Cooked?
Ilona
- resultFail
- critical violations1
- last inspectedJanuary 20, 2026
- address493 Massachusetts Av, Roxbury 02118
Is Ilona clean?
Ilona is currently Fail from Boston Inspectional Services, Health Division, from an inspection on January 20, 2026. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads cooked 🪳.
What did inspectors find at Ilona?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on January 20, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- ⚠️Food Storage Containers Identified with Common Name of Food (C) • Provide labels on all the bulk storage containersFood Storage Containers Identified with Common Name of Food (C) • Provide labels on all the bulk storage containers
- ⚠️Backflow Prevention (P) • There are 2 prep sinks missing air gaps.Provide proper air gapscriticalBackflow Prevention (P) • There are 2 prep sinks missing air gaps.Provide proper air gaps
- ⚠️Surface Characteristics-Indoor Areas (C) • There are damaged & missing floor tiles behind the bar.Repair/replaceSurface Characteristics-Indoor Areas (C) • There are damaged & missing floor tiles behind the bar.Repair/replace
- ⚠️Controlling Pests (C) • The most recent pest report from 12.19.25 is stating minor roach activity/no rodent activity Provide an updated pest report There were no visible signs of activity during the inspectionControlling Pests (C) • The most recent pest report from 12.19.25 is stating minor roach activity/no rodent activity Provide an updated pest report There were no visible signs of activity during the inspection
When was Ilona last inspected?
Ilona has 21 inspections on record going back to June 14, 2019. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| January 30, 2026 | — | |
| January 20, 2026 | Fail | |
| October 14, 2025 | Pass | |
| October 7, 2025 | Fail | |
| September 12, 2024 | Pass | |
| September 4, 2024 | Fail | |
| January 3, 2024 | — | |
| November 27, 2023 | Pass | |
| November 14, 2023 | Fail | |
| January 18, 2023 | — | |
| November 7, 2022 | Pass | |
| October 25, 2022 | Fail |
Ilona vs South End
South End runs 81% clean across 691 tracked restaurants — 498 clean, 63 mid, 54 cooked.
Against the 691 spots Cooked tracks in South End, this one comes out cleaner than 8% of them.
Other spots in South End
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 January 20, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.