Question of the Day - 13 September 2023

The e-newsletter and website Eater Las Vegas used to provide such a service under the rubric “DOH Chronicles.” It listed closures on a weekly basis and sometimes mentioned restaurants that had come dangerously close to being closed by racking up a high number of demerits. Unfortunately, after a final entry on a most inauspicious April 13, 2020, the “DOH Chronicles” file was closed and shows no sign of reopening, following the departure of editor Susan Stapleton.

The most direct means of getting the information you desire is from the Southern Nevada Health District itself. It maintains an online archive of all restaurant inspections from 2005 onward. The results of the once-a-year inspections go live five days after the restaurant is examined. 

When you click on Restaurant Inspection Search, you can scroll an endless ream of restaurant inspections or you can search by restaurant, simply inputting the name in the search field and clicking on Search. 

For instance, Giovanni’s Pizzeria & Mediterranean Grill at 9773 W. Flamingo Road was last inspected on May 2 of this year, at which time it received a clean bill of health. Yukon Pizza at 1130 E. Charleston wasn't so lucky, being inspected on January 13 and receiving eight demerits. You can look up the violations and find such Health Department inspection shorthand as "PHF/TCSs temps during storage, display, service, transport, and holding" and "Kitchenware & FCS of equipment washed, rinsed, san. and air-dried."

(We reviewed Yukon Pizza in the June Advisor and loved it, especially for its sourdough crust made from 125-year-old starter.) 

You can also report a lack of food safety, if you see it somewhere, on the form provided by the Health District. 

Given the volume of restaurants in Las Vegas and the concurrent number of inspections, a comprehensive non-SNHD report is probably impossible. But it would be good if somebody picked up the restaurant-closure gauntlet that Eater Las Vegas seems to have given up on.