Cafe Utjeha

• resultPass w/ Conditions
• critical violations3
• last inspectedNovember 26, 2025 →
• address5350 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago 60625

Is Cafe Utjeha clean?

Cafe Utjeha is currently Pass w/ Conditions from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on November 26, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 3 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.

What did inspectors find at Cafe Utjeha?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on November 26, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 📋no certified food manager on dutycritical
  Person In Charge Present, Demonstrates Knowledge, And Performs Duties
• 📋certified manager paperwork missingcritical
  City Of Chicago Food Service Sanitation Certificate
• 🧼hand hygiene slippingcritical
  Proper Eating, Tasting, Drinking, Or Tobacco Use
• 🧽surfaces not properly sanitized
  Food-Contact Surfaces: Cleaned & Sanitized
• ⚠️Contamination Prevented During Food Preparation, Storage & Display
• 🛠️surfaces / setup not up to code
  Food & Non-Food Contact Surfaces Cleanable, Properly Designed, Constructed & Used
• 🚿plumbing acting up
  Non-Food/Food Contact Surfaces Clean
• 🚻bathroom / plumbing issues
  Plumbing Installed; Proper Backflow Devices
• ⚠️All Food Employees Have Food Handler Training
• ⚠️Compliance With Clean Indoor Air Ordinance

When was Cafe Utjeha last inspected?

Cafe Utjeha has 12 inspections on record going back to February 16, 2011.

Cafe Utjeha vs Lincoln Square

Lincoln Square runs 79% clean across 379 tracked restaurants — 296 clean, 72 mid, 6 cooked.

Against the 379 spots Cooked tracks in Lincoln Square, this one comes out cleaner than 2% of them.

Other spots in Lincoln Square

• ✕ Delicatessen Meyer, Inc.
  cooked · April 15, 2010
• ? Bouffe
  cooked · August 1, 2012
• ✓! Cvs Pharmacy # 5987
  mid · April 24, 2020
• ? Porto Piazza
  cooked · April 23, 2012
• ? Wagih International Inc
  cooked · September 12, 2012
• ✓ Beans & Bagels
  cooked · June 27, 2016

See every restaurant inspection in Lincoln Square →

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.

Read the Chicago 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: Chicago Department of Public Health via Chicago Data Portal. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated November 26, 2025. 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.