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Al's South St. Express
- resultPass
- critical violations0
- last inspectedFebruary 12, 2024
- address179 Essex St, Boston 02111
Is Al's South St. Express clean?
Al's South St. Express is currently Pass from Boston Inspectional Services, Health Division, from an inspection on February 12, 2024. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.
What did inspectors find at Al's South St. Express?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on February 12, 2024, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- ⚠️(A )Cooling Methods (Pf) • Cooked mushroom in sandwich unit at 65F. Ensure mushrooms are properly cooled prior to putting them on sandwich unit.(A )Cooling Methods (Pf) • Cooked mushroom in sandwich unit at 65F. Ensure mushrooms are properly cooled prior to putting them on sandwich unit.
- ⚠️(A)(1) Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food Hot and Cold Holding (P) • Chicken in steam table at 115F. Person in charge indicated it had been put in unit one hour prior. Chicken observed uncovered. Person in charge removed and heated to acceptable temperature.critical(A)(1) Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food Hot and Cold Holding (P) • Chicken in steam table at 115F. Person in charge indicated it had been put in unit one hour prior. Chicken observed uncovered. Person in charge removed and heated to acceptable temperature.
When was Al's South St. Express last inspected?
Al's South St. Express has 38 inspections on record going back to September 12, 2008. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| October 31, 2024 | — | |
| February 12, 2024 | Pass | |
| February 5, 2024 | Fail | |
| October 26, 2023 | Pass | |
| May 10, 2023 | Pass | |
| November 29, 2022 | Pass | |
| June 2, 2022 | Pass | |
| May 26, 2022 | Fail | |
| March 15, 2022 | — | |
| January 3, 2022 | Pass | |
| December 20, 2021 | Fail | |
| May 5, 2021 | Pass |
Al's South St. Express vs Downtown
Downtown runs 90% clean across 1,016 tracked restaurants — 866 clean, 53 mid, 42 cooked.
Against the 1,016 spots Cooked tracks in Downtown, this one comes out cleaner than 10% of them.
Other spots in Downtown
How Boston grades restaurants
Boston reports inspections as a pass or a fail, with no score and no letter. What separates a bad fail from a trivial one is the violation severity ladder: a single star is a minor issue, two stars is more serious, and three stars marks a critical foodborne-illness risk factor — temperature abuse, bad handwashing, cross-contamination. A restaurant can fail on paperwork alone, which is not the same as failing on food safety. Cooked splits Boston fails accordingly: a fail with a three-star violation reads cooked, a fail on minor items only reads mid.
Source: Boston Inspectional Services, Health Division via Analyze Boston. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated February 12, 2024. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.