Cooked?
El Guanaco
- gradeGrade B
- inspection score85 pts
- critical violations2
- last inspectedDecember 11, 2025
- address5656 Santa Monica Blvd Ste #F, Los Angeles 90038
Is El Guanaco clean?
El Guanaco is currently Grade B from LA County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, from an inspection on December 11, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 2 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.
What did inspectors find at El Guanaco?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on December 11, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- ⚠️WIPING CLOTHS: PROPERLY USED AND STOREDWIPING CLOTHS: PROPERLY USED AND STORED
- ⚠️MULTIPLE MAJOR CRITICAL VIOLATIONS / INCREASED RISK TO PUBLIC HEALTHMULTIPLE MAJOR CRITICAL VIOLATIONS / INCREASED RISK TO PUBLIC HEALTH
- ⚠️FOOD CONTACT SURFACES: CLEAN AND SANITIZEDcriticalFOOD CONTACT SURFACES: CLEAN AND SANITIZED
- ⚠️TOXIC SUBSTANCES PROPERLY IDENTIFIED, STORED, AND USEDTOXIC SUBSTANCES PROPERLY IDENTIFIED, STORED, AND USED
- ⚠️DEMONSTRATION OF KNOWLEDGEDEMONSTRATION OF KNOWLEDGE
- ⚠️HANDS CLEAN AND PROPERLY WASHED; PROPER GLOVE USEcriticalHANDS CLEAN AND PROPERLY WASHED; PROPER GLOVE USE
When was El Guanaco last inspected?
El Guanaco has 3 inspections on record going back to April 4, 2024, averaging 92 points.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| December 11, 2025 | Grade B | 85 pts |
| October 17, 2024 | Grade A | 96 pts |
| April 4, 2024 | Grade A | 96 pts |
El Guanaco vs Little Armenia
Little Armenia runs 97% clean across 289 tracked restaurants — 279 clean, 9 mid, 1 cooked.
Against the 289 spots Cooked tracks in Little Armenia, this one comes out cleaner than 2% of them.
Other spots in Little Armenia
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.
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 December 11, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.