Cooked?
Cafe Descartes Company
- resultPass w/ Conditions
- critical violations2
- last inspectedSeptember 12, 2025
- address66 W Washington St, Chicago 60602
Is Cafe Descartes Company clean?
Cafe Descartes Company is currently Pass w/ Conditions from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on September 12, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 2 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.
What did inspectors find at Cafe Descartes Company?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on September 12, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🤒staff working while sickcriticalProcedures For Responding To Vomiting And Diarrheal Events • OBSERVED NO DISINFECTANT EFFECTIVE AGAINST NOROVIRUS ON SITE. INSTRUCTED TO OBTAIN AND MAINTAIN DISINFECTANT EFFECTIVE AGAINST NOROVIRUS AND MAINTAIN ON SITE AT ALL TIMES. PRIORITY FOUNDATION VIOLATION.
- 🚰handwashing sink blocked or barecriticalAdequate Handwashing Sinks Properly Supplied And Accessible • OBSERVED NO HANDWASHING SIGNAGE AT HANDWASHING SINKS IN FRONT PREP AREA AND MEN AND WOMEN'S HANDWASHING SINKS. INSTRUCTED TO POST CLEARLY VISIBLE SIGNAGE THAT NOTIFIES FOOD EMPLOYEES TO WASH THEIR HANDS AT ALL HANDWASHING SINKS USED BY FOOD EMPLOYEES.
When was Cafe Descartes Company last inspected?
Cafe Descartes Company has 1 inspection on record going back to September 12, 2025.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| September 12, 2025 | Pass w/ Conditions |
Cafe Descartes Company vs Loop
Loop runs 44% clean across 3,616 tracked restaurants — 1,566 clean, 332 mid, 1,687 cooked.
Against the 3,616 spots Cooked tracks in Loop, this one comes out cleaner than 48% of them.
Other spots in Loop
How Chicago grades restaurants
Chicago does not use letter grades. Every inspection ends in one of three official results: Pass, Pass with Conditions, or Fail. Pass with Conditions means violations were found but corrected on the spot or under a deadline — the restaurant is open, with homework. A Fail means serious violations went uncorrected, and it usually brings a re-inspection within days. Chicago also flags “priority” violations, the ones most likely to actually make someone sick. Cooked reads Pass as clean, Pass with Conditions as mid, and Fail as cooked, and shows the itemized violations behind each result.
Source: Chicago Department of Public Health via Chicago Data Portal. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated September 12, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.