Inspection guides · California
Restaurant inspections in San Francisco
San Francisco's Department of Public Health checks more than 7,000 food places, with unannounced routine inspections. Each posts a green, yellow or red placard where the public can see it. There is no score.
What the results mean
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Green placard ("Pass") | 0 or 1 major violation, corrected during the inspection. |
| Yellow placard ("Conditional pass") | 2 or more major violations, all corrected during the inspection. A re-inspection follows. |
| Red placard ("Closed") | Closed for health hazards that cannot be fixed right away, until they are corrected. |
Check before you go. ForkFax maps every San Francisco restaurant with its latest inspection, as the city published it. Free, no account.
Good to know
- A re-inspection brings a new placard, so the color on the door can change.
- Only an inspector may take a red placard down.
- As of 2021, the city no longer gives restaurants a score.
Check or report a restaurant
- Search any place in the city's public database.
- Call 311 about unsafe food conditions, or 415-701-2311 from outside San Francisco.
Sources
- SF.gov: Restaurant health inspection posters and what they mean
- SF.gov: Get restaurant health inspection results
- San Francisco Department of Public Health: inspection results database
- San Francisco Department of Public Health: older inspection results, March 2020 to August 2023
- SF.gov: Food Safety
- SF.gov: Environmental Health
- SF.gov: Common violations in food inspections
- San Francisco Board of Supervisors: Ordinance 252-19, restaurant placards (PDF)
- DataSF: restaurant scores dataset (LIVES standard), description
- SF.gov: Report a health nuisance or hazards
- SF.gov: Report food poisoning or food-related illness
Facts checked November 3, 2026. ForkFax is not affiliated with any health department; the agency's own records are the official ones.