Cooked?
La Pena Restaurante
- resultPass
- critical violations0
- last inspectedApril 10, 2026
- address4212-4214 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago 60641
Is La Pena Restaurante clean?
La Pena Restaurante is currently Pass from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on April 10, 2026. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.
What did inspectors find at La Pena Restaurante?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on April 10, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🏷️food improperly labeledFood Properly Labeled; Original Container • OBSERVED SALT AND SUGAR OUT OF THE ORIGINAL CONTAINERS WITHOUT LABELS CONTAINING THE PRODUCT NAME. INSTRUCTED TO LABEL ALL FOODS AND SPICES WITH COMMON NAME THAT ARE OUT OF THE ORIGINAL CONTAINERS.
- ⚠️In-Use Utensils: Properly Stored • OBSERVED ICE SCOOP LAYING ON TOP OF MACHINE IN BAR AND BASEMENT. INSTRUCTED MANAGER TO STORE ICE SCOOP HANDLE UP ABOVE ICE TO PREVENT CONTAMINATIONIn-Use Utensils: Properly Stored • OBSERVED ICE SCOOP LAYING ON TOP OF MACHINE IN BAR AND BASEMENT. INSTRUCTED MANAGER TO STORE ICE SCOOP HANDLE UP ABOVE ICE TO PREVENT CONTAMINATION
- 🧹floors, walls, or ceilings grimyPhysical Facilities Installed, Maintained & Clean • OBSERVED SOILED MOP HEADS NOT PROPERLY STORED. INSTRUCTED MANAGER TO HANG MOP HEADS TO PREVENT INSECT BREEDING.
When was La Pena Restaurante last inspected?
La Pena Restaurante has 32 inspections on record going back to March 5, 2010. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| April 10, 2026 | Pass | |
| April 8, 2026 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| March 31, 2026 | — | |
| June 25, 2025 | Pass | |
| June 13, 2025 | — | |
| September 9, 2024 | Pass | |
| September 5, 2024 | — | |
| February 28, 2023 | Pass | |
| February 21, 2023 | Fail | |
| January 10, 2022 | Pass | |
| December 14, 2021 | — | |
| January 15, 2020 | Pass |
La Pena Restaurante vs Portage Park
Portage Park runs 65% clean across 715 tracked restaurants — 462 clean, 142 mid, 107 cooked.
Against the 715 spots Cooked tracks in Portage Park, this one comes out cleaner than 37% of them.
Other spots in Portage 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 April 10, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.