Cooked?
5C Cafe & Cultural Center
- gradeGrade A
- inspection score9 pts
- critical violations1
- last inspectedNovember 5, 2025
- address68 Avenue C, Manhattan 10009
- cuisineCoffee/Tea
- phone2124775993
Is 5C Cafe & Cultural Center clean?
5C Cafe & Cultural Center is currently Grade A from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on November 5, 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 5C Cafe & Cultural Center?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on November 5, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- ⚠️Failure to display required signage about plastic straw availabilityFailure to display required signage about plastic straw availability
- 🛠️surfaces / setup not up to codeNon-food contact surface or equipment made of unacceptable material, not kept clean, or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.
- 🐛pest / contamination issuecriticalProperly scaled and calibrated thermometer or thermocouple not provided or not readily accessible in food preparation and hot/cold holding areas to measure temperatures of TCS foods during cooking, cooling, reheating, and holding.
- 🍽️dishwashing setup offSingle service article not provided. Single service article reused or not protected from contamination when transported, stored, dispensed. Drinking straws not completely enclosed in wrapper or dispensed from a sanitary device.
- ⚠️Failure to post or conspicuously post healthy eating informationFailure to post or conspicuously post healthy eating information
- ⚠️Providing single-use, non-compostable plastic straws to customers without customer request (including providing such straws at a self-serve station)Providing single-use, non-compostable plastic straws to customers without customer request (including providing such straws at a self-serve station)
When was 5C Cafe & Cultural Center last inspected?
5C Cafe & Cultural Center has 2 inspections on record going back to May 19, 2023, averaging 7 points.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| November 5, 2025 | Grade A | 9 pts |
| May 19, 2023 | Grade A | 5 pts |
5C Cafe & Cultural Center vs Lower East Side
Lower East Side runs 75% clean across 188 tracked restaurants — 121 clean, 10 mid, 30 cooked.
Against the 188 spots Cooked tracks in Lower East Side, this one comes out cleaner than 68% of them.
Other spots in Lower East Side
How New York grades restaurants
New York City health inspectors score violations in points, and lower is better: 0–13 points earns an A, 14–27 a B, and 28 or more a C. Every restaurant is inspected at least once a year, and the letter has to be posted in the window. A restaurant that scores 14 or more on the first inspection of a cycle does not get a letter right away — it stays “Grade Pending” until a re-inspection settles it, which is why some spots here show an hourglass instead of a letter. Cooked only ever shows a letter the city actually posted; we never infer one from a score.
Source: NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) via NYC Open Data. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated November 5, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.