NYC Restaurant Letter Grades: What A, B, C, and Grade Pending Actually Mean
City rules · New York City · Updated 2026-07-22
New York City restaurant grades run on points that count up, not down: the Health Department starts every inspection at zero and adds points for each violation, so 0 to 13 points is an A, 14 to 27 is a B, and 28 or more is a C. A Grade Pending card means the restaurant scored 14 or more on both its initial inspection and its unannounced reinspection, and is contesting that result at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings before a letter is finalized.
That last point is the one the window card hides. Grade Pending is not a mystery and not a fresh start - it is the state a restaurant enters only after missing an A twice in the same inspection cycle. Here is the full decoder, the posting rules, and how often the city comes back depending on what you scored.
NYC grade decoder: points, letters, and what goes in the window
| Score / status | Letter | What it means | Next initial inspection | What may be displayed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-13 points | A | Cleanest band. Fewest or least severe violations found. Since January 19, 2011 an A earned at the time of inspection carries no fines for the sanitary violations cited on it. | 11 to 13 months | The A card, posted immediately |
| 14-27 points | B | Awarded on a reinspection, not an initial visit. Enough violations to miss A twice in one cycle. | 5 to 7 months | The B card **or** a Grade Pending card, operator's choice, until the OATH hearing |
| 28 or more points | C | Worst graded band. Typically multiple critical violations or public health hazards. | 3 to 5 months | The C card **or** a Grade Pending card until the OATH hearing |
| Grade Pending | Pending | A B or C was earned but not yet final. The operator has a hearing right at the OATH Health Tribunal and can post the pending card meanwhile. | Follows the underlying score: 5-7 months for 14-27, 3-5 months for 28+ | Grade Pending card, until the Tribunal rules or the operator settles or defaults |
| Grade Card Not Posted | None | No card in the window. Either the place is Not Yet Graded (new, or no graded inspection yet) or it is out of compliance with the posting rule. | Not applicable | Nothing. Failure to post can carry fines up to $1,000; posting it in the wrong spot up to $200 |
| Closed | None | DOHMH ordered the establishment shut for a public health hazard it could not correct, or for operating without a valid permit. | Reopening inspection is scored but not graded; monitoring may run roughly monthly until the score falls below 28 | The Health Department closure notice, not a grade card |
The reversal trips up almost everyone. A restaurant with 9 points is in better shape than one with 26, and a place bragging about a "low score" in New York is telling the truth: the department is counting demerits, not awarding credit.
How the points actually add up
| Violation category | Minimum points | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Public health hazard | 7 | Food held outside safe temperature. If it cannot be corrected before the inspection ends, the department may close the restaurant until it is fixed. |
| Critical violation | 5 | Serving raw food, such as a salad, that was not properly washed first. |
| General violation | 2 | Cooking utensils not properly sanitized. |
Each violation is then scaled by a condition level from 1 (least extensive) to 5 (most extensive). DOHMH's own example: one contaminated food item is condition level 1 and generates 7 points, while four or more contaminated food items is condition level 4 and generates 10 points. So a plausible B looks like this: one temperature hazard at condition level 1 (7), one critical hand-washing violation (5), and three general violations at 2 apiece (6). Total 18 points - a B, four points clear of the A line, from a set of problems no diner would ever notice from a table.
The posting rules most people never check
- Placement. The grade or Grade Pending card must be on a front window, door, or outside wall where passersby can easily see it - within five feet of the entrance and four to six feet off the ground. If there is no direct street entrance, DOHMH assigns the spot.
- Timing. The card goes up as soon as the inspector hands it over, not after the hearing.
- No substitutes. The actual serial-numbered card must be posted. Photocopies and faxes are not permitted, and the department tracks cards by serial number.
- After the hearing. If the OATH Hearing Examiner changes the score enough to change the grade, the Tribunal issues a new card and the old letter card and pending card must be destroyed. If the grade does not change, or the operator settles, misses the hearing, or defaults, the Grade Pending card must come down and the original letter card goes up.
Turn a Grade Pending window into a number. Sterling puts New York City's 25,757 restaurants on the same normalized 0-100 scale as every other city it covers, computed from the same public DOHMH inspection records, so a Grade Pending card stops being a blank space. Tap any rating to see the inspection it came from, violation by violation, and read the five plain-English tiers - Exceptional, Strong, Fair, Concerning, Poor - instead of decoding a letter. Download Sterling: Dine with Confidence on the App Store.
Why the cadence matters as much as the letter
The grading system rewards clean inspections with distance. An A restaurant is not seen again for 11 to 13 months, which means an A card can be almost a year old by the time you read it. A restaurant scoring 14 to 27 is back on the calendar in 5 to 7 months, and a 28-plus restaurant in 3 to 5 months, with roughly monthly monitoring available for the worst performers until the score drops below 28. The practical consequence: a fresh B often reflects a more recent look at the kitchen than a stale A does, and the window card tells you nothing about which you are reading. The inspection date is the missing variable.
How Sterling reads a NYC window card for you
Sterling pulls the official DOHMH inspection records that produce these letters and scores every restaurant 0-100 on recency, severity, and frequency of violations, refreshed weekly. That makes NYC directly comparable to Los Angeles County, Chicago, Seattle, and the other jurisdictions Sterling covers. The full inspection history is tappable, so you can see whether a Grade Pending card sits on top of an 18-point B or a 41-point C, and health filters hide places with recent pest, allergen, or sanitation issues. For the underlying vocabulary, start with how inspection scores work city by city and which violations actually matter.
Frequently asked questions
What does Grade Pending mean at a NYC restaurant?
It means the restaurant scored 14 or more points on both its initial inspection and its unannounced reinspection, earning a B or a C, and is waiting on a hearing at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Until that hearing, the operator may post either the letter card or the Grade Pending card.
Is Grade Pending bad?
It is not automatically bad, but it is never neutral. A pending card only exists after two consecutive inspections in the same cycle scored above the A range, and the operator chose to display the pending card rather than the B or C. The hearing may lower the score, and sometimes it does.
How many points is an A in New York City?
0 to 13 points. B is 14 to 27, and C is 28 or more. Points are added for violations, so a lower number is better. Under a policy in force since January 19, 2011, a restaurant that earns an A at the time of inspection is not fined for the sanitary violations cited on that inspection. Non-sanitary citations, such as operating without a valid permit, are still fineable.
How often does NYC inspect restaurants?
At least once a year. An initial score of 0-13 pushes the next cycle out to 11-13 months; 14-27 brings inspectors back in 5-7 months, and 28 or more in 3-5 months. Poor reinspection performers can be monitored roughly monthly until they score below 28.