El Rey

• gradeGrade A
• inspection score12 pts
• critical violations2
• last inspectedOctober 3, 2025 →
• address147-13 Hillside Avenue, Queens 11435
• cuisineLatin American
• phone7182060614

Is El Rey clean?

El Rey is currently Grade A from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on October 3, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 2 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.

What did inspectors find at El Rey?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on October 3, 2025, 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 / 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.
• 🍲hot food sitting too coolcritical
  Hot TCS food item not held at or above 140 °F.
• 🌡️fridge is giving… room tempcritical
  Cold TCS food item held above 41 °F; smoked or processed fish held above 38 °F; intact raw eggs held above 45 °F; or reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) TCS foods held above required temperatures except during active necessary preparation.

When was El Rey last inspected?

El Rey has 7 inspections on record going back to April 18, 2023, averaging 26 points.

El Rey vs Jamaica

Jamaica runs 75% clean across 233 tracked restaurants — 154 clean, 17 mid, 34 cooked.

Against the 233 spots Cooked tracks in Jamaica, this one comes out cleaner than 28% of them.

Other spots in Jamaica

• A El Monumental Restaurant
  clean · May 31, 2024
• A Popeyes
  clean · August 6, 2026
• A Caribbean Roti Express
  clean · January 13, 2026
• A Mcdonald's
  clean · July 31, 2026
• A South Jamaica Portuguese Sporting Club
  clean · April 8, 2026
• A Centro De Bienestar Daysi
  clean · January 30, 2026

See every restaurant inspection in Jamaica →

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 October 3, 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.