Al's South Street Cafe

179 Essex St, Boston, MA 02111

Passed re-check · Jan 27, 2026 Directions
69
Poor BiteKarma score 69 out of 100
How the BiteKarma score works

Each routine inspection starts at 100 and loses 7 points for every critical violation and 2 for every other one, half again as much when the same problem was cited at one of the two inspections before. A failed inspection counts as 69 at most. The score averages the five newest routine inspections, with the most recent counting most, and stays below 70 for 90 days after a fail unless the restaurant passes again. 90 and up is excellent, 80s good, 70s fair, and below 70 poor.

At a glance

  • Last inspected Jan 27, 2026: passed with no violations. That was a follow-up after failing on Jan 20, 2026.
  • Keeps coming up: Common name-working containers, cited 3 times, plus 2 other repeat issues.
  • Passed 4 of 9 graded inspections since 2024.
  • 6 critical violations in the last two years.

Inspection history 9 visits

  1. 2026
  2. Passed Jan 27

    Reinspection

    No violations

  3. Failed Jan 20

    Inspection

    1 violation
    • Minor Cleaning ventilation systems nuisance and discharge prohibition
  4. Failed Jan 12

    Inspection

    2 violations
    • Minor Cleaning ventilation systems nuisance and discharge prohibition
    • L1
  5. Failed Jan 5

    Inspection

    4 violations, 2 critical
    • Critical Common name-working containers
    • Critical Sanitizers criteria-chemicals
    • Minor Cleaning ventilation systems nuisance and discharge prohibition
    • L1

Nearby

BiteKarma scores around Al's South Street Cafe, which is the dark pin. Zoom in to see the dots' scores, and tap a pin marked + to see everything at that address.

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