Cooked?
Cafe Luce
- gradeGrade A
- inspection score13 pts
- critical violations1
- last inspectedJuly 15, 2025
- address235 East 53 Street, Manhattan 10022
- cuisineItalian
- phone6465902777
Is Cafe Luce clean?
Cafe Luce is currently Grade A from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on July 15, 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 Cafe Luce?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on July 15, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🧫equipment / surface issueThawing procedure improper.
- 🕳️basically rolling out the welcome mat for pestsEstablishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
- 🛠️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.
- 🐭they've got roommates (mice)criticalEvidence of mice or live mice in establishment's food or non-food areas.
When was Cafe Luce last inspected?
Cafe Luce has 4 inspections on record going back to December 8, 2022, averaging 24 points.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| July 15, 2025 | Grade A | 13 pts |
| June 16, 2025 | no grade issued ⏳ | 50 pts |
| November 21, 2023 | Grade A | 13 pts |
| December 8, 2022 | no grade issued ⏳ | 20 pts |
Cafe Luce vs Turtle Bay-East Midtown
Turtle Bay-East Midtown runs 83% clean across 605 tracked restaurants — 448 clean, 33 mid, 60 cooked.
Against the 605 spots Cooked tracks in Turtle Bay-East Midtown, this one comes out cleaner than 23% of them.
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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 July 15, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.