Cooked?
El Jacalito
- resultPass
- critical violations0
- last inspectedMarch 31, 2025
- address8465 S Commercial Ave, Chicago 60617
Is El Jacalito clean?
El Jacalito is currently Pass from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on March 31, 2025. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.
What did inspectors find at El Jacalito?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on March 31, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🏷️food improperly labeledFood Properly Labeled; Original Container • OBSERVED BULK CONTAINER NOT LABELED IN REAR STORAGE AREA. INTRUCTED MANAGER TO LABEL ALL BULK CONTAINERS WITH COMMON NAME OF FOOD.
- 🧹floors, walls, or ceilings grimyPhysical Facilities Installed, Maintained & Clean • OBSERVED CLUTER IN COOLERS. INSTRUCTED MANAGER TO ORGANIZE ALL COOLERS AND MAINTAIN.
When was El Jacalito last inspected?
El Jacalito has 21 inspections on record going back to January 25, 2010. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| March 31, 2025 | Pass | |
| May 1, 2024 | Pass | |
| April 24, 2024 | Fail | |
| December 7, 2023 | Pass | |
| September 7, 2023 | Fail | |
| August 28, 2023 | Fail | |
| December 5, 2022 | Pass | |
| January 28, 2020 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| January 17, 2020 | — | |
| May 13, 2019 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| February 27, 2018 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| February 16, 2017 | Pass |
El Jacalito vs South Chicago
South Chicago runs 75% clean across 144 tracked restaurants — 106 clean, 21 mid, 15 cooked.
Against the 144 spots Cooked tracks in South Chicago, this one comes out cleaner than 29% of them.
Other spots in South Chicago
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 31, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.