Life Cafe

• gradeGrade B
• inspection score19 pts
• critical violations2
• last inspectedSeptember 19, 2025 →
• address60 West 23 Street, Manhattan 10010
• cuisineOther
• phone2123818900

Is Life Cafe clean?

Life Cafe is currently Grade B from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on September 19, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 2 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.

What did inspectors find at Life Cafe?

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

• 🚿plumbing acting up
  Anti-siphonage or back-flow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly. Condensation or liquid waste improperly disposed of.
• 📋no certified food supervisor on dutycritical
  Food Protection Certificate (FPC) not held by manager or supervisor of food operations.
• 🍽️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.

When was Life Cafe last inspected?

Life Cafe has 7 inspections on record going back to April 21, 2023, averaging 22 points.

Life Cafe vs Hudson Yards-Chelsea-Flat Iron-Union Square

Hudson Yards-Chelsea-Flat Iron-Union Square runs 84% clean across 1,120 tracked restaurants — 788 clean, 53 mid, 102 cooked.

Against the 1,120 spots Cooked tracks in Hudson Yards-Chelsea-Flat Iron-Union Square, this one comes out cleaner than 15% of them.

Other spots in Hudson Yards-Chelsea-Flat Iron-Union Square

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  clean · April 30, 2026
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• A El Coco
  clean · August 12, 2026
• A Junoon
  clean · January 15, 2025
• A Magnolia Bakery
  clean · March 20, 2026
• A Le Pain Quotidien
  clean · August 25, 2026

See every restaurant inspection in Hudson Yards-Chelsea-Flat Iron-Union Square →

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 September 19, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.

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Cooked covers 10 cities on official inspection data — see who's clean, mid, or cooked near you.