Cooked?
El Nica Restaurant
- gradeGrade B
- inspection score82 pts
- critical violations1
- last inspectedJanuary 22, 2026
- address2212 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles 90006
Is El Nica Restaurant clean?
El Nica Restaurant is currently Grade B from LA County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, from an inspection on January 22, 2026. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.
What did inspectors find at El Nica Restaurant?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on January 22, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- ⚠️FLOORS, WALLS AND CEILINGS PROPERLY BUILT, MAINTAINED AND CLEANFLOORS, WALLS AND CEILINGS PROPERLY BUILT, MAINTAINED AND CLEAN
- ⚠️NO INSECTS, RODENTS, BIRDS OR ANIMALS PRESENTcriticalNO INSECTS, RODENTS, BIRDS OR ANIMALS PRESENT
- ⚠️PERMIT SUSPENDED, REVOKED, MODIFIED, OR CLOSED FOR NO PERMITPERMIT SUSPENDED, REVOKED, MODIFIED, OR CLOSED FOR NO PERMIT
- ⚠️FOOD SAFETY CERTIFICATIONFOOD SAFETY CERTIFICATION
- ⚠️PREMISES; PERSONAL/CLEANING ITEMS; VERMIN-PROOFINGPREMISES; PERSONAL/CLEANING ITEMS; VERMIN-PROOFING
- ⚠️DEMONSTRATION OF KNOWLEDGEDEMONSTRATION OF KNOWLEDGE
- ⚠️NON-FOOD CONTACT SURFACES CLEANNON-FOOD CONTACT SURFACES CLEAN
When was El Nica Restaurant last inspected?
El Nica Restaurant has 3 inspections on record going back to December 11, 2023, averaging 89 points.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| January 22, 2026 | Grade B | 82 pts |
| February 3, 2025 | Grade A | 94 pts |
| December 11, 2023 | Grade A | 92 pts |
El Nica Restaurant vs Pico-Union
Pico-Union runs 97% clean across 426 tracked restaurants — 413 clean, 13 mid, 0 cooked.
Against the 426 spots Cooked tracks in Pico-Union, this one comes out cleaner than 0% of them.
Other spots in Pico-Union
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 January 22, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.