Cooked?
El Mezquite
- resultPass
- critical violations0
- last inspectedApril 8, 2026
- address1756 W 18Th St, Chicago 60608
Is El Mezquite clean?
El Mezquite is currently Pass from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on April 8, 2026. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.
What did inspectors find at El Mezquite?
Nothing was written up at the most recent inspection on April 8, 2026. A clean sheet like this is the best possible result — no violations of any severity were recorded.
When was El Mezquite last inspected?
El Mezquite has 18 inspections on record going back to December 31, 2013. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| April 8, 2026 | Pass | |
| November 19, 2025 | Pass | |
| November 5, 2024 | Pass | |
| October 29, 2024 | Fail | |
| October 19, 2023 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| August 16, 2022 | Pass | |
| October 7, 2021 | Pass | |
| August 12, 2020 | Pass | |
| April 11, 2019 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| June 15, 2018 | Pass | |
| April 10, 2017 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| June 23, 2016 | Pass |
El Mezquite vs Lower West Side
Lower West Side runs 68% clean across 1,153 tracked restaurants — 775 clean, 162 mid, 205 cooked.
Against the 1,153 spots Cooked tracks in Lower West Side, this one comes out cleaner than 34% of them.
Other spots in Lower West Side
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 April 8, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.