Claires Kitchen Cafe

• gradeGrade A ⏳
• grade postedApril 11, 2025
• inspection score28 pts
• critical violations4
• last inspectedAugust 13, 2026 →
• address19 Saint Nicholas Avenue, Manhattan 10026
• cuisineCoffee/Tea
• phone2123003851

Is Claires Kitchen Cafe clean?

Claires Kitchen Cafe currently carries Grade A ⏳ from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). It was posted on April 11, 2025 and still stands. The place has been inspected again since — on August 13, 2026 scoring 28 points — but NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has not ruled on that visit, so no new grade has been issued. Inspectors wrote up 4 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder the posted grade reads clean 😇; the numbers above come from the newer visit.

What did inspectors find at Claires Kitchen Cafe?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on August 13, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🍽️food left out / unprotectedcritical
  Food, supplies, or equipment not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display, service or from customer’s refillable, reusable container. Condiments not in single-service containers or dispensed directly by the vendor.
• 🧽surfaces not properly sanitizedcritical
  Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
• 🕳️basically rolling out the welcome mat for pests
  Establishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
• 🪰flies in the housecritical
  Filth 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.
• 🐀rats have moved incritical
  Evidence of rats or live rats in establishment's food or non-food areas.
• 🛠️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.

When was Claires Kitchen Cafe last inspected?

Claires Kitchen Cafe has 6 inspections on record going back to May 18, 2023, averaging 22 points.

Claires Kitchen Cafe vs Central Harlem South

Central Harlem South runs 72% clean across 113 tracked restaurants — 76 clean, 9 mid, 21 cooked.

Against the 113 spots Cooked tracks in Central Harlem South, this one comes out cleaner than 32% of them.

Other spots in Central Harlem South

• ⏳ Peking Kitchen Ii
  cooked · August 4, 2026
• B Mama's Fried Chicken
  mid · June 11, 2026
• B New Tang's Restaurant
  mid · July 23, 2026
• B M & D Coffee Cafe
  mid · February 9, 2026
• A Chick-Fil-A
  clean · September 8, 2025
• A Harlemite
  clean · November 19, 2025

See every restaurant inspection in Central Harlem South →

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 August 13, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.

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