Cooked?
Salad Don
- gradeGrade C ⏳
- inspection score28 pts
- critical violations3
- last inspectedSeptember 24, 2025
- address88 Essex St, Manhattan 10002
- cuisineSalads
- phone9174121794
Is Salad Don clean?
Salad Don is currently Grade C ⏳ from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on September 24, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 3 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads cooked 🪳. There is a newer inspection the city has not ruled on yet, so the posted grade still stands for now.
What did inspectors find at Salad Don?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on September 24, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🍽️food left out / unprotectedcriticalFood, 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.
- 🍽️dishwashing setup offSingle service article not provided. Single service article reused or not protected from contamination when transported, stored, dispensed. Drinking straws not completely enclosed in wrapper or dispensed from a sanitary device.
- 🧼staff skipping handwashingcriticalPersonal cleanliness is inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn where required. Jewelry worn on hands or arms. Fingernail polish worn or fingernails not kept clean and trimmed.
- 🐭they've got roommates (mice)criticalEvidence of mice or live mice in establishment's food or non-food areas.
- 🕳️basically rolling out the welcome mat for pestsEstablishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
When was Salad Don last inspected?
Salad Don has 3 inspections on record going back to July 29, 2025, averaging 23 points.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| June 10, 2026 | no grade issued ⏳ | 15 pts |
| September 24, 2025 | Grade C | 28 pts |
| July 29, 2025 | no grade issued ⏳ | 26 pts |
Salad Don vs Chinatown
Chinatown runs 74% clean across 671 tracked restaurants — 443 clean, 46 mid, 106 cooked.
Against the 671 spots Cooked tracks in Chinatown, this one comes out cleaner than 7% of them.
Other spots in Chinatown
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.
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 24, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.