Shah's Express / Castle Chicken

• gradeGrade A
• inspection score12 pts
• critical violations1
• last inspectedAugust 25, 2025 →
• address86-55 Broadway, Queens 11373
• cuisineChicken
• phone7184339241

Is Shah's Express / Castle Chicken clean?

Shah's Express / Castle Chicken is currently Grade A from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on August 25, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.

What did inspectors find at Shah's Express / Castle Chicken?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on August 25, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🛠️facility / equipment issue
  Accurate thermometer not provided or properly located in refrigerated, cold storage or hot holding equipment
• 🪰flies in the housecritical
  Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage associated with (FRSA) flies or other nuisance pests in establishment’s food and/or non-food areas. FRSA flies include house flies, blow flies, bottle flies, flesh flies, drain flies, Phorid flies and fruit flies.
• 🕳️basically rolling out the welcome mat for pests
  Establishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.

When was Shah's Express / Castle Chicken last inspected?

Shah's Express / Castle Chicken has 5 inspections on record going back to September 7, 2022, averaging 18 points.

Shah's Express / Castle Chicken vs Elmhurst

Elmhurst runs 73% clean across 294 tracked restaurants — 205 clean, 35 mid, 40 cooked.

Against the 294 spots Cooked tracks in Elmhurst, this one comes out cleaner than 49% of them.

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See every restaurant inspection in Elmhurst →

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 August 25, 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.