• resultPass
• critical violations0
• last inspectedFebruary 12, 2024 →
• address179 Essex St, Boston 02111

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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?

No failed findings were recorded. Boston Inspectional Services, Health Division marked 2 code checks as passed on February 12, 2024.

Al's South St. Express inspection and administrative history

Al's South St. Express has 38 inspections on record going back to September 12, 2008. The 12 most recent are shown below.

Al's South St. Express vs Downtown

Downtown runs 92% clean across 993 tracked restaurants — 859 clean, 47 mid, 32 cooked.

Against the 993 spots Cooked tracks in Downtown, this one comes out cleaner than 8% of them.

Other spots in Downtown

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• ✓ Flik International @ Hearts On Fire
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• ✓ Cafe Marliave
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• ✓ Grass Roots Cafe
  clean · June 25, 2013
• ✕ Quiznos Sub
  cooked · February 27, 2012
• ✕ Z Square In The Park
  cooked · January 12, 2009

See every restaurant inspection 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.

Read the Boston ratings guide →

Inspection findings and available history come from the authority’s published records. Cooked checks daily; publication can lag behind an inspection. Read the date on each result and check the official source for newer information.

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.

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Cooked covers 10 cities on official inspection data — see who's clean, mid, or cooked near you.