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.

• 🐛pest / contamination issuecritical
  Properly 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.
• ⚠️Failure to display required signage about plastic straw availability
• ⚠️Failure 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)
• 🛠️surfaces / setup not up to code
  Non-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.
• 🍽️dishwashing setup off
  Single 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.

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.

5C Cafe & Cultural Center vs Lower East Side

Lower East Side runs 75% clean across 194 tracked restaurants — 123 clean, 8 mid, 33 cooked.

Against the 194 spots Cooked tracks in Lower East Side, this one comes out cleaner than 69% of them.

Other spots in Lower East Side

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• ⏳ Wu's Wonton King
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• A Little Canal
  clean · May 29, 2025
• A Saluggi's East
  clean · November 17, 2025

See every restaurant inspection 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.

Read the New York ratings guide →

Inspection findings and available history come from the authority’s published records. Cooked checks daily; publication can lag behind an inspection. Read the date on each result and check the official source for newer information.

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.

check your own block 📸

Cooked covers 10 cities on official inspection data — see who's clean, mid, or cooked near you.