Taco Mahal

• gradeGrade A ⏳
• grade postedAugust 27, 2024
• inspection score22 pts
• critical violations3
• last inspectedNovember 19, 2025 →
• address653 9 Avenue, Manhattan 10036
• cuisineIndian
• phone6464905782

Is Taco Mahal clean?

Taco Mahal currently carries Grade A ⏳ from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). It was posted on August 27, 2024 and still stands. The place has been inspected again since — on November 19, 2025 scoring 22 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 Taco Mahal?

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

• 🍽️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.
• 🪰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.
• 🧼staff skipping handwashingcritical
  Personal 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.

When was Taco Mahal last inspected?

Taco Mahal has 4 inspections on record going back to June 3, 2024, averaging 26 points.

Taco Mahal vs Clinton

Clinton runs 75% clean across 600 tracked restaurants — 408 clean, 33 mid, 105 cooked.

Against the 600 spots Cooked tracks in Clinton, this one comes out cleaner than 45% of them.

Other spots in Clinton

• A Dunkin
  clean · October 2, 2025
• B Ari Sushi
  mid · February 17, 2026
• A All'antico Vinaio
  clean · September 4, 2025
• A 375 Chicken N Fries
  clean · April 15, 2025
• B Planet Taco
  mid · March 26, 2026
• A Kohoku-Ku Ramen
  clean · April 23, 2025

See every restaurant inspection in Clinton →

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

check your own block 📸

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