The Dawson

• gradeGrade A
• inspection score12 pts
• critical violations2
• last inspectedApril 15, 2025 →
• address23 West 45 Street, Manhattan 10036
• cuisineAmerican
• phone6464963262

Is The Dawson clean?

The Dawson is currently Grade A from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), from an inspection on April 15, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 2 critical violations — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.

What did inspectors find at The Dawson?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on April 15, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🍲hot food sitting too coolcritical
  Hot TCS food item not held at or above 140 °F.
• 🧽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 The Dawson last inspected?

The Dawson has 5 inspections on record going back to April 26, 2022, averaging 15 points.

The Dawson vs Midtown-Midtown South

Midtown-Midtown South runs 83% clean across 2,302 tracked restaurants — 1,604 clean, 93 mid, 234 cooked.

Against the 2,302 spots Cooked tracks in Midtown-Midtown South, this one comes out cleaner than 22% of them.

Other spots in Midtown-Midtown South

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• A Cafe Grumpy
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• ⏳ Mccarthy's
  cooked · October 6, 2025
• A The Lunch Box
  clean · July 10, 2025
• B B & D Halal Food
  mid · June 30, 2025

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 April 15, 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.