Carnitas La Esquinita

• resultPass
• critical violations0
• last inspectedMarch 7, 2025
• address3424 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago 60618

Is Carnitas La Esquinita clean?

Carnitas La Esquinita is currently Pass from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on March 7, 2025. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.

What did inspectors find at Carnitas La Esquinita?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on March 7, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🏷️food improperly labeled
  Food Properly Labeled; Original Container • NOTED NO LABELS FOR BULK STORAGE CONTAINERS (SALT AND SUGAR). INSTRUCTED PERSON IN CHARGE OF ALL BULK AND WORKING FOOD INGREDIENT CONTAINERS MUST BE LABELED WITH CONTENTS NAME.
• ⚠️In-Use Utensils: Properly Stored • OBSERVED SCOOPS FOR DRY STORAGE CONTAINERS BEING STORED DIRECTLY INSIDE OF THE CONTAINER. INSTRUCTED TO STORE ALL UTENSILS BETWEEN USE PROPERLY.
  In-Use Utensils: Properly Stored • OBSERVED SCOOPS FOR DRY STORAGE CONTAINERS BEING STORED DIRECTLY INSIDE OF THE CONTAINER. INSTRUCTED TO STORE ALL UTENSILS BETWEEN USE PROPERLY.
• ⚠️Adequate Ventilation & Lighting; Designated Areas Used • OBSERVED DUST BUILDUP ON VENTILATION SYSTEM NEAR HAND SINK AND ON BACK OF PREP COOLER. INSTRUCTED MANAGER TO CLEAN AND MAINTAIN ALL WALLS AND EQUIPMENT VENTILATION SYSTEMS.
  Adequate Ventilation & Lighting; Designated Areas Used • OBSERVED DUST BUILDUP ON VENTILATION SYSTEM NEAR HAND SINK AND ON BACK OF PREP COOLER. INSTRUCTED MANAGER TO CLEAN AND MAINTAIN ALL WALLS AND EQUIPMENT VENTILATION SYSTEMS.

When was Carnitas La Esquinita last inspected?

Carnitas La Esquinita has 19 inspections on record going back to July 9, 2014. The 12 most recent are shown below.

Carnitas La Esquinita vs Irving Park

Irving Park runs 64% clean across 804 tracked restaurants — 516 clean, 141 mid, 146 cooked.

Against the 804 spots Cooked tracks in Irving Park, this one comes out cleaner than 38% of them.

Other spots in Irving Park

• ✓ Thai Thai Rest
  clean · July 24, 2012
• ✓ Cafe Urbano
  clean · June 22, 2026
• ✓ 3976 N Elston, Inc.
  clean · September 30, 2014
• ✓ 3976 N Elston, Inc.
  clean · September 30, 2014
• ✓ Brudder's
  clean · June 24, 2025
• ✓ Jets Pizza
  clean · December 17, 2024

See every restaurant inspection in Irving Park →

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 March 7, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.