These Boston Restaurants Have the Most Health Code Violations

Food from Jerry Remy’s, which was on the list. Photo provided

Cooking at home is about to look a lot more appealing.

Boston Business Journal released a list of the Boston restaurants most frequently cited with serious health code violations, deemed Level 3 offenses. The list includes some takeout joints that probably won’t shock you, but higher-end spots like Strip by Strega and Select Oyster Bar were also called out. At 11, Natifnatal, a Haitian restaurant in Dorchester, had the most Level 3 violations.

Of the 1,181 Boston health code violations handed out so far this year, 21 percent were in the Level 3 category. These violations cover a wide range of issues, from the ones you’d expect—improper storage and possible cross-contamination—to the, shall we say, less standard, like “toothpaste being used to clean and sanitize food service equipment,” a practice apparently carried out at Chatime on Newbury Street.

The BBJ story does note that not all health code violations are egregious, and indeed many are quite common. The story quotes Michael Serpa, the chef and owner at Select—which, the article notes, has already fixed its problems:

“In eight, nine years in the city of running kitchens and restaurants, I’ve never seen one pass a health inspection on the first visit,” he said. “I think that’s kind of typical. They always have some points to fix, some points to look at.”

The BBJ also published a searchable database of all Boston restaurants and their past violations.