Reading Room

• gradeGrade A ⏳
• grade postedJuly 10, 2025
• inspection score26 pts
• critical violations3
• last inspectedOctober 13, 2026 →
• address16 East 46 Street, Manhattan 10017
• cuisineAmerican
• phone9802531187

Is Reading Room clean?

Reading Room currently carries Grade A ⏳ from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). It was posted on July 10, 2025 and still stands. The place has been inspected again since — on October 13, 2026 scoring 26 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 3 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 Reading Room?

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

• 🛠️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.
• 🧽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.
• 🌡️food-temperature slipcritical
  Meat, fish, molluscan shellfish, unpasteurized raw shell eggs, poultry or other TCS offered or served raw or undercooked and written notice not provided to consumer.
• 🚿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.
• 🔪cross-contamination riskcritical
  Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
• 🛠️facility / equipment issue
  Dishwashing and ware washing: Cleaning and sanitizing of tableware, including dishes, utensils, and equipment deficient.

When was Reading Room last inspected?

Reading Room has 5 inspections on record going back to August 4, 2023, averaging 25 points.

Graded visits shown below · newest first · tap a date for the record

Reading Room vs Midtown-Midtown South

Midtown-Midtown South runs 83% clean across 2,375 tracked restaurants — 1,620 clean, 95 mid, 248 cooked.

Against the 2,375 spots Cooked tracks in Midtown-Midtown South, this one comes out cleaner than 65% of them.

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• B Angelina Bakery
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• A K32 (Rooftop)
  clean · March 17, 2026

See every restaurant inspection in Midtown-Midtown 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 October 13, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.

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