How to Look Up a Restaurant’s Food Safety Inspection Score
- laurathelawlib
- Apr 16
- 3 min read
This blog post provides information for eateries in Multnomah County. Counties are generally entrusted with public health responsibilities, so if you want to check the inspection score of a restaurant in another county, your online search will usually look like this: [name of county] [name of state] restaurant inspections. )
(Yes, cities and states, and even the federal government play a role, too, with maintaining food safety.)
Note: The Multnomah County health department websites featured below contain inspections for licensed facilities such as restaurants, food carts, hotels and pools.
Visit:
According to the websites:
“All licensed establishments in Multnomah County receive two routine, unannounced inspections each year. The inspections reports are maintained in a searchable database for one year. [Note: They usually are (and should be) in the publicly accessible database for at least 2 years.]
The database contains inspections for licensed facilities such as restaurants, food carts, hotels and pools. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, call us at 503-988-3400.”
Visit the Multnomah County Restaurant Inspections website for more information. They do not make it easy to look up a restaurant, but it’s worth the trouble:
Shortcut: Visit this URL, but make sure you read the Tips, described under the fourth point, below: https://inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/multco-eh
IF you want to know how you got there or want more info on how the county inspects restaurants, follow these steps:
First:
Visit the Multnomah County webpage titled, “Look up Current Restaurant Scores:
Second:
Click on the “Look up a facility,” which will take you to this untitled webpage: URL: https://myhealthdepartment.com/multco-eh
Look closely for and then click on the “here” link, which you’ll find hidden in the second paragraph.
Third:
You should land on this page: https://inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/multco-eh
Fourth:
Search for your restaurant by name. (No, it shouldn't be this complicated. Databases have been around for decades. Call your Multnomah County Commissioner if you want to ask for a database upgrade to be put on their Wish List.)
Database Search Tips:
You have to click on the “search” button, not just hit enter.
Change the “Date Range” to get the best (or any) results. The default range will, inexplicably, start your search from January 1 of the current year, even if it's only January 5th when you run your search (go figure), rather than default to a full calendar year. So, make sure the date range is at least one full year, or more if you want. [Just click in the start date box, delete the last number of the year and replace with the number of the year before. E.g. change 5 to 4.]
Restaurant name might be misspelled in the database, so, for example, an "n" might have been entered as an "h." Be creative. Use one word in the restaurant's name, e.g. Thai, and be prepared to across through a long list, which admittedly can be interesting or even fun.
A very new restaurant may not have had an annual inspection, though the probably had their approval to open inspection.
When all else fails, call 503-988-3400. [They have always been very helpful when I've called.]
Fifth:
Let your favorite restaurants know you look up these inspection reports and ask where they post them (Required: “A placard visible at the restaurant’s entrance indicates whether a facility passed the last inspection.”)
Sixth:
Celebrate if you learn your favorite restaurant scored 100% and enjoy your meal knowing you have eliminated at least one food safety risk. [Write to your members of Congress if you want food safety regulations to be enforced and not to be repealed.]
(Aside: No, there isn’t a scoring system for eatery noise levels. Alas.)
This blog post was published on 4/16/25 (by Laura).
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