About the Scoring System

Explanation of Hygiene Scores

Inspectors from local health departments randomly inspect each restaurant several times per year. At the end of each inspection the restaurant receives a hygiene score based on the inspector's findings. If a serious health issue is detected the restaurant is immediately closed.

If a restaurant has no hygiene violations their score is 100. Each violation is assigned a point deduction by the health department. More severe violations incur larger point penalties. In this way, the scores are based on the views of expert government health authorities.

The violations which are potentially most dangerous to consumers tend to concern food temperatures. Some foods need to be kept either above or below certain temperatures. While cockroaches may be disturbing to people, this is actually not the most dangerous hygiene violation. Consequently, food temperature violations incur the largest point penalties.

What are the Best and Worst Restaurants?

Restaurants with three or more inspections are eligible to be considered as one of CleanScores' Best or Worst Restaurants. CleanScores' Best Restaurants have had perfect (100) scores for their last three inspections. CleanScores' Worst Restaurants have had a score of below 80 for each of their last three inspections. The Worst Restaurants are displayed from worst to best by the average score of their last three inspections.

Score Cards

At the top of each restaurant's page is a scorecard showing the most recent score. These score cards are colored according to whether CleanScores believes a restaurants has received a good, okay or bad score. By placing your mouse over a scorecard, a box will appear and tell you what percentile of restaurants scored lower.

What are Sparklines?

	Score between 95-100
	Score between 85-94
	Score between 0-84

Sparklines are a way of compactly displaying the last five inspections a restaurant has received. Each tiny bar represents one inspection - the taller the bar, the better the score was.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the hygiene scores or suggestions for improvement in the site.