Straight answers about Chicago’s inspection grading system and where this data comes from.
GutCheck pulls directly from the City of Chicago's official Food Inspections open-data feed (data.cityofchicago.org, dataset 4ijn-s7e5), published by the Chicago Department of Public Health. GutCheck does not alter inspection results — it reorganizes the same public records into a searchable, readable format.
GutCheck rebuilds its entire dataset from the city's live feed on every deployment, which happens at least daily. The city itself updates the underlying dataset daily as new inspections are completed and reviewed.
A Fail reflects conditions found on the date of that specific inspection. Restaurants that fail are required to correct the violations and are re-inspected; many pass on their next visit. Always check a restaurant's most recent inspection date and result, not just whether it has ever failed in the past.
No. GutCheck is an independent, unaffiliated service that republishes the City of Chicago's own public inspection records in a more searchable format.
Pass w/ Conditions means the inspector found violations serious enough to require correction, but not severe enough to shut the restaurant down immediately. The restaurant is allowed to keep operating while it fixes the issues, and is typically re-inspected to confirm compliance. It sits between a full Pass and a Fail.
Priority and Priority Foundation violations are the ones most directly linked to foodborne illness — things like improper temperature control, contamination, or missing handwashing facilities. Core violations are lower-risk issues such as poor facility maintenance or missing paperwork. A single Priority violation can cause a restaurant to fail an inspection; Core violations alone typically do not.
The Chicago Department of Public Health assigns each restaurant a risk category, and higher-risk establishments are inspected more frequently — generally at least once a year, with additional inspections triggered by complaints, follow-ups after a failed inspection, or new ownership.
Search the restaurant's name on GutCheck's home page. Each restaurant page shows its current grade, any violations from its most recent inspection, and its full recent inspection history.
GutCheck currently covers restaurants within Chicago city limits, which are inspected by the Chicago Department of Public Health. Nearby suburbs like Oak Park, Elmwood Park, and Rosemont use separate local or contracted health departments whose inspection data isn't yet available through a comparable public feed. We're tracking this and will add coverage as a reliable data source becomes available.