Roots Cafe

• gradeGrade A ⏳
• grade postedAugust 4, 2025
• inspection score20 pts
• critical violations3
• last inspectedOctober 20, 2026 →
• address639 5 Avenue, Brooklyn 11215
• cuisineAmerican
• phone3155296536

Is Roots Cafe clean?

Roots Cafe currently carries Grade A ⏳ from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). It was posted on August 4, 2025 and still stands. The place has been inspected again since — on October 20, 2026 scoring 20 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 Roots Cafe?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on October 20, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🧊food not cooled down rightcritical
  After cooking or removal from hot holding, TCS food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal temperature is reduced from 140 °F to 70 °F or less within 2 hours, and from 70 °F to 41 °F or less within 4 additional hours.
• 🌡️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.
• 🧽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.

When was Roots Cafe last inspected?

Roots Cafe has 4 inspections on record going back to November 28, 2022, averaging 13 points.

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

Roots Cafe vs Park Slope-Gowanus

Park Slope-Gowanus runs 85% clean across 539 tracked restaurants — 414 clean, 21 mid, 51 cooked.

Against the 539 spots Cooked tracks in Park Slope-Gowanus, this one comes out cleaner than 21% of them.

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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 20, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.

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