Taqueria Mexicana

• resultPass
• critical violations1
• last inspectedFebruary 10, 2025
• address605 W Lake St, Chicago 60661

Is Taqueria Mexicana clean?

Taqueria Mexicana is currently Pass from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on February 10, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.

What did inspectors find at Taqueria Mexicana?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on February 10, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🚰handwashing sink blocked or barecritical
  Adequate Handwashing Sinks Properly Supplied And Accessible • Hand wash sink faucet in poor repair, hot water knob is hard to turn, Instructed to repair to wash hands as needed.
• 🧊food not cooled down right
  Proper Date Marking And Disposition • No discard date on cooked food containers ( beef, chicken... ) that are held in front prep cooler for than 24hours. Instructed manager to provide discard date, Priority foundation violation 7-38-005.

When was Taqueria Mexicana last inspected?

Taqueria Mexicana has 5 inspections on record going back to April 5, 2022.

Taqueria Mexicana vs Near West Side

Near West Side runs 72% clean across 2,033 tracked restaurants — 1,463 clean, 406 mid, 151 cooked.

Against the 2,033 spots Cooked tracks in Near West Side, this one comes out cleaner than 28% of them.

Other spots in Near West Side

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  clean · April 6, 2022
• ✓ Embassy Public House
  clean · April 19, 2022
• ✓! Pita Pita Mediterranean Grill
  mid · April 13, 2026
• ✓ Hide And Seek
  clean · May 18, 2026
• ✓! Hide And Seek
  mid · August 4, 2022
• ✓ Elina's
  clean · May 3, 2022

See every restaurant inspection in Near 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 February 10, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.