• resultFail
• critical violations4
• last inspectedMarch 21, 2014 →
• address179 Massachusetts Av, Boston 02115

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Is Nan Ling clean?

Nan Ling is currently Fail from Boston Inspectional Services, Health Division, from an inspection on March 21, 2014. Inspectors wrote up 4 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads cooked 🪳.

What did inspectors find at Nan Ling?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on March 21, 2014, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• ⚠️Hot Holdingcritical
• ⚠️Separation Segregation Cross Contaminationcritical
• ⚠️Adequate Handwashing/Where/When/Howcritical
• ⚠️Food Contact Surfaces Design
• ⚠️Non-Food Contact Surfaces
• ⚠️Food Contact Surfaces Clean
• ⚠️Non-Food Contact Surfaces Clean
• ⚠️Toilet Enclosed Clean
• ⚠️Insects Rodents Animals
• ⚠️Improper Maintenance of Floors
• 🧹premises not properly maintained or cleaned
  Improper Maintenance of Walls/Ceilings
• ⚠️Dressing Rooms Clean/Lockers Provided
• ⚠️Premises Maintained
• ⚠️Living/Sleeping Quaters/Laundry
• ⚠️PIC Performing Dutiescritical

Nan Ling inspection and administrative history

Nan Ling has 43 inspections on record going back to May 30, 2007. The 12 most recent are shown below.

Nan Ling vs Back Bay

Back Bay runs 81% clean across 503 tracked restaurants — 405 clean, 51 mid, 42 cooked.

Against the 503 spots Cooked tracks in Back Bay, this one comes out cleaner than 0% of them.

Other spots in Back Bay

• ✓ Choice Mart
  clean · May 1, 2018
• ✓ Newbury Guest House
  clean · April 26, 2010
• ✓ Papa-Razzi
  cooked · February 23, 2010
• ✓ Cvs Pharmacy No. 1206
  clean · November 26, 2025
• ✓ Capital Grille
  clean · July 14, 2011
• ✓ Bangkok City Restaurant
  clean · May 26, 2015

See every restaurant inspection in Back Bay →

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 March 21, 2014. 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.