Cooked?Cafe Esquinta
- gradeGrade A
- inspection score93 pts
- critical violations1
- last inspectedJune 25, 2025 →
- address401 E Pico Blvd, Los Angeles 90015
Is Cafe Esquinta clean?
Cafe Esquinta is currently Grade A from LA County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, from an inspection on June 25, 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 Cafe Esquinta?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on June 25, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🧽surfaces not properly sanitizedcritical# 14. FOOD CONTACT SURFACES: CLEAN AND SANITIZED
- 🛠️equipment grimy or busted# 33. NONFOOD-CONTACT SURFACES CLEAN AND IN GOOD REPAIR
- 🧫food prep surfaces dirty# 27. FOOD SEPARATED AND PROTECTED
- ⚠️# 38. THERMOMETERS PROVIDED AND ACCURATE
When was Cafe Esquinta last inspected?
Cafe Esquinta has 3 inspections on record going back to August 31, 2023, averaging 90 points.
June 25, 2025 A
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View full inspection →October 18, 2023 A
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View full inspection →August 31, 2023 B
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View full inspection →Cafe Esquinta vs Little Tokyo
Little Tokyo runs 95% clean across 905 tracked restaurants — 863 clean, 33 mid, 9 cooked.
Against the 905 spots Cooked tracks in Little Tokyo, this one comes out cleaner than 29% of them.
Other spots in Little Tokyo
How Los Angeles grades restaurants
Los Angeles County posts a letter placard in the window, and unlike New York the score runs the friendly way: higher is better. 90 to 100 points earns an A, 80 to 89 a B, and anything below that a C. The county inspects roughly every six months to a year depending on risk, and a failed inspection can close a kitchen until it is fixed. Because LA’s scores are final at the time of inspection — there is no pending window — a letter can be read straight off the score when the placard field is blank.
Read the Los Angeles ratings guide →
Inspection findings and available history come from the authority’s published records. Cooked checks daily, but the authority publishes in batches, so a recent visit may not appear yet. Read the date on each result and check the official source for newer information.
Source: LA County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health via LA County Open Data. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated June 25, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.
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Cooked covers 10 cities on official inspection data — see who's clean, mid, or cooked near you.