Cooked?
The Shames Cafe
- resultPass
- critical violations0
- last inspectedMarch 2, 2026
- address100 E Newton St, Roxbury 02118
Is The Shames Cafe clean?
The Shames Cafe is currently Pass from Boston Inspectional Services, Health Division, from an inspection on March 2, 2026. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.
What did inspectors find at The Shames Cafe?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on March 2, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- ⚠️(A) Certified Food Protection Manager (C) • Post Pic's Food safety certificate on site as discussed - Fee for the 2026 City of Boston Health Permit is unpaid - needs to be addressed immediately(A) Certified Food Protection Manager (C) • Post Pic's Food safety certificate on site as discussed - Fee for the 2026 City of Boston Health Permit is unpaid - needs to be addressed immediately
- ⚠️Unpaid Fee for the 2026 City of Boston Health Permit - AddressUnpaid Fee for the 2026 City of Boston Health Permit - Address
When was The Shames Cafe last inspected?
The Shames Cafe has 22 inspections on record going back to June 8, 2020. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| March 2, 2026 | Pass | |
| February 20, 2026 | — | |
| February 18, 2026 | Fail | |
| February 11, 2026 | Fail | |
| December 2, 2025 | Pass | |
| November 17, 2025 | Fail | |
| May 21, 2025 | Pass | |
| May 13, 2025 | Fail | |
| December 18, 2024 | Pass | |
| December 10, 2024 | Fail | |
| May 13, 2024 | Pass | |
| May 3, 2024 | Fail |
The Shames Cafe 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 19% 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 March 2, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.