Cooked?
Bar Contra
- gradeGrade pending
- inspection score20 pts
- critical violations2
- last inspectedMay 27, 2025
- address138 Orchard Street, Manhattan 10002
- cuisineNew American
- phone2124664633
Is Bar Contra clean?
New York currently lists Bar Contra as grade pending, following an inspection on May 27, 2025 that scored 20 points. The city has not posted a letter yet, and it will not until a re-inspection settles it. The last grade it ever posted here was A on May 24, 2023.
What did inspectors find at Bar Contra?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on May 27, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🪰flies in the housecriticalFilth flies or food/refuse/sewage associated with (FRSA) flies or other nuisance pests in establishment’s food and/or non-food areas. FRSA flies include house flies, blow flies, bottle flies, flesh flies, drain flies, Phorid flies and fruit flies.
- 🕳️basically rolling out the welcome mat for pestsEstablishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
- 🛠️facility / equipment issueMechanical or natural ventilation not provided, inadequate, improperly installed, in disrepair or fails to prevent and control excessive build-up of grease, heat, steam condensation, vapors, odors, smoke or fumes.
- 🧊food not cooled down rightcriticalAfter cooking or removal from hot holding, TCS food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal temperature is reduced from 140 °F to 70 °F or less within 2 hours, and from 70 °F to 41 °F or less within 4 additional hours.
When was Bar Contra last inspected?
Bar Contra has 3 inspections on record going back to May 24, 2023, averaging 22 points.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| May 27, 2025 | no grade issued ⏳ | 20 pts |
| December 11, 2024 | no grade issued ⏳ | 38 pts |
| May 24, 2023 | Grade A | 9 pts |
Bar Contra vs Chinatown
Chinatown runs 74% clean across 671 tracked restaurants — 443 clean, 46 mid, 106 cooked.
Against the 671 spots Cooked tracks in Chinatown, this one comes out cleaner than 7% of them.
Other spots in Chinatown
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 May 27, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.