Brooklyn, NY — Coffee With Milk, located at 504 Nostrand Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, received a score of 55 during a New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) inspection conducted on April 3, 2026, placing the restaurant in Grade C territory. Inspection data was released by DOHMH on April 7, 2026.
What Inspectors Found
The inspection documented one critical violation, with no non-critical violations recorded.
The critical violation — cited under Code 06D — found that food contact surfaces were not properly washed, rinsed, and sanitized after each use and following activities during which contamination may have occurred. Food contact surfaces include cutting boards, prep tables, utensils, slicers, and any equipment that comes into direct contact with food during preparation or service.
Failure to maintain proper sanitation of these surfaces can allow pathogens to transfer between food items, a process known as cross-contamination. This type of violation is categorized as critical because it represents a condition with direct potential to cause foodborne illness.
Food Safety Context
Under NYC Health Code Article 81, food service establishments are required to maintain all food contact surfaces in a clean and sanitary condition. Proper sanitation procedures — washing with detergent, rinsing with clean water, and sanitizing with an approved chemical solution or heat — must be completed after each use and any time contamination may have taken place.
The FDA Food Code, which serves as a reference standard for food safety regulations across the country, classifies improper sanitization of food contact surfaces as a priority violation. These are violations that, if uncorrected, can directly contribute to the spread of illness-causing microorganisms such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria.
A score of 55 is significantly above the Grade C threshold of 28 points. Each violation is assigned a point value based on its severity and public health risk, and scores are cumulative across all violations documented during an inspection.
Inspection History
The April 3, 2026 inspection is not the first time the establishment has come to the attention of inspectors. Prior inspection records show:
- May 11, 2026: Score 88 (Grade N), closed by DOHMH
A Grade N designation is assigned when an establishment is inspected for the first time or when it has not yet accumulated enough inspection results to receive a letter grade. A score of 88 during that visit — well above the Grade C cutoff — indicates the May inspection resulted in a closure action by the department.
It should be noted that the May 2026 inspection postdates the April 2026 inspection covered in this article. DOHMH data is released on a rolling basis, and inspection records may appear in the public dataset in an order that does not reflect the strict chronological sequence of events on the ground.
Understanding NYC Restaurant Grades
New York City uses a letter grading system to communicate inspection results to the public. Grades are calculated based on the total point score assigned during an inspection:
- A: 0 to 13 points
- B: 14 to 27 points
- C: 28 or more points
A Grade C means the establishment scored 28 or more points during the inspection cycle. Restaurants that receive a score above 13 on an initial inspection are typically given a chance to correct violations before a grade is officially posted. A posted Grade C reflects a score of 28 or higher confirmed at either an initial or follow-up inspection.
Consumers can look up the full inspection history of any New York City restaurant through the DOHMH Restaurant Inspection Results database, available at the NYC Open Data portal. Inspection reports include violation codes, descriptions, scores, and dates for all recorded visits.
Coffee With Milk is located at 504 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11216.
More About This Restaurant
View the full inspection history for Coffee With Milk including all past inspections, violations, and grade changes.