El Gallo Taqueria

• gradeGrade A
• inspection score12 pts
• critical violations1
• last inspectedAugust 19, 2025 →
• address214 Highlawn Avenue, Brooklyn 11223
• cuisineMexican
• phone9176682332

Is El Gallo Taqueria clean?

El Gallo Taqueria is currently Grade A from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on August 19, 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 El Gallo Taqueria?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on August 19, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🧫equipment / surface issue
  Swollen, leaking, rusted or otherwise damaged canned food to be returned to distributor not segregated from intact product and clearly labeled DO NOT USE
• 🔪cross-contamination riskcritical
  Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
• 🛠️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 El Gallo Taqueria last inspected?

El Gallo Taqueria has 3 inspections on record going back to June 5, 2023, averaging 16 points.

El Gallo Taqueria vs Bensonhurst East

Bensonhurst East runs 81% clean across 141 tracked restaurants — 100 clean, 9 mid, 14 cooked.

Against the 141 spots Cooked tracks in Bensonhurst East, this one comes out cleaner than 40% of them.

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See every restaurant inspection in Bensonhurst East →

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 19, 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.