, data through September 30, 2026, so LA failing visits end July 31, 2026); and NYC’s DOHMH Restaurant Inspection Results (43nn-pn8j, one row per restaurant, date and inspection type, failing visits through June 30, 2026). The NYC file covers only restaurants still in active status, so places that closed for good drop out. A follow-up that falls after the data ends counts as not recorded.
CDPH, NYC Health, Public Health – Seattle & King County and LA County Environmental Health pages checked October 24, 2026.